Salvation Army Maternity Home and Hospital, Wilmington, Adjutant Ina DePew, Superintendent.
Chief of medical staff: Dr. J. B. Cranmar.
Board of Trustees: Evangeline C. Booth, Thomas Estill, Richard E. Holtz, Gustav Reinharden, Arthur T. Brewer.
Advisory Board: Mrs. Walter Parsley, Mrs. W. B. Cooper, Mrs. Dr. Sidbury, Mrs. Will Render, Mrs. Andrew Howell.
Estimated value of plant: $14,000.
Capacity of institution: 45.
This institution was licensed by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare in May, 1925. It admits pregnant women between the ages of twelve and thirty years who are first offenders. Inmates are kept from three to six months. There is a registered nurse in charge. A thorough physical examination is given each inmate in from 24 to 48 hours after admission, and specimens tested for venereal disease by the State Board of Health.
An effort is made to provide recreation for the inmates by occasional entertainments and indoor and outdoor games. There is opportunity for outdoor exercise in the large well-shaded back yard. The inmates are taught domestic science and plain sewing. They help with all the work of the institution. Religious services are held regularly. There is no library, but two daily papers and a number of magazines are taken. Since the opening of the institution to July 30, 1926, 116 girls have been received and 89 dismissed. Of these 68 were dismissed to parents; 4 to welfare officers; 9 placed in domestic service; 9 sent to other institutions; 6 placed in other positions, and 2 married. One hundred and one babies were born, 12 died, 70 were dismissed with mothers; and 19 remained in the Home.
The income of the Salvation Army Maternity Home and Hospital, in addition to the entrance fee and board required of inmates, is an allowance from Salvation Army Divisional Headquarters and volunteer donations. Entrance fee is $35.00, and board is $10.00 per month.
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Florence Crittenton Industrial Home, Charlotte, Mrs. Edna P. Cowgill, Superintendent.
Medical staff: Dr. Annie L. Alexander, Dr. Thomas B. Ross.
Board of Trustees: J. A. Bell, J.. H. Wearn, J. B. Ivey, W. W. Hagood, J. A. Yarborough, A. H. Washburn, Dr. A. A. McGeachy, Dolph M. Young, Heriot Clarkson, Fred N". Tate, J. R. Boyd, Charles Toms, J. E. Latham, Geo. N". Mountcastle, E. H. Kochitzky, Robt. N. Glenn, R. M. Hanes.
Auxiliary Board: Mrs. R. H. Bouligny, Mrs. Walter Davidson, Mrs. J. A. Yarborough, Mrs. J. P. Kennedy, Mrs. Geo. E. Wilson, Dr. Annie L. Alexander, Dr. Thos. B. Ross, Mrs. Hamilton C. Jones, Miss Eva Liddell, Miss Florence M. Young, Miss Carrie L. McLean. Estimated value of plant : $30,000 to $35,000.
Capacity of institution: 30 girls.
The Florence Crittenton Industrial Home admits unmarried pregnant women who are first offenders. There are no age restrictions. They do not have a registered nurse in charge. Physical examinations are made within twenty-four hours after admission, and tests made for venereal disease. Inmates are kept from 8 to 10 months, and are required to stay six months after birth of baby unless circumstances are exceptional.
There is a piano, radio and victrola at the institution, and the beginning of a library with 115 volumes. One daily paper is taken. Outdoor exercise is provided for pregnant girls in the yard. Other girls are taken on hikes.
Florence Crittenton Home is supported by volunteer contributions and a small fee which is required of all inmates. This fee is $90.00 — $25.00 entrance, $25.00 medical, $25.00 expenses incurred during confinement, and $15.00 for layette.
The records of this institution have been so inadequately kept that it is impossible to make any definite statement in regard to the population Since November, 1925, however, a better system of record keeping has been installed so that this information will be available in the future.
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Greensboro Rest Cottage, Greensboro, Mrs. Helen M. Vandemark, Superintendent.
