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"Foundling institutions" as a book category centers on stories and nonfiction that revolve around places—foundling hospitals, orphanages, baby farms, adoption agencies, and other welfare institutions—where abandoned, orphaned, or relinquished children are housed, raised, or processed. These works often explore themes of identity, belonging, family (chosen and biological), social class, and the moral and bureaucratic systems that shape children’s lives, ranging from historical accounts of 18th–20th century foundling hospitals to contemporary examinations of child welfare, adoption, and foster care. Settings can be institutional and atmospheric, producing genres from gritty social realism and historical fiction to mystery, legal drama, memoir, and investigative journalism; recurring motifs include secrecy, paperwork and record-keeping, clandestine adoptions, escape or rescue, and the search for origins. Characters commonly include foundlings and their caregivers, reformers, social workers, doctors, corrupt officials, and adoptive families, allowing stories to interrogate power, compassion, and the consequences of policy. Readers are often drawn to emotional, character-driven narratives as well as nonfiction rooted in archival research and social critique.

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