Kertzer, David I., Sigle-Rushton, Wendy 
ORCID: 0000-0002-8450-960X and White, Michael J.
(1999)
Childhood mortality and quality of care among abandoned children in nineteenth-century Italy.
Population Studies, 53 (3).
pp. 303-315.
ISSN 0032-4728
Abstract
A great deal of scholarly attention has been devoted in recent years to the large-scale abandonment of newborn babies in the European past, with special emphasis given to the staggering rates of infant mortality among the foundlings. For the most part, scholars have agreed with the foundling home officials of the past in assigning much of the blame for this excess mortality to the women who took in the foundlings as wetnurses and subsequently as foster mothers. This article takes issue with this view, based on an examination of the children abandoned at the foundling home of Bologna, Italy in the nineteenth century. Four cohorts of foundlings are examined - those abandoned in 1809-30, 1829-30, 1849-50, and 1869-70 (N=3615) - as we trace the changing pattern of infant and early childhood mortality. Longitudinal methods are used in examining the life course of these foundlings and the determinants of their mortality.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/00324728.ht... |
| Additional Information: | © 1999 Taylor & Francis Group |
| Divisions: | Social Policy Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HQ The family. Marriage. Woman H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare. Criminology |
| Date Deposited: | 10 Jan 2011 12:36 |
| Last Modified: | 11 Mar 2024 20:03 |
| URI: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/31313 |
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