Chief of Medical Staff: Dr. B. R. Lyon.
Board of Trustees: C. H. Ireland, J. H. Armfield, W. R. Cox, J. L. Crouse, E. P. Wharton, Dr. B. R. Lyon, Mrs. J. P. Turner, Mrs. W. E. Blair, Mrs. George Stansbury, Mrs. Moody Stroud.
Estimated value of plant: $25,000.
Capacity of institution: 10 girls.
Rest Cottage admits unmarried pregnant women. The age limit is 25 years. There is a registered nurse in charge. An examination for venereal disease is required before admission, and no girl is accepted who is found to be infected. No patient is taken for less than six months. Recreation is provided by a phonograph, daily papers and magazines. The girls get outdoor exercise in a large back yard and garden. Religious services are held regularly.
The Home, as it is called, is supported by a small fee from patients, Greensboro Community Chest, the city of Greensboro, and county of Guilford. There are a few individual contributions. The fee is $25.00 per month, payable in advance.
Fifty-four girls were received, 43 dismissed. Thirty-five babies were born, one being still born. Here again, no adequate records were kept.
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Faith Cottage, Asheville, Lucius B. Compton, Superintendent.
Chief of Medical Staff: Dr. P. B. Orr.
Board of Trustees: Lucius B. Compton, Mrs. Lucius B. Compton, Miss Alma Gramann. Capacity of institution: 18.
Estimated value of plant: $35,000.
Faith Cottage receives any girl or woman in need of the services of a maternity home. There are no age limits or restrictions. The most destitute cases are given preference. Tests are made and treatment given for venereal disease by the physician in charge twenty-four hours after admission. There is a registered nurse in charge. Inmates are kept six months and everything is done to encourage mothers to nurse their babies for this length of time at least. The inmates help with all the work of the Home. Religious services are held regularly. There is a small library and one daily paper, and two religious magazines are taken.
Faith Cottage is supported largely by private donations. Each girl is required to pay a medical fee of $25.00 and those who are able pay $15.00 per month board.
Fifty-four girls have been received and 41 dismissed. Here again such inadequate records have been kept that no satisfactory report on the movement of population can be given.
Remarks
Much time and effort has been spent by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare during the past biennium in trying to raise the standard of maternity homes and insure better care for the child born out of wedlock. (The requirements now established are included in this report.) Apparently the medical service in the four maternity homes licensed by the board is good, and there is an effort made to do some constructive work with the girl while she is an inmate of the institution, but further than this, service to the unmarried mother and her child does not go. There is not an adequate system of follow up work which should include plans for helping the mother re-establish herself in society, and be responsible for her child whenever this is advisable.
How big a problem illegitimacy is is shown by the records of the State Board of Health which reports 8,009 illegitimate births during the last biennium. What is becoming of these mothers and their babies? The records of the maternity homes operating under license are so inadequately kept that it is impossible for us to give any definite information in regard to the comparatively few cases cared for by them. What are some of the causes of illegitimacy? From what kind of homes and communities are these unmarried mothers coming? Is illegitimacy increasing? These are some of the things we should be making an effort to know.
Of great importance is the future of the child of unmarried parents. What has become of these 8,000 or more children, and what is the State doing to insure them adequate protection and care? The number reported is more than the total population of all the orphanages and the North Carolina Children's Home Society combined. In so far as we are able to learn comparatively little effort is made by any agency to establish paternity of the 8,000 fathers of these children and have the father assume some responsibility for them. Legislation for this purpose is totally inadequate. At the present time $200.00 is the maximum amount that may be legally required of the father when paternity is established. This hardly takes care of the mother during her confinement or incarceration in a maternity home. Little in the way of permanent care or responsibility, either moral or financial, may be legally required. The jurisdiction for bastardy cases, as they are termed, is in the magistrate's court. This court cannot impose a fine to exceed $200.00. Jurisdiction should be removed to the Superior Court, and a more adequate statute provided.
