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The abandoned child is called a foundling or '''throwaway''' (as opposed to a Runaway or an Orphan ). CHILD ABANDONMENT IN REAL LIFE in London]] Poverty is often a root cause of child abandonment. Persons in cultures with poor social welfare systems who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon him/her. Political conditions, such as difficulty in adoption proceedings, may also contribute to child abandonment, as can the lack of institutions, such as Orphanage s, to take in children whom their parents can not support. Societies with strong social structures and liberal adoption laws tend to have lower rates of child abandonment. Historically, many cultures practice abandonment of infants, called "exposure." Although such children would survive if taken up by others, exposure is often considered a form of and Prostitution . Early laws governing child abandonment often prescribed that the person who had taken up the child, either to adopt or to raise as a slave, was entitled to the child. This both discourages the practice of exposure and encourages strangers to take up exposed children. The Visigothic Code: (Forum judicum), Book IV: Concerning Natural Lineage Title IV: Concerning Foundlings Today, abandonment of a child is considered to be a serious Crime in many jurisdictions of the United States because it can be considered Malum In Se and due to Welfare concerns. For example, in the U.S. State of Georgia , it is a Misdemeanor to willfully and voluntarily abandon a child, and a Felony to abandon one's child ''and'' leave the state. In 1981, Georgia's escalation of abandonment from a misdemeanor to a felony — based solely upon the defendant's flight from the state — was upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court .''Jones v. Helms'', . CHILD ABANDONMENT IN LITERATURE . Romulus and Remus given shelter by Faustulus.]] Foundlings, who may be , '' Anatomy Of Criticism '', p 198, ISBN 0-691-01298-9 The most common reasons for abandoning children in literature are Oracles that 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 Tale s as '' The Dancing Water, The Singing Apple, And The Speaking Bird ''. Poverty usually features as a cause only with the case of older children, who can survive on their own. Indeed, most such characters are of royal or noble birth; their abandonment means they grow up in ignorance of their true social status. Josepha Sherman , ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 55-6 ISBN 0-87483-387-6 In many tales, such as '' Snow White '', the child is actually abandoned by a servant who had been given orders to put the child to death. Abandoned children often are abandoned with birth tokens, which act as '' reveals 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. Francis James Child , ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 2, p 68, Dover Publications, New York 1965 to the fairy tale '' Princess Belle-Etoile '']] From '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 the abandonment and discovery of Perdita in '' The Winter's Tale '', and Edmund Spenser reveals in the last Canto of Book 6 of '' The Faerie Queen '' that the character Pastorella, raised by shepherds, is in fact of noble birth. Henry Fielding , in one of the first novels, recounted '' The History Of Tom Jones, A Foundling ''. Ruth Benedict, in studying the Zuni, found that the practice of child abandonment was unknown, but featured heavily in their folktales.Maria Tatar, ''The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales'', p60, ISBN 0-691-06722-8 The strangers who take up the child are often shepherds or other herdsmen. This befell not only Oedipus, but also Cyrus The Great , Amphion And Zethus , and several of the characters listed above. Romulus And Remus were suckled by 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 was also nursed by a bear before being found.Jane Yolen, p 73, ''Touch Magic'' ISBN 0-87483-591-7 In some cases, the child is depicted as being Raised By Animals ; however, in actuality, feral children are incapable of speech.Jane Yolen, p 74, ''Touch Magic'' ISBN 0-87483-591-7 Moses is unusual in that he is taken up by a princess, who is of superior birth to his mother, but like the other foundlings listed above, he reaches adulthood and returns to his birth family. This is the usual pattern in such stories. The opposite pattern, of a child remaining with its adoptive parents, is less common but 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, let alone reunites with, his parents. George Eliot depicted 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 raised her. : the children die in each other's arms, and the robins take up leaves to bury them]] When older children are abandoned in fairy tales, while poverty may be cited as a cause, as in '' Hop O' My Thumb '', 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 witchesJack Zipes, ''The Great Fairy Tale Tradition: From Straparola and Basile to the Brothers Grimm'', p 474, ISBN 0-393-97636-X; outwitting them, they find treasure enough to solve their poverty. The stepmother may die coincidentally, or be driven out by 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 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. 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 the uncle in anger. Foundlings still appear in modern literature. Superman may be seen as a continuation of the foundling tradition, the lone survivor of an advanced civilization who is found and raised by Kansas farmers in a pastoral setting, and later discovers his alien origins and uses his powers for good.Josepha Sherman, ''Once upon a Galaxy'' p 55 ISBN 0-87483-387-6 Elora Danan , in the film '' Willow '', and Lir, in the novel '' The Last Unicorn '', both continue the tradition of foundlings abandoned because of prophecies, and who fulfill the prophecies because of their abandonment. In the last book of '' The Chronicles Of Prydain '', Dallben reveals to the hero Taran that he is a foundling; in a story set in the same world, "The Foundling", Dallben himself proves to be also a foundling. In the television series Futurama , Turanga Leela is abandoned by her mutant parents at an orphanage in the hopes of a better life. NOTABLE FOUNDLINGS SEE ALSO NOTES REFERENCES
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