ABSTRACT
Fostering and adoption are the two main alternative mechanisms of childcare utilized in all human societies when parents are unable or unwilling to care for their offspring. Thus, both forms of childcare have always been a common feature of every human society. In the Judaeo-Christian scriptures, for example, Joseph (son of Jacob), Moses and Jesus provide archetypical examples of adopted or fostered figures. In antiquity, legendary examples include Oedipus, Alexander the Great (King of Macedonia) and Aristotle. In and around the Victorian era in Western societies, Jean Jacques Rousseau (philosopher) and Charles Dickens may represent well-known adopted persons. In modern times, we have such grandees as Eleanor Roosevelt (First Lady), Winston Churchill, Malcolm X, Nancy Reagan (First Lady), Nelson Mandela, US Presidents Gerald Ford, William (Bill) Clinton and Barack Hussein Obama.
