The History of foster care

History of foster care in the United States:

Through out history, the fate of dependent children has depended on people’s charity and good-will. The basic concept of foster care was recorded in both the bible and the Talmud. In these text, it was required that adults care for dependent children.

During the 17th century, English Poor Law created the foundation of the United States Social Welfare program. English Poor Law stated “orphan and window’s children” were indentured until their mid twenties or until they married. In addition many charity church-runned alm house were set aside for the elderly or less fortunat. The churches set up “the poor rate” to collect monies. In this set up “orphans could be boarded out to local families…clothes or material to make clothes were provided as was the provision of medical care.”

In 1853, Charles Loaring Brace was and a group of reformers founded the Children’s Aid Society in New York City. Brace motivated by immigrant children he saw living in the streets and slums. He created “the orphan train movement”, a program that ran from 1853-1929. The program placed 20,000 poor and orphan children in homes through out 49 states and two countries. The program became the foundation for the foster care movement as it exists today.