The New York Infant Asylum was a New York City institution that provided care for abandoned children and obstetrical services for unwed or indigent mothers from 1865 to 1910.
107-539: The New York Infant Asylum was established in 1865 and initially located at 106th Street in New York City. The asylum was created to care for foundlings and abandoned children , providing them with shelter and basic needs. In 1871, the asylum expanded its mission to include a lying-in department and childcare training for mothers and moved to 24 Clinton Place. The primary objective of the New York Infant Asylum
214-617: A "strategic awakening" in the late 20th and early 21st century, with initiatives such as the Central European Defence Cooperation , the Central European Initiative , Centrope , and the Visegrád Four Group . This awakening was accelerated by writers and other intellectuals, who recognized the societal paralysis of decaying dictatorships and felt compelled to speak up against Soviet oppression. In
321-619: A Central European Danube Confederation to counter these countries against Germany and Russia. There were also plans to add Bavaria and Württemberg to an enlarged Austria. There were also various resistance movements around Otto von Habsburg that pursued this goal. The group around the Austrian priest Heinrich Maier also planned in this direction, which also successfully helped the Allies to wage war by, among other things, forwarding production sites and plans for V-2 rockets , Tiger tanks and aircraft to
428-539: A Geographical Term ) most Central European states were unable to preserve their political independence and became Soviet satellites . Besides Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia, only the marginal European states of Cyprus , Finland , Malta and Sweden preserved their political sovereignty to a certain degree, being left out of any military alliances in Europe. The opening of the Iron Curtain between Austria and Hungary at
535-639: A buffer zone between these regions. In the early nineteenth century, the terms "Middle" or "Central" Europe (known as "Mitteleuropa" in German and "Europe centrale" in French) were introduced in geographical scholarship in both German and French languages. At first, these terms were linked to the regions spanning from the Pyrenees to the Danube, which, according to German authors, could be united under German authority. However, after
642-603: A child being tossed from a window of a high rise apartment. Persons in cultures with poor social welfare systems who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon them. Several American states are moving towards passing legislation to prevent rehoming of children post adoption. However, national legislation may be needed to protect children from being rehomed in all states. China's One Child Policy: In 1979 China introduced its one-child policy which set up penalties for families that chose to have more than one child. Women were compelled to undergo
749-507: A child younger than 12 months in a public or private place with the intent of terminating their care for the child. It is also known as rehoming when adoptive parents use illegal means, such as the internet, to find new homes for their children. In the case where child abandonment is anonymous within the first 12 months, it may be referred to as secret child abandonment . In the United States and many other countries, child abandonment
856-583: A destroyed Tatar camp, he was taken to either Genghis Khan 's wife Börte or mother Hoelun to be raised. The pattern of a child remaining with its adoptive parents is less common than the reverse, but it occurs. In the Indian epic Mahabharata , Karna is never reconciled with his mother, and dies in battle with her legitimate son. In the Grimm fairy tale Foundling-Bird , Foundling Bird never learns of, least of all reunites with, his parents. George Eliot depicted
963-422: A multiple birth are abandoned after the heroine has taunted another woman with a claim that such a birth is proof of adultery and then suffered such a birth of her own. Poverty usually features as a cause only with the case of older children, who can survive on their own. Indeed, most such individuals are of royal or noble birth; their abandonment means they grow up in ignorance of their true social status. One of
1070-578: A robust and young population, outlawed methods of contraception and encouraged the creation of large families with many children. Much like during the Fascist period of Italian history, incentives and cultural praise were offered to parents who produced many children. Ceaușescu established Decree 770 which outlawed abortion and contraception for all women, except those who were over 40, had already borne 4–5 children, had life-threatening complications during pregnancy, or who became pregnant through rape or incest. In
1177-591: A significant trade route, restoring ports and revitalising commercial activity. Before 1870, the industrialization that had started to develop in Northwestern and Central Europe and the United States did not extend in any significant way to the rest of the world. Even in Eastern Europe , industrialization lagged far behind. Russia , for example, remained largely rural and agricultural, and its autocratic rulers kept
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#17328631752121284-567: A small fee, an act known as oblation, and in times of social stress, monasteries often received large numbers of children. By the high Middle Ages, oblation was less common and more often arranged privately between the monastery and the parents of the child. Sometimes, medieval hospitals cared for abandoned children at the community's expense. Still, some refused to do so because being willing to accept abandoned children would increase abandonment rates. Medieval laws in Europe governing child abandonment, as
1391-643: A static spatial one. For example, a fair share of Belarus and Right-bank Ukraine are in Eastern Europe today, but 240 years ago they were in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Johnson's study on Central Europe received acclaim and positive reviews in the scientific community. However, according to Romanian researcher Maria Bucur , this very ambitious project suffers from the weaknesses imposed by its scope (almost 1600 years of history). The World Factbook defines Central Europe as: Austria,
