Once Upon A Time, Home Sweet Home
By Miriam Medina

Part I

(Page: 2)

The run-away also formed part of this mass of homeless children; products of physical abuse by frustrated or drunken parents/guardians, as well as the rebellious youth who were put out of doors by angry parents, running away in a fit of despair or temper, only to find themselves in the companionship of thieves and vagabonds. Many of these children were forced into bad ways, which eventually would have them end up being thrown into jail to become a worse individual than ever before. As for the street girl, unfortunately the temptations that surrounded her life would inevitably lead to a life of shame and a bottomless pit of ruin.

"In 1856 there were committed to the City Prison of girls under 10 years of age 283; in 1857 only 70, showing the surprising decrease of some 75 per cent. in one year. In 1856, of girls under 10 years there were committed for vagrancy 275; in 1857, 57, or a decrease of nearly 80 per cent. Of commitments at this age for petit larceny there were none, either in 1856 or
1857. (1)

Again of young girls from 10 to 20, there were committed in 1856, 1,427; in 1857, 1,182. For petit larceny, at the same age, in 1856, 194; in 1857, 93. For vagrancy, in 1856, 639; in 1857, 550." The smaller prisons show like encouraging results: "In the Second District Prison, in 1856, 51 girls were committed for petit larceny; in 1857, 36. In the Third District, in 1856, 199 for vagrancy, against 157 in 1857. (1)

"There are 40,000 vagrant youths, without homes or healthy influences: rag-gatherers, street-sweepers, boot-blacks, paper, bone, iron and coal gatherers, and very many of them thieves and burglars. " (2)

In 1863, there were several charitable agencies that were available throughout the city of New York to help such children which were the following: "The Children's Aid Society, with its Boys' and Girls' Lodging-houses, Industrial Schools and Western Agencies, Home of the Friendless, House of Industry at the Five Points, the Ladies' Home Mission at the same place, the Juvenile Asylum, with its House of Reception in the City and main building above High Bridge; Colored Orphan Asylum, Catholic Orphan Asylum, the Institutions on Randall's Island; Leak and Watt's Orphan Asylum; Howard Mission; Wilson's Industrial School; Orphans' Home and
Asylum; Infants Home; the Sunday School Union, with its fifty schools for neglected children, besides numerous other agencies of less importance. The amount annually contributed to sustain them shows the benevolence of our City." (2)

Among the selfish rich, there were those who were philanthropists, as well as society women who devoted much of their time to charitable causes, who through their labor of love contributed toward alleviating the city of New York's suffering humanity... Some of the organizations mentioned above were products of these acts of benevolence.

Help for the Homeless Children

Charles Loring Brace, a young minister together with other reformers founded the Children’s Aid Society in 1853. This charitable institution was the result of this group's concern about the increasing number of "homeless" children that were wandering the streets of New York City. The Children’s Aid Society was established at a time "when orphan asylums and almshouses were the only social services available for poor and homeless children.”

The object of this society was to rescue neglected and dependent children, train them, and find situations and homes, chiefly in country districts. These and similar societies, under various names, are found in all cities, and have done a valuable work.

"From the practice of receiving young children into institutions to save their lives, there naturally developed the belief that such institutions were even better places for the children than any family home. Here children would be kept from the temptations of the world: here they would be cared for by skilled matrons and taught by chosen teachers; here, too, religious instruction would be planted in fruitful soil. The Church, under whose influence these institutions arose, encouraged this belief. This is the principle underlying all institutional care for dependent children. The highest development of this principle is found in the institutions of the Catholic Church and of the Hebrews, in which it is possible for a child to pass from infancy to maturity, constantly guarded from the world.

The plan of rearing dependent children in family homes, exist in two forms. In the first the children were boarded out in families, the board being paid by societies organized for the purpose of caring for children, or by the State. In the second form the children are placed out for adoption or are indentured to persons willing to receive them and to assume all responsibility for their maintenance and education. After the initial expense of finding and investigating a home, this system costs the public nothing save the expense of supervision to safeguard the interests of the child." (3)

Organized effort for placing children in family homes started with the founding of the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853. The efforts of these charitable organizations were extremely beneficial in helping these homeless children, by providing a healthy home environment, an education, teaching them a trade so that they may earn an honest living, therefore growing up to be productive citizens adding to the wealth of the communities.

The Orphan Trains project was the result of a plan that would "take the orphans from the street, sending them west on trains and placing them out to families at the various stops along the way who were willing to adopt them.

For an excellent history of the Orphan Trains, I have enclosed this web link, which I hope you will find helpful. A History of the Orphan Trains by Connie DiPasquale.

(Continue Part II Modern Homelessness)