The care of destitute, neglected and delinquent children

Front matter

ri'yi'E ; and

tHlLDREM

LIBRARY

Preface

The purpose of the present series is to bring to bear on the practical problems of American social workers a concise knowledge of the historical evolution through which the charities of the country have passed. The classification of the subject adopted in the series follows approximately the historical order. At the beginning of the nineteenth century and in the earlier colonial days the almshouse, half retributive, wholly uncharitable, stood (aside from a still cruder system of outdoor rehef copied from the English poor law) practically the sole institutional representative of society's interest in its helpless members. In time, however, hospitals for the segregation of the mentally defective on the one hand, and for the general treatment of the sick on the other, began to care for some who hitherto had been sheltered, if at all, in the almshouse ; while the elaboration of the penal system of the country effected a somewhat more complete differ-

Vi PREFACE

entiation between pauper and criminal, and introduced the latter as a special object of philanthropic interest. At the same time the needs and rights of dependent childhood began to receive wider recognition by the establishment of institutions and societies for children. Later on in the century the home, which as a relief centre antedates the almshouse, became the focus of a new interest, as the proper centre of a reconstructive and preventive social effort which has since grown in complexity and magnitude to overshadow and to dominate, with its determination to treat causes rather than results, the whole field of philanthropy. In this progress, from the catch-all primitive almshouse, through the elaborate specialization of palliative charity which has characterized the century, into the era of preventive effort which marks its close, there has been need of unremitting supervision, to conserve in their true spirit the charitable ideals for which our existing institutions and systems stand, and of persistent educational work, to arouse and maintain the public interest upon which enduring progress in this field is dependent. The classification adopted in the series is, then, as follows : Institutional care of destitute adults ; Defectives : the insanCy feeble-minded,

PREFACE Vii

and epileptic ; Hospitals^ dispensaries^ and nursing ; The treatment of criminals ; Destitute, neglected, and delinquent children ; Care and relief of needy families ; Supervisory and educatiotial movements ; Preventive and constructive philanthropy.

The present volume, in accordance with this classification, is limited to the consideration of the care of children who have been removed from their earlier environment and from parental control, and the direction of whose lives and the burden of whose support has been directly assumed or provided for by public authorities or private charity. Many activities often included under the term "child-saving" will, therefore, not be considered. Nothing will be said, for instance, of movements that are primarily educational, such as day schools, kindergartens, and home libraries. Various agencies which help needy parents to keep their children under their own care, such as day nurseries, are considered in the volume in this series on the care and relief of needy famihes. Children's hospitals are considered in the volume on hospitals, dispensaries, and nursing ; institutions for the training of mentally defective children, in that on the insane, feeble-minded, and epileptic ; while the volume on preventive viii PREFACE

and constructive philanthropy will touch child life at many points not mentioned above.

For the convenience of students who wish to pursue the subject in greater detail, comprehensive lists of authorities have been given in the treatment of each topic considered. But much of the material presented in this series has been collected at first hand, from unpublished records of state boards of charities, institutions, and societies, from masses of legislation as yet not codified or systematized, and from the personal testimony of eye-witnesses and participants in the philanthropic movements of the century. These sources are for the most part inaccessible, except where, as in the case of the present volume, the correspondence and papers accumulated in the preparation of the work have been placed on file, and may be consulted by students of the subjects.

The editor and the writers of the several volumes are indebted to ofiicials and private individuals in all parts of the country for many details of information furnished in the course of this correspondence, at a material expense of labor and persistent research.

THE EDITOR.

Contents

[For a summary of the contents of the individual chapters the reader is referred to the marginal analysis accompanying the text.]

I Conditions Prevalent at the Opening of

the Nineteenth Century . . . i II Public Care of Destitute Children, 1801-

Chapter I Conditions Prevalent At The Opening Of The Nineteenth Century

The best single source of information on the subjectmatter of this volume is the report of the committee on the history of child-saving work, C. D. Randall, chairman, presented to the national conference of charities and correction, Chicago, 1893 (Ellis, Boston, out of print; not included in conference proceedings; available in libraries or through members of the committee). The proceedings of the national conference of charities and correction (Ellis, Boston, 1^73" ) include many valuable papers in addition to those specifically mentioned below. The volume for 1893 contains an index of the preceding volumes. The Charities Review (New York, 1891-1901) contains many valuable contributions, — see complete index in last volume. Charities (Charity organization society. New York, 1898- ) contains much information concerning current events, — index of preceding volumes in volume iv, issue of May 26, 1901. United States bureau of education circular of information No. 6, 1875, i^elating to reformatory, charitable, and industrial schools for the young, gives statistics and information, with brief account of many institutions, especially reformatories. See also proceedings of the section on the care of dependent,

