The Great Depression
One might wonder why Elliot’s parents abandoned her in 1931, that too, in the middle of the Arizona desert. There can only be speculations, but there was historic reasoning which may have encouraged it. The1930s were some of the most difficult years the US had seen. It was a decade of struggle, poverty, and gloom.
Source: twitter.com
During that time, it wasn’t unheard of for struggling, newly-wed couples to abandon their babies. Child abandonment reached epidemic proportions, with abandoned babies being labeled as “doorstep babies.” This term arose when children were increasingly being left in front of churches, hospitals, a neighbor’s house, and fields.