In the west of Ireland, fosterage and adoption are correlated with illegitimacy. No one would be so cruel or foolish as to abandon one's own child unless there was a powerful reason for doing so. Conception out of wedlock is one such reason. This article attempts to carry out an analysis which is not theoretical but contextual or situational. It examines the ideology of kinship and family relationships and their associated social values in rural western Ireland. The aim is to bring meaning to the life and experiences of a particular individual, an illegitimate child fostered on a family farm in the west of Ireland, by means of an exploration of the ideology of blood and its social reverberations.