random stuff
editCase in 1889, several infants passed through the hands of a Mrs Arnold of Wolverton had died. An inquest on another child, who had died in her care, found that she had been paid £30 to take it. She then farmed it to another woman in Tooting, for the first year paying her 25s a month, and thereafter about 20s a month. When the payments stopped, the child was returned. It died shortly after, and at the inquest was reported to have weighed only 14lb, with a shrunken stomach and intestines, indicating malnourishment. The jury returned an open verdict, but expressed their concern about the neglect shown, and their hope that the laws covering baby farming would be amended. (reporting the case the BMJ wanted the Infant Life Protection Act amended to more closely resemble the original bill, so that all children up to five or six years of age placed in the care of baby farmers should be supervised, and that payments for the adoption of children should be prohibited except under "the strictest safeguards".[1]