1498-441: A surgical implantation of an IUD following the birth of their first child and tubal ligation if they were to have another child. Families that disobeyed the law were levied a fine and lost their right to many government services, including access to health and educational services. Nevertheless, transgressions of the law most certainly occurred. Consequently, over the course of over three decades, hundreds of thousands of children,
1605-417: A wolf in the wilderness, but afterward, again found by a shepherd. This ties this motif in with the genre of the pastoral . This can imply or outright state that the child benefits by this pure upbringing by unspoiled people, as opposed to the corruption that surrounded his birth family. Often, the child is aided by animals before being found; Artemis sent a bear to nurse the abandoned Atalanta , and Paris
1712-658: Is a misdemeanor to willfully and voluntarily abandon a child, and a felony to abandon one's child and leave the state. In 1981, this distinction was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court against a parent's argument that it denied parents the right to travel and thereby denied parents the equal protection of the laws . 'Rehoming' is still legal in Arkansas where, in 2015, state legislator Justin Harris made national headlines by rehoming two young adopted children. Many jurisdictions have exceptions to abandonment laws in
1819-499: Is a part of Europe composed of Austria, Belgium , the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg , Netherlands , Poland, Romania and Switzerland, and northern marginal regions of Italy and Yugoslavia (northern states – Croatia and Slovenia ), as well as northeastern France. The German Ständige Ausschuss für geographische Namen (Standing Committee on Geographical Names), which develops and recommends rules for
1926-400: Is a partial list of examples: Central Europe Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern , Southern , Western and Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in this region also share historical and cultural similarities. Whilst the region is variously defined, it often includes Austria , Croatia ,
2033-426: Is abandoned immediately after birth, which may reflect pre-Christian practices, both Scandavian and Roman, that the newborn would not be raised without the father's decision to do so. The strangers who take up the child are often shepherds or other herdsmen. This befell not only Oedipus, but also Cyrus II of Persia , Amphion and Zethus and several of the characters listed above. Romulus and Remus were suckled by
2140-453: Is also carried through in the case of many modern superheroes, most famously Superman (see Modern Media below). Mark Twain tweaks the traditional "upgrading" of the foundling's social status by having the child's twin, who is powerful by birth, experience the "downgrading " of his position in a switch planned by the two children, in "The Prince and the Pauper". In many tales, such as Snow White ,
2247-563: Is an ambiguous German concept. It is sometimes used in English to refer to an area somewhat larger than most conceptions of 'Central Europe'. According to Fritz Fischer Mitteleuropa was a scheme in the era of the Reich of 1871–1918 by which the old imperial elites had allegedly sought to build a system of German economic, military and political domination from the northern seas to the Near East and from
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#17328631752122354-646: Is no general agreement either on what geographic area constitutes Central Europe, nor on how to further subdivide it geographically. At times, the term "Central Europe" denotes a geographic definition as the Danube region in the heart of the continent, including the language and culture areas which are today included in the states of Bulgaria , Croatia , the Czech Republic , Hungary , Moldova , Poland , Romania , Serbia , Slovakia , Slovenia and usually also Austria and Germany. The terminology EU11 countries refer
2461-469: Is sometimes compared to infanticide —as described by Tertullian in his Apology : "it is certainly the more cruel way to kill... by exposure to cold and hunger and dogs." Despite the comparison, other sources report that infanticide and exposure were viewed as morally different in ancient times. In the Early Middle Ages , parents who did not want to raise their children gave them to monasteries with
2568-515: Is usually treated as a subset of the broader category of child abuse . (However, states have laws allowing a parent to permanently surrender a child at a designated safe haven "where they will not be prosecuted." ) In the United States it is punishable as a class 4 felony , and a second or subsequent offense after a prior conviction is a class 3 felony (see classes of felonies ) with different state judicial systems treating it with varying severities and classifications. Child abandonment may lead to
2675-406: Is widely used in German education and media without negative meaning, especially since the end of communism. Many people from the new states of Germany do not identify themselves as being part of Western Europe and therefore prefer the term "Mitteleuropa". During World War II, Central Europe was largely occupied by Nazi Germany. Many areas were a battle area and were devastated. The mass murder of
2782-659: The Carolingian Renaissance , limited to the territories that practised Western Christianity at the time. "European" as a cultural term did not include much of the territories where the Orthodox Church represented the dominant religion until the 19th century. Following the Christianization of various Central European countries, elements of cultural unity emerged within the region, specifically Catholicism and Latin . Eastern Europe remained Eastern Orthodox , and
