Orphans in 19th Century Victorian England The Victorian Era was a time of social evolution as well as technological and economic advance. A distinct, unique middle class was formed alongside the traditional working class and wealthy aristocracy. However, there were certain individuals that fell outside this model of Victorian society. The “abandoned child” was society’s scapegoat- a person without a past, without connections, without status. They could appear in any class, at any time. The upper and middle classes often had a somewhat romantic perception of them, due to their prevalence in Victorian literature. Novels like Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights made heroines/heroes out of orphans, portraying them as respectable yet troubled (Cunningham,“Orphan Texts”). However, orphans were also often treated with disdain and distrust, due to their reputation as “criminally prone” individuals. They were a victim of classic “Victorian contradictions” that characterized most aspects of Victorian society. Victorian Definition of “Orphan” When we hear the word “orphan” we imagine a child whose parents have both died tragic deaths. Indeed, there were plenty of these pitiable creatures in Victorian society – the living and working conditions of the poor were so unsanitary and crowded that diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis often spread unchecked, sending many of their victims to the grave (Czarnik, “Living Conditions”). However, children were often considered “orphans” if they had one surviving parent, had been abandoned by their family, or were forced out into the world because of overcrowding at home (Cunningham, “Orphan Texts”). In 1861, it is estimated that 11% of children had lost a father by the age of 10, 11% a mother, and 1% had lost both parents (Czarnik). Adoption A very common fate of orphans was adoption. They were often taken in by relatives or neighbors, and even, on occasion, strangers wishing to raise them as their own children. In England, there were no laws concerning adoption until the 1920s, so most adoption was informal. Children who were adopted by their own social class were usually treated fairly and equally… however, if they were adopted by a family whose status was above and beyond their original class, they were frequently mistreated and neglected. Children of different social classes were not encouraged to fraternize, so if an orphan was taken into a household where higher class children lived, they could be forbidden to even speak to them (Czarnik). Education Orphans sometimes met another fate… being placed in an educational institution. Many philanthropists donated money to these “schools” for the express purpose of boarding and educating orphans.
Compared to people in the twenty-first century, with all their modern conveniences and technological advances, the life of any early-American seems difficult. However, the lives of children were among the most arduous. Linda Pollock states in her book Forgotten Children that between 1660 and 1800 families -and society in general- became more affectionate, child-oriented, and permissive of uniqueness and unstructured time (67). Although this may be true, many other sources depict the lives of children as taxing and oppressive at best. Children of the time were either forced to abandon education for their family contributions, or had to balance school with a full day's work ("Education"). Even when they were not in school or doing manual labor, their day-to-day lives were uncomfortable and harsh (Kids). Social status, as is expected, was a key factor in determining how hard a child's life would be (Murray 9). Although many children at the time had it easier than others they were all asked at an early age to take on adult responsibilities. The lives of all children in 1800 were mundane and difficult due to family and societal expectations for labor, schooling, and maturity.
The novel “The Orphan Train” written by Christina Baker Kline is a fictional portrayal of a young girl who migrated to America from Ireland, and found herself orphaned at the age of ten in New York City in the year 1929. The book tells the story of the pain and anguish she suffered, and the happiness she would later find. From the mid 1850’s through the early 1900’s there was an surge of European immigrants just like Niamh and her family who came to America in search of a better life. Unfortunately, most were not as prosperous as they had hoped to be. As a result, many poverty-stricken children were left orphaned, abandoned, and homeless. They roamed the streets looking for food, money, and refuge by any means necessary. Since there
A foster parent, as defined by the Health reference series second edition, is an individual who is licensed to provide a home for an orphaned, abused, neglected, delinquent or disabled child (Matthews, 2004). A permanent placement is one that is intended, but not guaranteed, to last forever (Barth & Berry 1988). Foster care is not for delinquents but somewhere for children go when their parents can no longer care for them. A form of foster care has always been around in early Christian churches where “worthy widows” would board children in need and were paid by church collections. Foster care started in 1562 during the time of the English poor laws, which stated the poor children were allowed to be placed in legal services until they reached of aged (nfpaonline.org). In the 1970’s, foster care increased in popularity but foster parents were seen as unfit to adopt children permanently (Barth and Berry, 1988). In 1980 the Adoption Assistance of Child Welfare Act (public law 96-272) made it clear that the most desirable permanent placement for children is with their own family. The law...
The issue of childhood mortality is written into the works of Gaskell and Dickens with alarming regularity. In Mary Barton, Alice tells Mary and Margaret that before Will was orphaned, his family had buried his six siblings. There is also the death of the Wilson twins, as well as Tom Barton's early death --an event which inspires his father John to fight for labor rights because he's certain his son would have survived if he'd had better food. In Oliver Twist, Dick's early death is typical of workhouse children who never recover from years of chronic malnutrition. And in Dombey and Son, Paul demonstrates that wealth does not guarantee longevity, as we watch him steadily weakened by some mysterious illness. Evidence is everywhere that Gaskell, Dickens, and many of their contemporaries, used fiction to chronicle a sad fact of l9th century life: Many children didn't live to become adults.
