Fostering and Adoption in Northampton 1890s

Hello all,

My ggrandma was given up to be fostered sometime between 1888 and 1891
in Northampton. In the 1891 census she is listed as being a boarder with

Peter Goodey...

Possibly a family euphemism there. Unless you have evidence to the contrary
I'd suspect the involvement at some stage of the Guardians. It would be
worth checking to see what records have survived for the Northampton Union.

her foster family, whilst in the 1901 census, with the same family, she
is listed as adopted daughter.

Ken Gibb...

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Unofficially.
Official adoption
commenced in Australia in 1926 / 7 and ENGLAND was NOT before this.

Ken

(1) Can anyone help me with some general background on how
fostering/adoption worked in Northampton /(this part of) England at this
time eg how a foster family was found, what arrangements were made eg
support payments

squealing...

I have several instances in East Anglia of children being placed or adopted
by relatives or friends at the turn of the century for some or all of their
childhood. As the other poster says, it wasn't official, it was a personal
arrangement and the child kept his or her birth name.
IME it happened to the eldest child when the parents were quite young and
might have struggled to bring him or her up well, or to 'sickly' children
who would have benefited from the country air. Their siblings knew about
the arrangement, and they might meet up on high days & holidays if they
lived some way away.
Remember that many children would be sent out to stay with their country
cousins during the summer months, and that children would often be sent out
of the 'smoke' to stay with friends or relatives in the countryside.
Child-rearing need not have been so hands-on as we seem to desire nowadays,
boarding schools & formal nannies etc were a lot more common then, so
perhaps it was thought to be more mundane than it would today. And of
course, to the children concerned it was perfectly 'normal' (at least,
that's how they described it to me).

.The Federation of FHS has some info on the situation in the UK after 1 Jan
1927, when the Adoption of Children Act 1926 came into force to address
fears about trading in children, the privacy of illegitimate children, and
inheritance rights, in a post-war world with a large number of orphans

(2) Might there be any formal records about the fostering/adoption, and
if so, where might I find them?

caroline.bradford...

Official registration of adoptions did not commence in the UK until 1
January 1927. Before that, it was pretty much an informal process. If the
child was placed with a family by the local Board of Guardians, or by a
charitable body (such as Dr Barnardos) then there may be some record of it.
But it was more likely to have been a private arrangement. Two avenues of
research suggest themselves:

It was quite common for children in need of a home to be farmed out to
relatives (even if distant ones). You should research the adoptive family
very thoroughly, as there may be a connection somewhere in the past.

If the adoptive parents left wills, there may have been some mention of the
child's provenance in them.

Ken Gibb...

Ken & Jill Gibb, gibb@westnet.com.au
Mordialloc,
Vic. Australia.