2889-705: The Christianization of Lithuania . It also resulted in the Union of Krewo , signifying a personal union between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland. The union commenced an enduring political alliance between the two entities and laid the foundations for the later establishment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. Between the 15th and early 16th centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia, which
2996-472: The Czech Republic , Germany , Hungary , Liechtenstein , Lithuania , Poland , Slovakia , Slovenia , Switzerland and Transylvania as part of Romania . From the early 16th century until the early 18th century, parts of present-day Croatia and Hungary were under Ottoman rule. During the 17th century, the empire also occupied southern parts of present-day Slovakia. During the Early Modern period,
3103-651: The Czechoslovak , Hungarian and Polish presidents was hailed at the time as a major breakthrough in Central European cooperation, but the Visegrád Group became a vehicle for coordinating Central Europe's road to the European Union, while development of closer ties within the region languished. American professor Peter J. Katzenstein described Central Europe as a way station in a Europeanization process that marks
3210-820: The Eastern Bloc countries, as its every result proved the dissimilarity of Central Europe, which was inconsistent with the Stalinist doctrine. On the other hand, the topic became popular in Western Europe and the United States, much of the research being carried out by immigrants from Central Europe. Following the Fall of Communism , publicists and historians in Central Europe, especially the anti-communist opposition, returned to their research. According to Karl A. Sinnhuber ( Central Europe: Mitteleuropa: Europe Centrale: An Analysis of
3317-588: The Frankfurt Parliament , which was established in the wake of the March Revolution of 1848, there were multiple competing ideas for the integration of German-speaking areas, including the mitteleuropäische Lösung (Central European Solution) propagated by Austria, which sought to merge the smaller German-speaking states with the multi-ethnic Habsburg Empire, but was opposed by Prussia and others. An imperialistic idea of Mitteleuropa also became popular in
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3424-598: The German Empire established in 1871, which experienced intensive economic growth. The term was used when the Union of German Railway Administrations established the Mitteleuropäische Eisenbahn-Zeit (Central European Railway Time) time zone , which was applied by the railways from 1 June 1891 and was later widely adopted in civilian life, thus the time zone name shortened to the present-day Central European Time . The German term denoting Central Europe
3531-608: The Netherlands ) as its main aim. Another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic, and cultural domination. The "bible" of the concept was Friedrich Naumann 's book Mitteleuropa in which he called for an economic federation to be established after World War I. Naumann's proposed a federation with Germany and the Habsburg empire as its centre, eventually uniting all external European nations through economic prosperity. The concept failed after
3638-563: The New York Nursery and Child's Hospital . This institution eventually became part of the New York-Hospital-Cornell Medical Center in 1934, now known as NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center . The New York Infant Asylum played a crucial role in addressing the needs of abandoned and illegitimate children, as well as providing vital medical care to unwed mothers during a period when such support
3745-640: The Pan-European Picnic on 19 August 1989 then set in motion a peaceful chain reaction, at the end of which there was no longer an East Germany and the Eastern Bloc had disintegrated. It was the largest escape movement from East Germany since the Berlin Wall was built in 1961. After the picnic, which was based on an idea by Otto von Habsburg to test the reaction of the USSR and Mikhail Gorbachev to an opening of
3852-488: The Visigothic Code , often prescribed that the person who had taken up the child was entitled to the child's service as a slave. Conscripting or enslaving children into armies and labor pools often occurred as a consequence of war or pestilence when many children were left parentless. Abandoned children then became the wards of the state, military organization, or religious group. When this practice happened en masse, it had
3959-523: The dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire around 1800, there was a consolidation of power among the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns as the two major states in the area. They had much in common and occasionally cooperated in various channels, but more often competed. One approach in the various attempts at cooperation, was the conception of a set of supposed common features and interests, and this idea led to
4066-402: The 11th and 15th centuries, not only did Christianization influence the cultures within Central Europe, but well-defined social features were also implemented in the region based on Western characteristics. The keyword of Western social development after the turn of the millennium was the spread of Magdeburg rights in some cities and towns of Western Europe. These began to spread in the middle of
4173-632: The 13th century in Central European countries, bringing about self-governments of towns and counties. In 1335, the Kings of Poland , Bohemia and Hungary and Croatia met in the castle of Visegrád and agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, inspiring the post- Cold War Visegrád Group . In 1386, Jogaila , the Grand Duke of Lithuania , converted to Christianity (specifically Catholicism) and subsequently became King of Poland through marriage to Queen Jadwiga of Poland . This initiated
4280-614: The Adriatic had not been approved by the Western Allied chiefs of staff. As a result of the military situation at the end of the war, Stalin's plans prevailed and much of Central Europe came under Russian control. Following World War II , parts of Central Europe became part of the Eastern Bloc . The boundary between the two blocks was called the Iron Curtain . Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia remained neutral. The post-World War II period brought blocking of research on Central Europe in
