The term “baby farming”
was common in late nineteenth and early twentieth century cities
but by 1920 or so most states had taken action against the commercial
practices it suggested and the term was on the decline. It referred
to placing-out infants for money as
well as to their sale for profit. Many clients were unwed mothers,
prostitutes, and destitute or deserted wives who needed help with
their children while they worked for wages. Although most baby farming
amounted to what we now call family day care, it developed a terrible
reputation when exposes uncovered horrific abuses and horrible death
traps. Stories about baby farming in newspapers and magazines were
reported in lurid detail that called upon crude gender, racial,
ethnic, and class stereotypes. These scandals helped to mobilize
political support for child welfare regulation, including minimum
standards such as state licensing, certification of child-placers,
and investigation of foster homes.
Baby farming was condemned for being lethal, profitable, and at
odds with child welfare. At a time
when public health reformers documented astronomical rates of infant
mortality in poor, congested urban communities and congregate institutions,
it came as no surprise that babies consigned to farms often died
there, victims of epidemic disease and unsanitary conditions. The
entrepreneurial side of baby farming was also used to vilify extreme
forms of commercial adoption, in which babies were bought and sold
like other commodities. Baby farmers sometimes profited on both
ends of the adoption transaction, first extracting fees from desperate
birth mothers and then demanding large sums from adopters. A survey
by the Chicago Juvenile Protective Association reported that children
were sold for up to $100 in the 1910s, with a percentage down and
the balance in installments. No questions were asked and children
were frequently sent out of state. One brash Chicago farmer even
used the slogan: “Its cheaper and easier to buy a baby
for $100.00 than to have one of your own.”
Maternity homes and lying-in hospitals where doctors and midwives
worked as for-profit adoption brokers were, like baby farms, an
important part of the commercial adoption scene. Newspaper advertising
was the primary technique they used to reach potential customers
and suppliers. “For Adoption at Birth, Full Surrender,
No Questions Asked.” In several cities, early adoption reformers
investigated adoption ads. Campaigns to eradicate the marketing
strategies common in commercial adoption were a primary means of
eradicating black market adoptions themselves.
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