That generation was very progressive and reared many good men and women. whose children benefitted. Most of the orphans were immigrants who left a lot worse life than working on a farm. Many were street kids. Some were abused but we can say the same for biological parents, especially today.
Yeah, I agree. From what I've read, it was a crapshoot. Some of them found good homes, while others did not. I'm sure that even in some of the homes where the adopting parents were looking primarily for help on their farm, it doesn't necessarily follow that the kids were treated poorly, although some were. I was a foster parent for a time, and, while I pretty much did my own thing, I did get to know some of the other foster parents to some extent, and some just wanted the paycheck and weren't going to spend a penny more than they had to in order to keep the child alive and themselves out of trouble, while others took in foster children because these children were in need.
What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger, for the first 30 years of my life, I was a good example of this. I consider myself lucky to have survived and grew from it. Today's youth are weak, both physical and mental.