4387-503: The Central European area is subject to debates. Very often, the definition depends on the nationality and historical perspective of its author. The concept of "Central Europe" appeared in the 19th century. It was understood as a contact zone between the Southern and Northern areas, and later the Eastern and Western areas of Europe. Thinkers portrayed "Central Europe" either as a separate region, or
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4494-507: The Central, Eastern and Baltic European member states which accessed in 2004 and after: in 2004 Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia; in 2007 Bulgaria, Romania; and in 2013 Croatia. The choice of states that make up Central Europe is an ongoing source of controversy. Although views on which countries belong to Central Europe are vastly varied, according to many sources (see section Definitions )
4601-632: The Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. The German Encyclopaedia Meyers Grosses Taschenlexikon ( Meyers Big Pocket Encyclopedia ), 1999, defines Central Europe as the central part of Europe with no precise borders to the East and West. The term is mostly used to denominate the territory between the Schelde to Vistula and from the Danube to the Moravian Gate . According to Meyers Enzyklopädisches Lexikon , Central Europe
4708-453: The Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. The Columbia Encyclopedia includes: Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland. While it does not have a single article defining Central Europe, Encyclopædia Britannica includes the following countries in Central Europe in one or more of its articles: Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,
4815-402: The Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Lithuania and Yugoslavia. The main proposed regional definitions, gathered by Polish historian Jerzy Kłoczowski , include: Former University of Vienna professor Lonnie R. Johnson points out criteria to distinguish Central Europe from Western, Northern, Eastern and Southern Europe: He also thinks that Central Europe is a dynamic historical concept, not
4922-562: The Franco-Prussian war of 1870, the French began to exclude France from this area, and later the Germans also adopted this perspective by the end of World War I. The concept of "Central" or "Middle Europe", understood as a region with German influence, lost a significant part of its popularity after WWI and was completely dismissed after WWII. Two defeats of Germany in the world wars, combined with
5029-540: The German defeat in World War I . The revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era . The interwar period (1918–1938) brought a new geopolitical system, as well as economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took on a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – particularly to the countries that had (re)appeared on the map of Europe. Central Europe ceased to be
5136-465: The Germans have not played an exclusively negative role in the region. Most Central European Jews embraced the enlightened German humanistic culture of the 19th century. Jews of turn of the 20th century Central Europe became representatives of what many consider to be Central European culture at its best, though the Nazi conceptualisation of "Mitteleuropa" sought to destroy this culture. The term "Mitteleuropa"
5243-478: The Holy Roman Empire, came to reign over the territories of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina , Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia, alongside parts of Serbia , Germany, Italy , Poland and Switzerland. Since the Cold War the countries that make up Central Europe have historically been, and in some cases continue to be, divided into either Eastern or Western Europe. After World War II, Europe
5350-646: The Jews depopulated many of their centuries-old settlement areas or settled other people there and their culture was wiped out. Both Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin diametrically opposed the centuries-old Habsburg principles of "live and let live" with regard to ethnic groups, peoples, minorities, religions, cultures and languages and tried to assert their own ideologies and power interests in Central Europe. There were various Allied plans for state order in Central Europe for post-war. While Stalin tried to get as many states under his control as possible, Winston Churchill preferred
5457-714: The Low Countries through the steppes of Russia to the Caucasus. Later on, professor Fritz Epstein argued the threat of a Slavic "Drang nach Westen" (Western expansion) had been a major factor in the emergence of a Mitteleuropa ideology before the Reich of 1871 ever came into being. In Germany the connotation was also sometimes linked to the pre-war German provinces east of the Oder-Neisse line . The term "Mitteleuropa" conjures up negative historical associations among some people, although
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#17328631752125564-598: The New York Asylum for Lying-In Women merged into the New York Infant Asylum's lying-in department. This consolidation aimed to streamline and enhance the obstetrical services provided. In 1900, the institution purchased the building at 139 Second Ave previously occupied by the Old Marlon Street Maternity Hospital. In 1910, the New York Infant Asylum combined with the Nursery and Child's Hospital to form
5671-629: The Nile in a reed basket, in hopes that he will be found and nurtured; as planned, the child is discovered and adopted by the queen of Egypt, thus gaining a higher social status and better education, as well as a more powerful position than his birth family could have given him. A similar story is told of other heroes who eventually learn about their true origins only as adults, when they find they are able to save their original parents or family by wielding power from their adoptive status, while making use of an education that sets them apart from their peers. The theme
