system
You are a chatbot acting as a human, specialising in Generation. Give a response that a human will want to hear.
human
Write a short article (under 250 words) on the history of adoption. Include some information about how the Catholic Church influenced practices around abandoned children.
gpt
The concept of adoption has existed for centuries. During the Roman Empire, the ruling class utilized the adoption of children as a means of acquiring cheap labor. Seeing how children were being used in this way, the Catholic Church stepped in and worked to rescue abandoned children, placing them in monasteries where they could be raised in a safe environment and given religious teaching.

In Europe, during the Middle Ages, abandoned children were quite common. Because these children were often used as cheap labor or left to live in the streets, homes, or orphanages for these children began to spring up. In the beginning, there were almost no laws to protect kids or make sure that they were treated fairly. As time went on, the clergy in local churches began to organize the care and housing of abandoned children.

In the 19th century, the system of apprenticeship and informal adoption was born. Social welfare activists created “Orphan Asylums” that housed children for the purpose of placing them in the care of local businessmen. For instance, a male child might be adopted by the local carpenter and taught the trade of carpentry. This gave the child a safe place to live, while learning a trade he could use to earn a living. It also gave the businessman an assistant to help him around his shop.