The unmarried mother presents a tragic figure. The bonds of matrimony do not make mother love any deeper than that which the unmarried mother has for her child, any more than the physical act of bringing a child into the world makes real parents. Some of the most devoted mothers never wear a wedding ring, and others, protected by all the bonds of ring and Book, are devoid of all maternal instinct.
Everything possible should be done to help the unmarried mother who is physically and mentally fit to keep her child. It is her best protection against a second offense and the child has a right to be considered. To the credit of the unmarried mother be it said that she is usually willing and ready to care for her child — it's the family and the community who make this impossible.
When the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare has a more adequate staff it plans to keep in close touch with the maternity homes in order to help them work out plans for the disposition of mothers and children cared for by them, and to see that none of the children are given over to exploitation and neglect.
-=- License Refused Maternity Homes
American Rescue Workers, Charlotte. Restview Home, Winston-Salem.
Requirements Governing the License and Conduct of Maternity Homes in North Carolina
In order to be assured that maternity homes in North Carolina conform to a standard satisfactory to the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare, the following requirements must be complied with before a license is granted:
1. That an advisory committee consisting of five local citizens be appointed to keep in touch with the financial and social conditions of the home.
(The work of the committee is of a two-fold nature — first to supervise the expenditures of funds and general oversight of the finances of the home; second, to pass on all cases seeking admission and also those leaving the home. No girl shall be allowed to leave the home until a thorough investigation of the home of the girl has been made and presented to the committee who shall have the final word in the discharge of the girl. In the event she does not have a home to go to the committee shall find a suitable place for her which shall be approved by the Superintendent of Public Welfare in that county.)
2. That the premises of the home shall be kept in a sanitary and hygienic condition.
3. That the medical staff of the home include one registered nurse and one licensed physician.
4. That the delivery room of the hospital shall be adequately equipped.
5. That every person entering the hospital as a patient shall be given a thorough physical examination, with Wasserman test, within twenty-four hours after entrance.
6. That no greater number of women shall be kept at one time than is authorized by license.
7. That the home shall keep adequate records in the forms prescribed by the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare. The information shall be completely and adequately kept, and shall be truly recorded therein upon the entrance of the patient or within a reasonable time thereafter.
8. That the home shall not engage in the business of child-placing. (Any child born in the home who is illegitimate and whose father is unknown and whose mother shall be unable to care for it shall be turned over to the Juvenile Court.)
9. That the application for license shall be approved by the local board of charities and public welfare.
10. That the child and mother must not be separated under six months, except under such conditions as the law provided.
Salvation Army Emergency Home for Women and Children, Charlotte
Mrs. Arthur Hopkins, Superintendent.
Licensed September, 1925.
Resident Matron: Mrs. Kate Frye.
Advisory Board: John W. Fox, F. D. Alexander, Herman Cross, H. M. McAden, J. M. Harry, Fred Anderson, Mrs. Munn, W. H. Wood, W. G. Jarrell, T. Cam. Allen, Dr. Oren Moore, Thomas Griffith, Chas. K. Hecht, Claude A. Cochran, D. E. Myers, Felix Hayman, C. C. Kuester, George Stratton, Paul R. Yountz, Dr. Lindsay, Mrs. Oren Moore, Major Arthur Hopkins.
The Salvation Army Emergency Home for Women and Children is largely supported by volunteer contribution. It is conveniently located and at the time of inspection was clean and simple, but adequately furnished. It maintains ten beds for adults and three for children. The Home serves a useful purpose in offering temporary care for stranded or incapacitated women and children, and cooperates with other social agencies in its capacity of Emergency Home.
One hundred and forty-six persons were helped from the time the Home opened to June 30, 1926.
Pages 24-30 of the Biennial Report of the State Board of Charities and Public Welfare to the General Assembly of North Carolina, published in 1926
The 150-page report is available online through the Internet Archive, with the section on Maternity homes beginning here: archive.org/details/biennialreportof1926nort/page/24/mode/2up
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