B I neglected, and wayward children, international congress of charities, correction, and philanthropy, Chicago, 1893 (Johns Hopkins press, Baltimore) ; Warner, " American charities " (Crowell, New York, 1894), chapter ix; and Henderson, " Dependents, defectives, and delinquents " (Heath, Boston, 1901), chapter vii. An alphabetical list of the authorities referred to in the present volume, together with numerous other references on the general subject, is given in The Charities Review, volume x, pp. 217 ff.

Historical sources, chapters i and ii : Proceedings of New York board of aldermen, board of assistant aldermen, and common council, 1 800-1 873 (library, city hall), containing reports of superintendent of almshouse and other poor law officials; reports of almshouse commissioner, 1 845-1 849; reports of board of governors of the almshouse, 1849-1859; reports of commissioners of public charities and correction, 1859-1875. A good resume is given in "An account of Bellevue hospital, 1 736-1 893," by R. J. Carlisle (Society of the alumni of Bellevue hospital, New York, 1893). ^'^'^ statement of conditions throughout the state of New York see report on relief and settlement of the poor, by J. V. N. Yates, secretary of state, 1824 (reprinted by the state board of charities, 1900). For sketch of legislation see John Cummings, " Poor laws of Massachusetts and New York " (No. 4, volume X, publications of American economic association, Macmillan, New York, July, 1895). Philadelphia: see report of the committee appointed at a town meeting, etc., July 23, 1827, to consider the pauper system of the city (Philadelphia, 1827); history and reminiscences of the Philadelphia almshouse and the Philadelphia hospital, reprinted from Philadelphia reports (Delve & Blackburn, Philadelphia, 1890); "The picture of Philadelphia," by James Mease, 181 1. Boston: see report of commission on the treatment of the poor, by G. S. Hale (Rockwell & Churchill, Boston, 1878). Massachusetts: see reports of state board of charities, 1863-1875. See also centennial proceedings, Charleston orphan house (Charleston, S.C., 1890). Concerning indenture system, see early statutes of the several states.

PREVALENT SYSTEMS OF RELIEF 3

The opening of the nineteenth century found the EngUsh poor-law system well established in most of the sixteen states then comprising the union. All public charges were cared for by the local administrative units, towns (/>., townships), counties, or cities, with Httle or no oversight or control by the states, and, then as now, none by the federal authorities. Adults and children Relief alike, with little distinction, were cared for systems

c r. affecting

m one of five ways : ^^^^.^J^

1. By outdoor relief, given to families at children in their homes. use at the

2. By farming out to a number of families, of fhT^ each pauper being awarded, as a rule, to the century. lowest bidder.

3. By contract with some individual, usually the lowest bidder, who became responsible for the care of all the paupers of a given locality.

4. By support in an almshouse directly under the control of public authorities.

5. By indenture.

The farming-out and contract systems had comparatively little application so far as children were concerned. Indenture, on the other hand, although especially applicable to children, was, it is curious to note, also used as a means of caring for adults, the statutes

Outdoor relief the predominant method.

Almshouse care confined mostly to the large cities, of several states providing, at the opening of the century, that idle or vagrant persons might be indentured to respectable citizens for a period of one year.

In tracing the early history of the public care of pauper children it will be necessary to follow for some time the systems of outdoor relief and almshouse care. Outdoor relief was the method by which the larger number of pauper children, as well as adults, were cared for at the beginning of the century. It had already passed (in 1784 in New York) from the control of the church authorities to that of the overseers of the poor. The reports made at a little later date by competent authorities in Boston and New York indicate that public outdoor reHef exerted the same evil influences upon children at the opening of the century as it does at the century's close in most of those localities in which it still prevails.

Almshouses were first built by the large cities. Philadelphia, the largest city in the country at the opening of the century (population, 70,287), was then occupying its second public almshouse, opened in 1767 and located in the area bounded by Tenth, Eleventh, Spruce, and Pine streets. Both adults and children were here cared for.

