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Saturday, February 18, 2023

Not Enough Room at Orphanages for Children Who Need Help, Feb. 18, 1923

More than 1,500 Applications to Orphanages. . . Of this Number Only 431 Were Admitted last Year According to Survey of Orphanages and Conditions of Institutions Made by State Board Public Welfare

In the 25 orphanages in North Carolina, 2,940 dependent children were being cared for at present, according to a thorough survey of the State’s child-caring institutions made by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, one of whose functions it is to supervise these institutions and made recommendations for their improvement. The results of this survey, which have been carefully tabulated, give a comprehensive view of how the orphanages are meeting the problem of the dependent child in this State.

These figures, 2,940, do not represent half the number of North Carolina’s dependent children, officials of the State Board declare. It is stated that because of lack of room the orphanages are forced to turn away yearly many more children then they are able to admit. Estimates made from reports in the office of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare put the total of the State’s dependent children at 6,000 at the very lowest. A visit to every orphanage in North Carolina was recently made by Miss Mary G. Shotwell of the Bureau of Child Welfare of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. The administration and work of each was carefully studied and a full report written. To each superintendent was sent a questionnaire dealing with five phases of institutional management: administration, finances, number of children received and dismissed, education, and physical care. The answers to these were tabulated.

According to this survey, 1,5?? Applications for admission were received by the orphanages in North Carolina last year, while only 431 children were admitted. Of the 332 children dismissed from orphanages during this time, 47 were graduated; 155 were returned to relatives; 31 were placed in homes; 28 secured positions; 21 entered college; 27 ran away; 3 were sent to the Caswell Training School; 2 died; and 17 were otherwise disposed of (no explanation of their disposition having been made by superintendents).

Go to Public Schools

Of the 2,940 children now in the orphanages of the State, 2,269 were in school last year, distributed form the first to 11th grade. It was found that there is marked decrease in the number of children who are in grades higher than the sixth. Six institutions send their children to public schools in the community in which the orphanage is located. Three send their high school pupils to the city schools and two others received salary from the county for one or more teachers employed in the orphanage school. The number of volumes in the libraries of the orphanages runs from 50 in the small home up to 3,000 in the larger, making a total of 15,059 in all the institutions, with a total of 120 magazines.

Seventeen of the 25 institutions require a physical examination of each child upon entrance; four have a physical examination at regular intervals and eight have regular dental examinations. However, only one orphanage in the State employes a director of physical education. A total of 18 doctors, 14 dentists and 9 nurses are employed to look after the health of their children. Only 20 of the 25 orphanages provide combs and brushes; 23 furnish toothbrushes; 18 towels; and 20 washcloths.

Mental tests have been made in only one institution. These were given by Dr. Harry W. Crane, psych-pathologist of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. All of the children in this orphanage, 315 in number, were divided into groups of about 40 or 50 and given group intelligence tests. In all those cases in which the child did noticeable poor work on this group test and in which there were general conduct or school records of the institution suggesting that the individual was not adjusted, individual mental examinations were also given. As a result it was found that 43 of the 315 were definitely feeble-minded; while 49 more were sufficiently inferior in general intellectual capacity to be considered as border-line cases between normality and feeble-mindedness and to require a very special type of training. Another 41 were to be classed as dull. During course of these examinations, one case was discovered that presented symptoms indicating the initial stages of a psychosis.

Property Value at $3,880,000

The estimated value of orphanage property in the State is $3,880,000, including 162 buildings and 2,276 acres of land. Last year $904,495 was used in caring for dependent children in the orphanages. Of this amount the churches and fraternal orders gave $748,909, the State $50,000, and individuals $105,586. Improvements amounting to $242,388 are being made at the institutions. According to tabulation of information gained from answers to the State Board’s questionnaire, the average annual per capita cost of caring for the children in the orphanages in North Carolina is $195.

Because of failure to meet State requirements it was necessary last year for the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare to close two child-caring institutions and to refuse to license 10 organizations and individuals wishing to receive dependent children.

A number of special features are being worked out successfully at particular institutions. For example, one orphanage is run entirely on the cottage system which provides everything from kitchen to dining room to sleeping and play quarters in separate units of from 20 to 30 children, the family home. Several other institutions have a partial cottage system, using cottages for small children, but having congregate dining-room for the older.

One of the best features of several of the orphanages is the home-like atmosphere to be found there, according to Miss Shotwell’s report. In these the children recognize that the superintendent is their friend. Plans for developing the initiative of the individual are worked out, preventing, as far as possible, the dangers of “institutionalization,” when the individuality of the child is submerged in that of the group.

Until recently there was only one orphanage that sent its children to the public schools of the community. The children of the orphanage do not know of any other plan, and their work, says Miss Shotwell, is quite remarkable. They take part in all community activities and are considered a definite part of the community. Five other institutions are now trying this plan with good results. In six or more orphanages the children attend church and Sunday school outside the institution.

One superintendent has worked out a unique and practical plan for the teaching of thrift by paying all children over 10 years a penny a day for doing their work well. All children under 10 receive half a cent. In case of the child’s failure to do his tasks satisfactorily the penny is forfeited for that day. At the end of the month one-third of the amount due the child is placed to his credit in a savings bank to be given to him when he leaves the institution. He is allowed to spend the other two-thirds.

Establishment of a department of physical education is one of the most conspicuous pieces of work that has been accomplished in any orphanage during the past year, Miss Shotwell states. There are two divisions of this work, one for boys and one for girls, with a director for each division. The work is organized into playground activities, swimming, folk-games and scouting.

A successful plan of Mothers’ Aid has been put into operation with the local church, which appoints a committee to look after the needy cases and report to the church and the orphanage. The orphanage gives $15,000 annually and 165 children are now being kept with their mothers because of such aid.

The boys and girls who leave another orphanage have organized an alumni association which meets once a year at the institution.

“What dependent children need is exactly what all children need,” says Miss Shotwell. “Every child is a part of a family group and should be so considered. Any plan of child welfare that does not take into consideration the child’s family background in planning for his training and protection is inadequate.”

Aims of Institutions

On tis basis the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare cites several aims to be attained by child-caring institutions in North Carolina, which include:

--The cottage system.

--An institutional visitor who shall make a special study of each child before admission in order to be satisfied that every possible means of keeping the family together has been exhausted and also to secure all available knowledge concerning the child’s history and environment. This visitor, in the judgment of the Board, should also keep in touch with the children after they have been placed in new homes or returned to their own.

--Baby cottages as temporary homes. “Baby cottages should be used to keep a family of children together or for the temporary care of children when their is hope of restoring the family unit,” reads the Board’s report. “To take a very young child of normal parentage, place it in a baby cottage and plan to keep it in the institution until it reaches maturity is unwise for the reason that good foster homes can always be provided for such children. The younger a child, the more successfully he can be placed.

--Extension of the age limit of admission to orphanages. Often a child of this age has lost both parents either by death or neglect and since there is no place to send him, he runs the chance of becoming delinquent.

--A regular physical examination of all children at the time of admission; also at least annually during their stay at the institution and before discharge. The State board recommends that there be on file a continuous health record for each child.

--A director of physical education.

--A teacher of home economics to give training in food preparation, textiles and clothing, household management, and laundry work which would be included as a regular part of the school curriculum.

From page 13 of the Raleigh News & Observer, Sunday, February 18, 1923

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