The Foundling Museum Token Collection:
The Foundling Hospital was a place where unfit mothers, wether it was for stigma (illegitimate child), mental health, physical health, or economic reasons, could abandon their children. They were taken care of, fed, and would grow up and were provided with jobs. Before abandoning their babies, mothers would attach a token to their child’s clothing, hoping that someday they would become well enough to identify and pick their babies up again, although this rarely happened.
(Source: apagould, via thegoldensmith-deactivated20130)
