Ontario Government Funding and Supervision of Infants’ Homes 1875–1893

Abstract

Prior to 1893, the Ontario government did not accept direct responsibility for the care of neglected and dependent infants. However, charitable infants’ homes received government grants for the infants and for their nursing mothers, and from 1874 were inspected annually or twice annually. Most of these infants were illegitimate, most of their mothers were poor, and many were in poor physical condition, and thus their chances of survival outside such homes was poor. The success of these homes and the effectiveness of government inspection can thus be judged in part by the mortality rate among the infants admitted.