The Victorian Age in England was a time when crime was rampant, people were starving, and life was generally difficult. In these times, there were really only two social classes, the upper class, and the lower class. Everyone in the lower class had troubles, but children had it the hardest. While most everyone had a difficult life, it was worst for children; forcing them towards crime and leading them into the arms of prison.
Children are common group of people who are generally mislabeled by society. In the short story “Charles’’ by Shirley Jackson and ‘’The Open Window” by Saki showed examples of the labeling of children. In “Charles” the concept of parents labeling their children as being pure and sincere was shown. As in “The Open Window” by Saki “used the notion that girls were the most truthful sex and gives her a name that suggests truthfulness to make her tale less suspect.”(Wilson 178). According to Welsh “Because the fantasy is so bizarre and inventive and totally unexpected from a fifteen-year-old girl, the reader is momentarily duped.”(03). This showed that even we as the readers were a victim of misleading labels of society.
In the year 1562, there were laws enacted that allowed the placement of poor children into care services until they were old enough to care for themselves. When the idea came to the U.S. not many children liked the idea of being placed into a foster home. They were often abused and exploited. However, this was allowed by law and the homes were considered better for the children because unlike almshouses children were taught different trades, and were not constantly exposed to bad surrounding and immature adults. Various forms of indenturing children persisted into the first decade of the century. Benjamin Eaton became the nation’s first foster child in the year 1636, he was 7 years old.
Orphan Train, written by Christina Baker Kline, is a profoundly emotional tale of a young adolescent girl living in foster care. Molly Ayer is a 17-year-old teenage "orphan" (Kline, 2013). Despite Molly Ayer's mother still being alive; she is not emotionally stable enough to care for her after the loss of her husband in a tragic car accident. Molly Ayer reveals that she feels like an orphan to Vivian Daly, an older woman who shares many of the same experiences Molly has gone through in foster care. They are able to make a meaningful connection almost immediately despite their lack of willingness to open up to strangers. Although Orphan Train discusses many significant topics such as immigration, discrimination, being a young woman on your own, etc., the topic that moved me the most in this novel was foster care. Foster care has always been a contentious issue in this country and in most civilized countries around the
It was the era of nurses and nannies, the child was not raised by the
Some children are orphaned for various reasons. Some children are orphaned because their parents are deceased. Others are dropped off at an orphanage because their parents cannot care for their basic needs of life. Tree-ear is a Korean orphan in the book, A Single Shard. He is being raised by Crane-man who is crippled, old man. Ruckel, a Romanian orphan, is an orphan, who lives in three different places, in an article about how not having parents or not knowing who children’s parents are can have an effect on brain development. Although orphans share many of the same experiences, each one has his or her own story.
Orphans are children who have no biological parents to care for them. In the novel A Single Shard, Tree-ear is a young orphan in 12th century Korea. An essay based on an orphan by Jon Hamilton shows how the brain develops based on a biological parent. Tree-ear and Ruckel, the orphan in the essay, were both orphans growing up with little for themselves. They also had several differences.
Victorian homes offered children a large network of various caregivers built in to the family structure. Each married couple had an average of six children, but the average household was considerably larger. Rarely would one find the nuclear family living alone. Only thirty-six per cent of families consisted simply of a set of parents and their children. Extended families were also rare. Only 10 per cent of families had three or more generations under one roof. The average household would more likely be a conglomeration of a nuclear family along with any number of random outsiders. The stragglers could include any combination of lodgers, distant relatives, apprentices and/or servants.
The Children’s Aid Society in 1854 developed the Orphan Train program a predecessor to foster care. Charles Loring Brace believed that this would give children the chance of a good life by giving them the opportunity to live with “morally standing farm families”(Warren,
Since 2005, the number of children in Chinese orphanages has been declining at a steady rate. In spite of that, around 10,000 adolescents are abandoned and introduced into these already overflowing orphanages annually. This has been an ongoing issue, but despite recent efforts to rehabilitate orphanages and their ability to bring in new children, the problem has yet to find a sustainable solution. However, there are many ways that this issue can be resolved, such as adoption. International adoption helps abandoned children find new homes with loving families. With the invention of baby hatches, which provide protected areas to leave a baby who can no longer be cared for, abandoned young are less likely to suffer before being brought to
When a child becomes an orphan, the extended family of the child has the option of adopting them. This is known as domestic adoption. It is currently the most effective solution for orphans because they quickly receive a new home. When the orphan is domestically adopted they are able to live with family, whom they know and trust. They are also able to continue to speak the same langue and experience the same culture. This mitigates the transition so it’s much less traumatic for the child. However, in many cases, the extended family of the orphan already has so many children and cannot afford to care for any more. Unfortunately, these children are not as lucky as others and are sent to an orphanage, waiting day by day for some place to call home. In the orphanages, the children often share small beds and enough food, clothes and shoes for all of the children aren’t always available. Most orphanages are very straight-laced and stringent due to the fact that very few adults are caring for an abundance of unwieldy children. Living in an orphanage is not equitable to the young children. These children are very needy as well because of the trauma that they have just gone through with loosing their parents. Instead of getting extra attention and care they have to share the time with many other children.