5778-600: The Soviet sphere of influence in the late 1940s–1980s. For the most part, this geographical framework lost its attraction after the end of the Cold War. A number of Post-Communist countries rather re-branded themselves in the 1990s as "Central European.", while avoiding the stained wording of "Middle Europe," which they associated with German influence in the region. This reinvented concept of "Central Europe" excluded Germany, Austria and Switzerland, reducing its coverage chiefly to Poland,
5885-509: The USA. Otto von Habsburg tried to relieve Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and northern Yugoslavia (particularly the territories of present-day Croatia and Slovenia) from Nazi German, and Soviet, influence and control. There were various considerations to prevent German and Soviet power in Europe after the war. Churchill's idea of reaching the area around Vienna before the Russians via an operation from
5992-461: The Wheel , in which the title refers to a "receiver of foundlings" who were placed in a device called a "foundling wheel", in the wall of a church or hospital. In Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale , a recognition scene in the final act reveals by these that Perdita is a king's daughter rather than a shepherdess, and so suitable for her prince lover. Similarly, when the heroine of Le Fresne reveals
6099-568: The abandonment and discovery of Perdita in The Winter's Tale, as noted above, and Edmund Spenser reveals in the last Canto of Book 6 of The Faerie Queene that the character Pastorella, raised by shepherds, is in fact of noble birth. Henry Fielding , in one of the first novels recognized as such, recounted The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling . In the case of Quasimodo , the eponymous character in Victor Hugo 's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame ,
6206-571: The abandonment of the character Eppie in Silas Marner ; despite learning her true father at the end of the book, she refuses to leave Silas Marner, who had actually reared her. When the cause of the abandonment is a prophecy, the abandonment is usually instrumental in causing the prophecy to be fulfilled. Besides Oedipus, Greek legends also included Telephus , who was prophesied to kill his uncle; his ignorance of his parentage, stemming from his abandonment, caused his uncle to jeer at him and him to kill
6313-627: The advantage of ensuring the strength and continuity of cultural and religious practices in medieval society. Early Modern Europe saw the rise of foundling homes and increased abandonment of children to these homes. These numbers continued to rise and peaked when 5% of all births resulted in abandonment in France around 1830. The national reaction to this was to limit the resources provided by foundling homes and switch to foster homes instead such that fewer children would die within overcrowded foundling homes during infancy. As access to contraception increased and economic conditions improved in Europe towards
6420-426: The affair of two abandoned children in Calgary, Alberta, Canada by their mother Rie Fujii . Today, abandonment of a child is considered to be a serious crime in many jurisdictions because it can be considered malum in se (wrong in itself) due to the direct harm to the child, and because of welfare concerns (in that the child often becomes a ward of the state ). For example, in the U.S. state of Georgia , it
6527-478: The area of German aspiration to lead or dominate and became a territory of various integration movements aiming at resolving political, economic, and national problems of "new" states, being a way to face German and Soviet pressures. However, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ( Międzymorze ) ideas succeeded. Hungarian historian Ádám Magda wrote in her study Versailles System and Central Europe (2006): "Today we know that
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#17328631752126634-635: The area roughly corresponding to the Carpathian Basin was part of the Avar Khaganate, the realm of the Pannonian Avars . While the Avars dominated the east of what is now Austria, its north and south were under Germanic and Slavic influence, respectively. Meanwhile, the territories now comprising Germany and Switzerland were under the influence of the Merovingian dynasty , and later the Carolingian dynasty . Various Slavic tribes that inhabited eastern Central Europe established settlements during this period, primarily in present-day Croatia, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The territory of Lithuania
6741-471: The bane of Central Europe was the Little Entente , military alliance of Czechoslovakia , Romania and Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (later Yugoslavia), created in 1921 not for Central Europe's cooperation nor to fight German expansion, but in a wrong perceived notion that a completely powerless Hungary must be kept down". The events preceding World War II in Europe —including the so-called Western betrayal / Munich Agreement were very much enabled by
6848-432: The border, tens of thousands of media-informed East Germans set off for Hungary. The leadership of the GDR in East Berlin did not dare to completely block the borders of their own country and the USSR did not respond at all. This broke the bracket of the Eastern Bloc and Central Europe subsequently became free from communism. According to American professor Ronald Tiersky , the 1991 summit held in Visegrád attended by
6955-481: The brocade and the ring she was abandoned with, her mother and sister recognize her; this makes her a suitable bride for the man whose mistress she had been. From Oedipus onward, Greek and Roman tales are filled with exposed children who escaped death to be reunited with their families—usually, as in Longus ' Daphnis and Chloe, more happily than in Oedipus' case. Grown children, having been taken up by strangers, were usually recognized by tokens that had been left with
7062-661: The case and laws of the state in which it occurs could be prosecuted as a misdemeanor or felony criminal offense. Historically, many cultures practiced abandonment of infants, often called " infant exposure ." Children were left on hillsides, in the wilderness, near churches, and in other public places. If taken up by others, the children might join another family either as slaves or as free family members. Roman societies, in particular, chose slaves to raise their children rather than family members, who were often indifferent towards their children. Although being found by others would allow children who were abandoned to often survive, exposure
