- Author: Litchfield, R. Burr / Gordon, David
- Title: Closing The "Tour" - A Close Look at the Marriage Market, Unwed Mothers, and Abandoned Children in Mid-Nineteenth Century Amiens
- Language: English
- Journal: Journal of Social History 13, 3: 458-472
- Publication Year: 1980
- Publisher: Oxford University Press
■ Excerpt from the Foreword Considering the debate about unwed mothers in nineteenth century France, and the new policies this produced, it is surprising that more attention has not been given to relationships between public policy and demographic trends. Much of the nineteenth century debate focused on the large scale abandonment of children, and on the type of public assistance appropriate for mothers and foundlings. Legislation of the Revolution had established the right of decree of 1811 had encouraged the existing practice of abandonment to hospitals, many of which maintained tour d'exposition, a revolving door where unwanted children could be left anonymously to be cared for by the public authorities. The abandoned children were farmed out to wet-nurses and then, if they survived infancy, to foster parents. The debate of the 1820's to 1860's made an issue of this system. Defenders of the tours argued that abandonment helped to prevent abortion or infanticide. For many of the reformers the aim was to educate the working class to an ideal level of propriety of the middle class family. They called attention to the high mortality of children in institutions and advocated closing the tours, providing assistance to unwed mothers who kept their children, and encouraging the mothers to marry. Between the 1830's to 1860's the tours were gradually closed. There were 90 in 65 departments in 1844, but in 1961 only six remained. The debate about tours continued through the 1870's, but the old practice of anonymous abandonment was nearing its end.
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