| Description | The boarding out of children into private foster homes was a practice that had been implemented in several Unions across the country, whilst still remaining outside the domain of the Poor Law itself. A Local Government Board Order of 1870 sought to change this, providing the Guardians with guidelines as to the correct practices they should follow. Previously, Unions were restricted to boarding out within their own area - a restriction that could prove detrimental to the children in over-crowded urban districts. The Order sought to allow the Guardians greater freedom in this respect, enabling them to send children outside the Union's boundaries, whilst at the same time restricting the numbers of children to be boarded-out. They were to include only those who were either orphaned, or had been abandoned by their parents. The emphasis was also on younger children, boarding them out at as early an age as possible. The boarding-out process, away from the workhouse, was designed to back-up the work of the district schools, in providing the children with a solid home life. The Order further recommended that a Boarding Out committee be specially created for the purpose of administering the system (see GP/AS/1/1/2 for a copy of the Order). A later Order of 1905 consolidated the legislation regarding the boarding out of children outside the Union to which they were chargeable.
On the recommendation of its Board of Guardians, Birmingham Union formed a Boarding Out committee in April 1879. It was agreed that 'a standing committee be appointed to consist of five Members who shall have the entire supervision (in conjunction with the Ladies Committee) of Boarding Out generally.' This included the visiting of the homes, with reports regularly being made to the committee. The surviving volume contains some of these reports, along with information on individual children, and negotiations with the Boarding Out committees of other Unions. The volume is not indexed. |