In the present article, I analysed the forsake of children at São João del Rei during the XVIII century and the first half of the XIX. I looked for the variations in the index of that practice, the motivations that stimulated it and the relationships between the children, the biological parents and the ones who received the foundling in their houses. I searched some trace about the social introduction of the foundling during their whole lifes. The most used source of information were the baptism parish registers, from the Matriz de Nossa Senhora do Pilar de São João del Rei, testament and inventories post-mortem and São João del Rei nominative list.
Foundlings; Morality; Family