Adoption in Atarashi

Adoption Overview
Adopting a child in Atarashi refers to one of four things: putting a roof over a child's head, taking a child on as an apprentice, having a child named under the Pantheon, or acquiring a child for the purposes of marriage.

Adoption in Atarashi is seldom conducted in the interest of the child. In fact, more often than not, the opposite is true. Orphaned and abandoned children are occasionally taken in by the rich and powerful to become household servants, and orphanages or other institutions will occasionally adopt children out informally, to those same rich and powerful people, as a means of obtaining cheap labour or a bride.

There are very few rules in place when it comes to how institutions are run in Atarashi, though there are rules that allow boys to be apprenticed to artisans and girls to be married off under the authority of the institution in which they reside. When an adopted child perishes, their body is returned to the institution (by the family who acquired them) for burial.

Adopting a child to raise that child, as is done in the modern world when procreation is an undesirable or impossible option, is not often done in Atarashi. This is largely due to the extreme costs that come with adopting a child from an orphanage or institution. It is cheaper for most who want a child to raise as their own to either adopt a child from an orphanage in Britain (now that the gateway is opened) or kidnap a child and claim it as their own.

Even those who possess the funds have to jump through hoops to acquire a child for the purposes of raising them. In fact, for most, adoption is regulated by many rules requiring adopters to be over a certain age, sterile, older that the adopted person by a specific age, and to have fostered the adoptee for a period of time.

Adoption and Titles
Atarashi law is against adoption by Royalty as it contradicts the customary rules of inheritance. When it comes to those of lower nobility, however, things are a little bit muddy. In Atarashi, bloodlines are paramount amongst the upper class and aristocracy; a noble lacking in a natural-born heir may find himself replaced once he has passed away, his adopted heir unable to claim his titles. There are those who have attempted to circumvent this, however, by claiming that their adopted heir is, in fact, a natural-born heir, even going so far as to fake a pregnancy to ensure that the child cannot be claimed a bastard.

Orphanage Overview
Orphanages in Atarashi are not nice places to live, despite the attempts of some of their staff. Owned by nobles and operated by those who work for them, orphanages often have to make do with very little. Each month, the noble provides a stipend, which must be stretched to cover the operating costs (food, clothing, bedding, wages, etc), leaving the staff and children to make clothes and bedding last as long as possible, and to ration food accordingly. No additional resources are available, as both requesting more funding and accepting donations of any kind is seen as highly insulting to the noble patron.

Gender segregation is a part of life in every orphanage. Many simply only accept children of one gender, and even those that house both boys and girls keep them separate at all times. Integrated orphanages employ more staff simply because they require males to work with the boys and females to take care of the girls. Male staff never interact with the female orphans and the same is true in reverse.

Orphanages are staffed by as few people as the noble thinks they can get away with, in order to save on costs. Most household duties are carried out by the orphans themselves as a means of earning their keep, with the staff mostly serving to supervise. Volunteer staff are accepted only in a very limited capacity, as a cook or cleaner, and kept away from the orphans. The last thing a noble wants is some bleeding heart they do not control with money getting upset over the condition of the children. For similar reasons, it is highly unusual for a non-Atarashi to be given a job in an orphanage. Any foreigner would have to be well-liked by the noble in charge or possess an invaluable skill.

Known Orphanages
While there are many, smaller orphanages littered around the country, Atarashi is home to seven, well known orphanages. Known orphanages refer to legally run and licensed establishments that operate with the direct knowledge and influence of a Noble and/or the Crown. When referring to an orphanage, there are two terms that are commonly used to convey the type of orphanage in question:


 * Mikusuto refers to an orphanage created due to the amalgamation of two single-sex orphanages. The sexes are still segregated within the orphanage walls, but these orphanages have been integrated to a certain degree.
 * Shinguru refers to a single-sex orphanage that has never been combined with another orphanage (single sex or otherwise). These orphanages are usually religious in nature or run by sexist nobles.

Ardwick Orphanage
Located in North Kaida, Ardwick Orphanage is owned and controlled by the Baron(ess) Ardwick upon whose land it resides. A Shinguru orphanage, Ardwick accepts only female orphans and it has been this way since its founding nearly fifty years ago. It has been rumoured that any child who leaves this orphanage (regardless of the reason) will return dead within six months of their departure.

Mayford Orphanage
Mayford Orphanage in East Kaida is a Mikusuto orphanage that is owned and controlled by the Baron(ess) Mayford. For over two hundred years, this orphanage has remained in the Baron(ess)'s family. Though it is somewhat squalid, Mayford has a reputation for being one of the more hospitable orphanages in Atarashi, and for taking care of the children in its care better than most other orphanages.

Wolverhampton Orphan Asylum
Wolverhampton Orphan Asylum is a name that sounds terrifying to most, and that is primarily due to the fact that it is owned and controlled by none other than Prince Jotar Kothas. A Shinguru orphanage accepting only male orphans, Wolverhampton has very strict policies when it comes to what can and cannot be done within its walls. Perhaps the most controversial of its rules relates to homosexuality: any child displaying homosexual tendencies is cast out by order of the Prince.

Wool's Orphanage
The West Quadrant of Tawa plays host to Wool's Orphanage, owned and controlled by Prince Tobin and Princess Catherine. A Mikusuto orphanage, Wool's has been in operation for two years and stands on the ground of the old Willow Tree orphanage, declared condemned and demolished. Wool's plays host to the young girls previously living in Willow Tree and the young boys from a nearby orphanage declared unfit for habitation.

Salrynn's Home for Children
The Marquis (Marchioness) of Northumbria owns and controls Salrynn's Home for Children in Mota. The orphanage does not accept any foreign children, turning them away to the streets, but does treat the Atarashi children in the orphanage fairly decently in comparison to how they are treated elsewhere. It is a highly religious orphanage located in a citadel but, unlike most religious orphanages, it is a Mikusuto orphanate.

Darenth Boy's Home
Owned and controlled by the Marquis (Marchioness) of Mercia, Darenth Boy's Home in Kunoho is more of a glorified workhouse for young boys than it is an orphanage. A Shinguru orphanage, Darenth Boy's Home is known for evicting its charges on their fourteenth birthday if they have not been adopted, though the odd one or two are given a job at the orphanage if a position is open.

Nazareth House
Located in the heart of Takasu, Nazareth House in Takasu is owned and controlled by the Baron upon whose land it was built. The orphanage is Shinguru, allowing only for young girls to reside there. Horror stories circulate the orphanage whenever a new girl is brought in, though they never leave the walls; stories of the Baron using the girls for sex in order for them to stay. It is no secret in Takasu that the girls are turned to prostitution from the age of fourteen in order to pay their debts to the Baron.