Baby farming

Uncommon card · No. 138982

Baby farming was a historical form of foster care where unrelated individuals accepted custody of an infant or young child in exchange for payment from the mother or parents. Baby farming was associated with the Victorian era and changes to family structures that occurred during the Industrial Revolution, where single mothers and working-class parents were unable to care for some or all of their children and could not rely on extended family for child care. The duration of baby farming arrangements varied, with short-term arrangements for infants encompassing wet nursing and longer or permanent arrangements being closer to adoption. The term baby farming was typically used pejoratively. The practice was unregulated and widely associated with neglect, with the baby farmers incentivised to take on large numbers of children and spend as little as possible on the children in their care. In a number of high-profile cases, baby farmers were found to have killed children by neglect or deliberately...

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