The present paper studies the way the overseas Chamber of the Capitania do Rio Grande de São Pedro in southern Brazil, dealt with child abandonment in the late colonial period. The legislation, ultimately, made these institutions responsible for raising funds for hiring wet nurses to care for the foundlings. The main goal of this paper is to determine how this administration worked after the division of the Capitania in four counties, focusing on the Chamber of Porto Alegre (capital of the province) and the Chamber of Rio Pardo (the biggest village of the province) as the main subjects of study.