Disrupted or Failed Placements
Mourning, Alonzo
Mourning's parents divorced when he was 11 and soon after that he put himself into care. He had a number of foster homes but eventually found a permanent family, where he stayed until he we... [more]
Pelzer, David J.
Pelzer was the third of five children of alcoholic parents. His father deserted the family, and David was horrifically physically abused from the age of four by his alcoholic birth mother (... [more]
Pu Chun (under Chinese Qing Dynasty)
For nearly 200 years the Qing dynasty practiced a form of adoption to secure orderly succession to the throne when the emperor was childless. It was instituted by the Yong Zheng Empero... [more]
Quinn, Phil
Quinn and his brothers went into care when their parents' violent marriage ended in divorce. After a number of foster placements, he wound up in an adoptive family where he was systematical... [more]
Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji (under India Princely States: 3)
Until the 19th century what is now India (like Europe) was a patchwork of over 650 princely states, like kingdoms, ranging from the small and relatively unimportant, to the large, immensely... [more]
Roach, Archie
Roach was one of the thousands of Aboriginal children stolen from their parents by the Australian government in an attempt to assimilate them into white society (see Australian Aboriginal ... [more]
Salter, Shane
Salter's unmarried mother was 15 when he was born in New York. She became a drug addict, and when he was four he and his younger brother were placed in care after being found wandering the ... [more]
Schweig, Eric
Schweig was born to an Inuit mother and a Chippewa Dene father in Inuvik, the Northwest Territories. At six months he was adopted by a German-Canadian family. During his childhood in Inuvi... [more]
Sissay, Lemn
Sissay was born to an unmarried Ethiopian student in England, who put him into voluntary temporary care so that she could continue her studies. The social worker illegally placed him in ... [more]
Stands In Timber, John
Stands In Timber was born the son of Stands Different and Buffalo Cow, but his father died in 1887 and his mother in 1892, and he was then raised by his grandparents. First, he and his y... [more]