7169-466: The child is actually abandoned by a servant who had been given orders to put the child to death. Other tales such as Hansel and Gretel has children reluctantly abandoned in the forest by their parents since they were no longer able to feed them. Children are often abandoned with birth tokens, which act as plot devices to ensure that the child can be identified. This theme is a main element in Angelo F. Coniglio 's historical fiction novella The Lady of
7276-410: The child will cause harm; the mother's desire to conceal her illegitimate child, often after rape by a god; or spite on the part of people other than the parents, such as sisters and mothers-in-law in such fairy tales as The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird . In some chivalric romances , such as Le Fresne and the Swan-Children , in the variant Beatrix, some children of
7383-434: The children in exchange for their use as farmhands, household workers, etc. Orphan trains were highly popular as a source of free labor. The sheer size of the displacement and the complications and exploitation that occurred gave rise to new agencies and a series of laws that promoted adoption rather than indenture. By 1945, adoption was formulated as a legal act with consideration of the child's best interests. The origin of
7490-408: The disfigured child is abandoned at the cathedral's foundling's bed, made available for the leaving of unwanted infants. Ruth Benedict, in studying the Zuni, found that the practice of child abandonment was unknown, but featured heavily in their folktales. Still, even cultures that do not practice it may reflect older customs; in medieval literature, such as Sir Degaré and Le Fresne , the child
7597-431: The division of Germany, an almost complete disappearance of German-speaking communities in these countries, and the Communist-led isolation of Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland and Yugoslavia from the Western world, turned the concept of "Central/Middle Europe" into an anachronism. On the other side, the non-German areas of Central Europe were almost universally regarded as "Eastern European" primarily associated with
7704-471: The earliest surviving examples of child abandonment in literature is that of Oedipus , who is left to die as a baby in the hills by a herdsman ordered to kill the baby, but is found and grows up to unwittingly marry his biological mother . In a common variant on the abandonment and rediscovery of an infant, the biblical story of Moses describes how the Jewish infant is abandoned by his mother and set to float in
7811-467: The early Middle Ages, Central Europe had a diverse landscape, with various ethnic groups inhabiting the region. Germanic tribes , among them the Franks , Alemans and Bavarians , were predominantly situated in the west, while Slavic tribes were predominantly in the east. However, the region encompassed a wide spectrum of additional tribes and communities. From the late 6th century to the early 9th century,
7918-442: The end of the 19th century, the number of children being abandoned declined. Abandonment increased towards the end of the 19th century, particularly in the United States. The largest migration of abandoned children in history occurred in the United States between 1853 and 1929. Over one hundred and twenty thousand orphans (not all of whom were intentionally abandoned) were shipped west on railroad cars, where families agreed to foster
8025-430: The exposed baby: In Euripides 's Ion , Creüsa is about to kill Ion , believing him to be her husband's illegitimate child, when a priestess reveals the birth-tokens that show that Ion is her own, abandoned infant. This may reflect the widespread practice of child abandonment in their cultures. On the other hand, the motif is continued through literature where the practice is not widespread. William Shakespeare used
8132-550: The father when he hears, so that the reunited family can live happily in her absence. In a grimmer variation, the tale Babes in the Wood features a wicked uncle in the role of the wicked stepmother, who gives an order for the children to be killed. However, although the servants scruple to obey him, and the children are abandoned in the woods, the tale ends tragically: the children die, and their bodies are covered with leaves by robins . Foundlings still appear in modern literature; this
8239-633: The first West Slavic states to be founded in Central Europe. In the late 9th Century, the Hungarian tribes , originating in the Ural Mountains and Western Siberia , settled in the Carpathian Basin and established the Principality of Hungary . The earliest recorded concept of Europe as a cultural sphere (instead of simply a geographic term) was formed by Alcuin of York in the late 8th century during
8346-412: The first discussions of a Mitteleuropa in the mid-nineteenth century, as espoused by Friedrich List and Karl Ludwig Bruck . These were mostly based on economic issues. Mitteleuropa may refer to a historical concept or a contemporary German definition of Central Europe. As a historical concept, the German term Mitteleuropa (or alternatively its literal translation into English, Middle Europe )
8453-438: The following decades. Today, the birth rate has dropped to 1.52 births per woman, under the rate of replacement. Foundlings, who may be orphans , can combine many advantages to a plot: mysterious antecedents, leading to plots to discover them; high birth and lowly upbringing. Foundlings have appeared in literature in some of the oldest known tales. The most common reasons for abandoning children in literature are oracles that
8560-415: The following years, Romania's birth rate nearly doubled. However, due to a lack of resources necessary to care for the abundance of children, thousands were abandoned or left to die. Other women resorted to unsafe forms of abortion carried out by people without medical training. The problem persisted until the coup that overthrew Ceaușescu in 1989. Following the coup, Romania's birthrate steadily declined for