ALMSHOUSE CARE 5

New York, the second city in the union (population, 60,489), had just abandoned its original almshouse, and had removed its paupers to a much larger building located in the present city hall park, and on the site of the present county courthouse. Here were numbers of children mingled with the many other elements of almshouse population that in large cities have since been segregated into special classes. The almshouse, while under the immediate management of a superintendent, was controlled by the common council, which held its meetings there and inspected the institution once in three months. On October 6, 1800, a committee of the council, appointed to frame a new set of rules for the management of the almshouse, reported as among the objects to be attained the following :

"The children of the house should be under the government of capable matrons. . . . They should be uniformed, housed, and lodged in separate departments, according to their different sexes; they should be kept as much as possible from the other paupers, habituated to decency, cleanliness, and ovder, and carefully instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The girls should also be taught to sew and knit.

" When the children arrive at proper ages, great care should be taken to furnish them with suitable places, that they may be instructed in some useful trade or occupation."

The exact number of children in the New- York city almshouse in 1801 is not available, but on August 14, 1809, they numbered 226, — 125 boys and loi girls. It is likely that the city also boarded a number of infants in families at this time. The rules established by the common council in 1800 provided that "Care shall be taken to provide healthy and proper nurses for such of the children as may require them ; and where this can be done out of the house, it shall be preferred." Somewhat later, on April i, 1823, we learn that there were 129 infants placed out ''at nurse," and paid for by the city at the rate of ^i per week.

Baltimore, the third city in the union (population, 26,614), probably cared for its destitute children in the Baltimore county almshouse, the city having no charitable institution under its immediate direction at that time.

Boston, the fourth city (population, 24,027), erected its second almshouse, for both children and adults, in 1800. Outdoor relief was also given freely, as was the case very gen-

ALMSHOUSE CARE 7

erally throughout New England. The proportion of "unsettled," or state, paupers was increasing, but they were cared for by the cities and towns, which were reimbursed by the state.

There were at this time no other cities in the United States having a population above ten thousand. In most of Pennsylvania, and t)ut county generally in the southern states, the county ^""^' .

o J ' y houses in

system of poor reUef prevailed, and many rural discounties had erected almshouses. In Mary- trictsalso land the county almshouse system was es- ^.j^^ ^^^^^i tabhshed by law in 1768. In Delaware each county had an almshouse by 1823.

So far as known, the only public institution for children, not forming part of an almshouse, existing in 1801 was the Charleston, S.C., orphan house. The charter of Charleston, granted at the close of the revo- Only one lutionary war, imposed upon the city the duty P^^hc m-

r -j-r I, T7 stitution

of providing for poor orphans. For some expressly years the children were boarded in families, for chil but in 1 790 a resolution was adopted by the city council in favor of the establishment of an orphan house. At first a building was hired for this purpose, but a structure erected by the city was opened October 18, 1794, to receive the 115 orphans who were city charges. The records of the institution tell dren then on record.

of an appreciative visit to it by President Washington.

The plan of indenturing or apprenticing destitute children, also taken from the Eng- Indenture lig^ poor law, was in very general use at the use. ^^'^^ opening of the century. It had been carefully regulated by law in Massachusetts in 1703, in New York in 1754, in Pennsylvania in 1 77 1, and in Maryland in 1797, and doubtless found legal recognition in still earlier statutes in these and other states. The rules established by the common council for the government of the New York almshouse in 1800 provided that "When any of the children arrive at proper ages they shall be bound out to suitable trades or occupations, and provision shall be made in their indenture for their due maintenance and instruction. If any of those who shall have been so bound out shall be injured or ill-treated, the superintendent shall consider it as his duty to procure them redress. They are to be considered in every respect as the children of the public, under his care." In Virginia overseers of the poor were required by law to make monthly reports, to the county courts, of the poor orphans and other children bound out. The eighteenth century had seen the beginnings of a remarkable development of pri-

PRIVATE CHARITIES 9

vate charities for the care of children. The first orphan asylum in the country was that attached to the Ursuline convent in New Orleans. This convent was established in A few 1727, under the auspices of Louis XV of ^^""^^^ France. It maintained a day school and a for chiihospital, and also received, during the first ^^^^ ^^^ year, an orphan rescued by a missionary from tablished a dissolute family. The frightful massacre by the Natchez Indians in 1729 left many orphans in and near New Orleans, and the convent established an asylum for their care. In 1824 the convent was removed to a country site, and owing to the growth of other asylums provision was made for the care of but thirty orphans, which number the convent still maintains.

