Early Life

Children who were admitted to the Foundling Hospital lived with foster families until they were five years old. For some, foster care provided a loving family environment when they were very young. However, when these children were brought to live at the Hospital when they were five they found the separation from their foster families a heartbreaking experience. At this time society didn't understand the impact that this kind of separation could have. It was only after the evacuations of the Second World War and the findings of the 1946 Curtis Report, which was carried out into the emotional needs of children, that the practice of the Foundling Hospital, and attitudes of society as a whole, began to change.