8667-603: The form of safe haven laws , which apply to babies left in designated places such as hospitals (see, for example, baby hatch ). In the UK abandoning a child under the age of two years is a criminal offence. In 2004 49 babies were abandoned nationwide with slightly more boys than girls being abandoned. Abandonment is rife in Malaysia , where between 2005 and 2011, 517 babies were dumped. Of those 517 children, 287 were found dead. In 2012, there were 31 cases, including at least one instance of
8774-513: The legal development or the social, cultural, economic, and infrastructural developments in these countries. The avant-garde movements of Central Europe contributed to the evolution of modernism, reaching its peak throughout the continent during the 1920s. The Sourcebook of Central European avantgards (Los Angeles County Museum of Art) contains primary documents of the avant-gardes in the territories of Austria, Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia from 1910 to 1930. With
8881-432: The majority of which were girls, were abandoned and required caretaking. Non-governmental organizations stepped in to assist with the re-housing of these girls, leading to the international adoption of over 120,000 Chinese children. Today, China's fertility rate has not quite returned to the rate of replacement (the birth rate that will maintain population size under conditions of zero net immigration/emigration). In fact, in
8988-458: The move toward secrecy and the sealing of all adoption and birth records began when Charles Loring Brace introduced the concept to prevent children from the orphan trains from returning to or being reclaimed by their parents. Notable contemporary instances of child abandonment include homicidal neglect by confinement of infants or children, such as in the affair of the Osaka child abandonment case or
9095-403: The peasants in serfdom. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, but it developed further and became an object of intensive interest towards the 20th century. However, the first concept mixed science, politics, and economy – it was strictly connected with the aspirations of German states to dominate a part of European continent called Mitteleuropa . At
9202-485: The permanent loss of parental rights of the parents. Some states allow for reinstatement of the parental rights, with about half of the states in the US having had laws for this purpose. Perpetrators can also be charged with reckless abandonment if victims die as a result of their actions or neglect. Official statistics on child abandonment do not exist in most countries. In Denmark, an estimate of child abandonment prevalence
9309-407: The physical abandonment of a child. Still, it can also include severe cases of neglect and emotional abandonment, such as when parents fail to provide financial and emotional support for children over an extended period (sometimes referred to as "throwaway" children). An abandoned child is referred to as a foundling (as opposed to a runaway or an orphan ). Baby dumping refers to parents leaving
9416-521: The problem by setting up international adoptions and other rehoming methods but were largely ineffective. To this day, attempts are being made to link American veterans to children that they may have fathered during their time in Vietnam as well as children to their families in Vietnam. Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu: During the rule of Communist politician Nicolae Ceaușescu , Romania underwent drastic changes to its populace. Ceaușescu, in an attempt to form
9523-448: The region includes some or all of the states listed in the sections below: Depending on the context, Central European countries are sometimes not seen as a specific group, but sorted as either Eastern or Western European countries. In this case Austria, Germany and Switzerland are often placed in Western Europe, while Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia are placed in Eastern Europe. Croatia
9630-424: The rising nationalism and ethnocentrism that typified that period. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe. Before World War I, it embraced mainly German-speaking states, with non-German speaking territories being an area of intended German penetration and domination – German leadership was to be the 'natural' result of economic dominance. Post-war, the Eastern part of Central Europe
9737-734: The territories of Poland and Lithuania were part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . Meanwhile, the Archduchy of Austria , the Kingdom of Bohemia (Czech Republic), the Duchy of Carniola (part of present-day Slovenia), the various German Principalities and the Old Swiss Confederacy were within the Holy Roman Empire . By the end of the 18th century, the Habsburg monarchy , a prominent power within
9844-535: The time. By 1873, the asylum had relocated most of its operations to a larger facility at 61st Street and Amsterdam Avenue. A House of Reception remained downtown until at least 1900. The asylum also opened its first country branch in Flushing in 1872, which operated until 1881, followed by a second branch in Mount Vernon in 1878. In 1897, there were approximately 200 children living at the Mount Vernon branch. In 1899,
9951-496: The transformation process of the Visegrád Group countries in different, though comparable ways. According to him, in Germany's contemporary public discourse "Central European identity" refers to the civilizational divide between Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. He argued that there is no precise way to define Central Europe and that the region may even include Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia and Serbia. The issue of how to name and define
10058-763: The uncle in anger. When older children are abandoned in fairy tales, while poverty may be cited as a cause, as in Hop o' My Thumb , also called Thumbelina, the most common effect is when poverty is combined with a stepmother 's malice, as in Hansel and Gretel (or sometimes, a mother's malice). The stepmother's wishes may be the sole cause, as in Father Frost . In these stories, the children seldom find adoptive parents, but malicious monsters, such as ogres and witches; outwitting them, they find treasure enough to solve their poverty. The stepmother may die coincidentally, or be driven out by