The Bethesda orphan house was established in Savannah in 1738, five years after the colony was settled, by the celebrated preacher, George Whitefield, to whom, he states, the plan was suggested by Charles Wesley and Governor Oglethorpe. This was founded by funds collected by Whitefield in England. In 1797 the society for the relief of poor widows with small children was organized in New York city. This society did not establish an institution, but visited and gave relief to widows and children in their homes, — a beneficent work which it continues to the present. In 1798 an association was organized by a Roman catholic priest in Philadelphia to care for the orphans of catholics who died of yellow fever during that year. Subsequently this institution became St. Joseph's female orphan asylum. In 1799 an asylum for the care and education of destitute girls was established by St. Paul's church in Baltimore, and in 1800 the Boston female asylum for indigent orphan girls was incorporated.

As to destitute children, the situation at the opening of the century may be summed up in the statement that children who were public charges were, as a rule, cared for with adult paupers by the contract system, or in almshouses, or by outdoor relief, or were bound out as apprentices ; that Charleston had a municipal orphan asylum ; and that private institutions for children had been established in New Orleans, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Boston.

As to neglected children, we find in the statutes of the time but few provisions for

Neglected their rescue and care. As early as 1735 in Boston children whose parents were unable or neglected to provide for their support and

looked. education might be bound out by the overseers of the poor. The law:5 of Maryland practically

over-

NEGLECTED CHILDREN II

authorized in 1797 the binding out of the children of beggars. The class of children who are now forcibly removed from the control of unfit parents apparently remained with their famihes, as a rule, until the latter became destitute, when the children were cared for as pauper children, or until the fruits of neglect were reaped, and the children, convicted of offences, were sent to jails and penitentiaries along with older offenders. In the penitentiary of New York city, on April I, 1823, we are informed, there were thirty-two boys.

CHAPTER II Public care defined

Its evolution mainly through the almshouse.

PUBLIC CARE OF DESTITUTE CHILDREN, 18OI-1875

Agencies for the care of destitute children have sprung from two sources, — from public bodies acting in behalf of the whole community, and from private benevolence exercised through individual or associated effort. The term public, as used throughout this volume in connection with institutions or agencies for the care of children, indicates such as are under the direct control of governmental bodies and are supported from public funds. The term private indicates all other agencies, whether managed by individuals or by societies, churches, or corporations.

The public care of children during the first three quarters of the century follows, in the main, the changes in the care of adult paupers, though in the larger cities provision was made for them separate from the adults, but under the same administrative control. The movement as a whole was toward an increased use of almshouses and a relative diminution of

NEW YORK CITY 1 3

outdoor relief. The farming-out and contract systems passed largely into disuse, and in some states were forbidden by law.

As it is fairly indicative of the manner in which most municipal institutions for children The typihave been conducted, the history of the care ^^^ expen-

cncc of

of children by the city of New York will be ^^^ York considered at some length. That of other city, important municipalities will follow more briefly.

The common council of New York, whose minutes during the first three quarters of the century afford many illustrations of aldermanic wisdom as applied to child-saving, appointed January 7, 1805, a committee to consider and report upon the expediency of granting the application of the commissioners of the almshouse for the estabhshment at the almshouse of a school for the pauper children. Whether the school was established or not we do not know. In 18 16 the children The Bellewere removed, with the almshouse paupers, y.^f ^^^^^"

the hospital, and the prison department, to the new Bellevue establishment at Twenty-sixth street and East river, — the main building of which is now used as Bellevue hospital. On April i, 1823, there were 553 children in the Bellevue almshouse, and the number of children in families aided by public outdoor relief was estimated at 4000. Here, at least, a school was provided, for a writer in 1826 describing the almshouse establishment says, " One of the public or free schools (No. 6 ), conducted upon the monitorial system and containing 300 scholars, is in appropriate rooms for males and females. The school is well conducted, and the teachers are under the direction of the public school committee of the city. The children are orderly, clean, decently clothed, and in good health," — an optimistic report, not altogether sustained by later developments. The writer continues, " There are two brick buildings, one at each end of the factory, seventy-five by twenty-five feet, containing six rooms each, which were formerly occupied as hospitals, one for men and one for women, who have been removed to the new hospital, and these rooms are now used for children and their nurses." The almshouse census in 1828 showed that the number of juvenile inmates had increased during the preceding five years from 553 to 667.

