Legal Definitions - fosterlean

The term fosterlean refers to a historical form of payment or compensation provided to individuals for the care and upbringing of a child who was not their biological offspring, but rather a child placed in their custody to be raised. This term is no longer in common legal use today.

Here are some examples illustrating the historical application of fosterlean:

• Imagine an 18th-century English village where a local parish council, responsible for the welfare of its poor and orphaned, arranged for a child whose parents had died to be raised by a local family. The regular stipend or payment made by the parish to this family for providing food, shelter, and education to the child would have been historically known as fosterlean.

• Consider a will from the late 19th century where a wealthy individual, upon their death, designated a guardian for their orphaned niece. The will might have stipulated an annual sum to be paid from the estate to the guardian specifically for the purpose of raising and educating the niece until she reached adulthood. This designated financial support for the child's upbringing by a non-parental guardian would exemplify fosterlean.

• In a rural American community during the mid-1800s, if a family tragically lost both parents, a neighboring family might have taken in the orphaned children to raise them. If the community, recognizing the significant financial burden, collectively contributed funds or resources to the foster family to help cover the costs of the children's care and maintenance, this communal support for rearing the foster children would align with the historical concept of fosterlean.