10165-411: The uniform use of geographical names, proposes two sets of boundaries. The first follows international borders of current countries. The second subdivides and includes some countries based on cultural criteria. In comparison to some other definitions, it is broader, including Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, and in the second sense, parts of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Serbia, Italy, and France. There
10272-417: The war-torn country. Locally, these children were known as " children of the dust ." Operation Babylift was established by the US government in an effort to bring over 3,300 children, many but not all of whom were abandoned, orphaned, or mixed-race, leading to fears of their exploitation, to Western countries to be adopted, with varying degrees of success. Non-governmental organizations attempted to alleviate
10379-497: The years since the relinquishing of the policy, China's fertility rate has only risen .04 per family. Vietnam War: During and following the Vietnam War , it is estimated that roughly 50,000 babies were born of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. A large contingent of these children were either unwanted due to the circumstances of their conception or unable to be cared for due to the lack of available resources and assistance in
10486-452: Was 1.7 infants per 100,000 births, with another source suggesting higher prevalence in Central and Eastern European countries such as Slovakia with data suggesting 4.9 per 1,000 live births. In 2015, the United States' government spent over $ 9 billion to support 427,910 children who were in foster care . Child abandonment is illegal in most of the world, and depending upon the facts of
10593-510: Was also nursed by a bear before being found. In some cases, the child is depicted as being raised by animals ; however, in actuality, feral children have proven to be incapable of speech. The theme of young boys being raised by leading women of the early Mongol Empire is prominent in sources such as the Secret History of the Mongols . For example, the young Shigi Qutuqu was found wandering
10700-567: Was at the time in personal union with the Kingdom of Hungary, served as a significant maritime gateway of Central Europe, with its ports facilitating key trade routes between Central Europe and the Mediterranean. The Republic of Ragusa emerged as a prominent hub for cultural exchange during this time. Following the Ottoman and Habsburg wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, the Kingdom of Croatia, under Habsburg rule , began to regain its position as
10807-561: Was divided by the Iron Curtain into two parts, the capitalist Western Bloc and the socialist Eastern Bloc , although Austria, Switzerland and Yugoslavia (encompassing the territories of present-day Croatia, Slovenia and various other Balkans nations) declared neutrality. The Berlin Wall was one of the most visible symbols of this division. Respectively, countries in Central Europe have historical, cultural and geopolitical ties with these wider regions of Europe. Central Europe began
10914-656: Was dominated by Byzantine cultural influence. After the East–West Schism in 1054, significant parts of Eastern Europe developed cultural unity and resistance to Catholic Western and Central Europe within the framework of the Eastern Orthodox Church , Church Slavonic language and the Cyrillic alphabet . According to historian Jenő Szűcs , at the end of the first millennium Central Europe became influenced by Western European developments. Szűcs argued that between
11021-552: Was inhabited by Baltic tribes. Amongst them were the Samogitians , Aukštaitians and Curonians . The Holy Roman Empire was founded at the turn of the 9th century, following the coronation of Charlemagne by Pope Leo III . At its inception, it incorporated present-day Germany and nearby regions, including parts of what is now Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Switzerland. Three decades later, Great Moravia , centred in present-day Czech Republic and Slovakia, became one of
11128-679: Was placed at the centre of the concept. At that time the scientists took an interest in the idea: the International Historical Congress in Brussels in 1923 was committed to Central Europe, and the 1933 Congress continued the discussions. According to Emmanuel de Martonne , in 1927, Central Europe encompassed Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Switzerland, northern Italy and northern Yugoslavia. The author uses both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, but he doesn't take into account
11235-428: Was scarce. Its evolution and mergers reflect the changing landscape of child and maternal care in New York City. 12th Annual Report of the New York Infant Asylum (1885) [1] Child abandonment Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring in an illegal way, with the intent of never resuming or reasserting guardianship. The phrase is typically used to describe
11342-713: Was so fashionable that other languages started referring to it when indicating territories from Rhine to Vistula , or even Dnieper , and from the Baltic Sea to the Balkans . An example of this vision of Central Europe may be seen in Joseph Partsch 's book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein (Central European Economic Association) was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany and Austria (with eventual extension to Switzerland, Belgium and
11449-401: Was to provide a safe and nurturing environment for unwanted children until they could be placed in homes. Additionally, the asylum offered obstetrical care to unwed or indigent women, emphasising the importance of both mother and child care. The asylum's policies allowed unwed mothers to receive care during their first pregnancy but not for subsequent pregnancies, reflecting the moral standards of
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