Young babies and children were sometimes put out to "foster" homes by the Workhouse as well - it was cheaper than providing care for them within the Workhouse. If a woman was widowed and had to return to work she had very little option but to try to find someone to care for any children too young to be left alone - you often see Nurse Children in areas where the Cotton Mills or other industry was. Same situation for a single mother. Local newspapers often carried adverts for women offering a place for a child and there are the Court records of the notorious "baby farmers" who were responsible for the deaths of many babies and infants. Dot Dorothy Holden Dover Kent England There are three things that can never be retrieved- the spoken word, time past and the neglected opportunity I volunteer for the Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness website www.raogk.org