Good evening,
My mother was a registered foster mother with a catholic home for wayward girls in London. We lived and always have, in Sussex. The term wayward girls was applied to young catholic girls who had got pregnant. Generally they were kept in the homes until the baby was delivered but sometimes stayed at home until due date grew near. The baby was taken away and given to a foster mother until adoption could be arranged.
Some babies were born to young married mothers who could not cope or were incapable of looking after them. These were generally given up voluntarily. I grew up in a house that had a constant flow of babies aged from a day old to a couple of months. They were delivered to us by the catholic nuns or other workers and stayed for anything from a couple of weeks to a few months. By the time I was 8 I could feed, burp, bathe and dress babies. I learnt to fold nappies, kite fold mostly but also box fold.
She gave up when my youngest brother came along. But after a couple of years started again with East Sussex County Council. Not so many of these and often a little older, up to about the age of 2.
When my mum died and I sorted all her belongings out I found some letters from people who had adopted the babies. They knew who mum was because they came with the nuns or council staff to collect their new family member. But many of the catholic babies we never knew where they went.
When I married and my new wife came out to Germany she started as well. Taking a couple of babies through SAAFA until Junior came along. One we only had for a couple of days then he went back to mum. The 2nd we had for sometime, her mum just couldn't cope and the husband was useless. I often wonder what became of Stacy, she would be in her early, mid 40s now.
John915
