Fosterage

Fosterage

Fosterage, the practice of a family bringing up a child not their own, differs from adoption in that the child's genetic parents, not the foster-parents, remain the acknowledged parents. In many modern western societies foster care can be organised by the state to care for children with troubled family backgrounds, usually on a temporary basis. In many pre-modern societies fosterage was a form of patronage, whereby influential families cemented political relationships by bringing up each other's children, similar to arranged marriages, also based on dynastic or alliance calculations.

Fosterage in the Hebrides

In his "A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland" (1775), writer Samuel Johnson described the fosterage custom as he saw it practised. ["A Journey to the Western Isles of Scotland" by Samuel Johnson. 1775 edition. [http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/6/2064/2064.txt Gutenberg text] accessed May 23, 2008]

cquote|There still remains in the Islands, though it is passing fast away, the custom of fosterage. A Laird, a man of wealth and eminence, sends his child, either male or female, to a tacksman, or tenant, to be fostered. It is not always his own tenant, but some distant friend that obtains this honour; for an honour such a trust is very reasonably thought. The terms of fosterage seem to vary in different islands. In Mull, the father sends with his child a certain number of cows, to which the same number is added by the fosterer. The father appropriates a proportionable extent of ground, without rent, for their pasturage. If every cow brings a calf, half belongs to the fosterer, and half to the child; but if there be only one calf between two cows, it is the child's, and when the child returns to the parent, it is accompanied by all the cows given, both by the father and by the fosterer, with half of the increase of the stock by propagation. These beasts are considered as a portion, and called Macalive cattle, of which the father has the produce, but is supposed not to have the full property, but to owe the same number to the child, as a portion to the daughter, or a stock for the son.

Children continue with the fosterer perhaps six years, and cannot, where this is the practice, be considered as burdensome. The fosterer, if he gives four cows, receives likewise four, and has, while the child continues with him, grass for eight without rent, with half the calves, and all the milk, for which he pays only four cows when he dismisses his Dalt, for that is the name for a foster child.

Fosterage is, I believe, sometimes performed upon more liberal terms. Our friend, the young Laird of Col, was fostered by Macsweyn of Grissipol. Macsweyn then lived a tenant to Sir James Macdonald in the Isle of Sky; and therefore Col, whether he sent him cattle or not, could grant him no land. The Dalt, however, at his return, brought back a considerable number of Macalive cattle, and of the friendship so formed there have been good effects. When Macdonald raised his rents, Macsweyn was, like other tenants, discontented, and, resigning his farm, removed from Sky to Col, and was established at Grissipol.

References


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  • fosterage — [fɔstɛʀaʒ] n. m. ÉTYM. 1939; mot angl. « coutume ancienne des nobles écossais et irlandais de faire élever leurs enfants dans un autre foyer », de foster « nurse », anc. germ. fôstro, même rac. que food « nourriture ». ❖ ♦ Anthrop. Coutume qui… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Fosterage — Fos ter*age (?; 48), n. The care of a foster child; the charge of nursing. Sir W. Raleigh. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • fosterage — index adoption (affiliation), auspices, favor (sanction), guidance, help Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton …   Law dictionary

  • Fosterage —   [ fɔstərɪdʒ; englisch »Aufziehen«, »Pflege«] die, , die aus vielen naturvolklichen und historischen Gesellschaften bekannte Sitte, Kinder zur Erziehung, zum Sprachenlernen, zur Festigung politischer Allianzen u. a. in andere Familien zu geben… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • fosterage — [fôs′tər ij΄] n. 1. the rearing of a foster child 2. the state of being a foster child 3. a promoting, stimulating, or encouraging …   English World dictionary

  • Fosterage — Le Fosterage est une pratique sociale consistant à confier durablement un enfant à un membre de la parentèle pour son éducation. Cette pratique est distincte de l adoption, en ce qu elle ne remet pas en cause les liens génétiques reconnus avec… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • fosterage — /faw steuhr ij, fos teuhr /, n. 1. the act of fostering or rearing another s child as one s own. 2. the condition of being a foster child. 3. an act of promoting or encouraging: The board will undertake the fosterage of our new project. [1605 15; …   Universalium

  • Fosterage — Fos|te|rage [ fɔstəridʒ] die; <aus gleichbed. engl. fosterage zu to foster »pflegen, aufziehen«> die aus vielen historischen Gesellschaften bekannte Sitte, Kinder zur Erziehung, zum Sprachenlernen, zur Festigung politischer Beziehungen u. a …   Das große Fremdwörterbuch

  • fosterage — foster ► VERB 1) promote the development of. 2) bring up (a child that is not one s own by birth). 3) Brit. assign (a child) to be fostered. DERIVATIVES fosterage noun fosterer noun. ORIGIN Old English, «feed, nourish»; related to …   English terms dictionary

  • fosterage — noun Date: 1614 1. the act of fostering 2. a custom once prevalent in Ireland, Wales, and Scotland of entrusting one s child to foster parents to be brought up …   New Collegiate Dictionary

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