A severe outbreak of ophthalmia in 1831 proved to be the beginning of the end of the use of the Bellevue establishment as a home for pauper children. On May 23, 183 1, the board of assistant aldermen directed the com-

NEW YORK CITY I 5

mittee on charity and the almshouse to report Ravages at the next meetins: the present condition of ^^^^P^^^^^-

° '■ mia call

the almshouse children afflicted with ophthal- public atmia, and the cause. A month later the com- tention to mon council authorized the committee to ^. ^ ^°?

tion 01

employ a physician to assist the resident children in physician in the treatment of these children. ^^^ ^^^^- He was to receive ^3 for each day on which he visited them.

Just at this time the city purchased Blackwell's island, and also three farms in Queens county, located on the East river opposite Blackwell's island and known as the Long Island farms. A portion of the children having ophthalmia were removed from Bellevue to the island. In July, the commissioners of the almshouse were authorized to remove the convalescent children from here to the Long Island farms, and to transfer from the almshouse to Blackwell's island the residue of the children afflicted with ophthalmia. On July 22, 183 1, a committee of the board of assistant aldermen reported that they had visited the children on the island, and found that "their general health was manifestly changed from a sickly hue to a robust appearance."

A little later, on December 5, 1831, we find the following resolution adopted by the assistant aldermen : ''Whereas, several of the children at the Alms House having been afflicted by the disease termed Ophtalma, therefore, Resolved, that it be referred to the Committee of the Alms House to ascertain and report to this Board whether they can be taught any and what useful employments that may render them less burthensome to themselves, and what will be the probable expense."

In June, 1832, the common council received a communication from the almshouse commissioners, recommending that the children in that establishment be transferred to the Long Island farms, stating that it would be necessary to erect temporary buildings at each of the three farms, and stating also that 120 of the almshouse children had ophthaland they mia. This recommendation was acted upon, were re- ^^^. ^^^ ^^ ^^iq commissioners, in a letter of

moved to

Long resignation dated July i, 1833, stated that

Island, most of the children had been transferred from Bellevue to the Long Island farms, which were originally intended '' for the special benefit of this unoffending, interesting, and numerous class of paupers." The commissioner goes on to state that "soon after the purchase of . the farms, in 183 1, a man was placed upon them, ostensibly to cut

NEW YORK CITY 1/

wood in winter, his large family to be supported, and he to have $2 per day besides." The commissioner complains that, although the man is not qualified to superintend either the farms or the children, he still remains in charge of both. As a consequence, he says, "118 boys dined last Saturday upon dry, hard, boiled salt beef, with dry bread, but no vegetables." He closes : *' I would anxiously but respectfully recommend to your honorable bodies that you do consider the case of these poor children." From this time all of the children, except perhaps those needing hospital care, and the infants who were boarded out, were kept at the Long Island farms. On September i, 1834, they numbered 680, and 130 were at nurse in the city. The numbers increased, for the commissioners at this time announced the policy of ''readily receiving all children who belong where all to the city and are destitute, and when once ^f^^^^^^^

•' children of

within the establishment keeping them under the city all usual circumstances until they are taught were freely to read and write." They adopted a rule that ^^^^^'^^ • girls should not be bound out under the age of ten years, nor boys under the age of twelve, stating that during the previous year eighty children under those ages had been indentured. A question that is still troublei8

The difficulty of retaining these children till fairly schooled.

some to all institutions caring for children was thus stated in the report of the almshouse commissioners for 1834:

" The commissioners can bind the children out the day they enter the almshouse, and the parents lose all control over them ; but if they remain in the almshouse unbound, the parents or guardians can probably demand them and take them out. Now if they are once abandoned by their parents or friends to the public, and put in the almshouse school, it should be optional with the commissioners to deliver them back to the parents and friends or not. It will be readily perceived that there are many cases in which the taking of the children from school and delivering them back to intemperate parents, perhaps criminal ones, would be the certain destruction of the little education obtained, and to the welfare and morals of the children." The report goes on to state that the Long Island farms are, to a considerable extent, in an uncultivated state, but that they believe the citizens will not regret the purchase when they consider " that the previous abode of these children was within high walls, containing a state prison, county prison, a bridewell, and an almshouse establishment."

Almost immediately, however, an agitation

NEW YORK CITY 1 9

was begun for the sale of the Long Island 'J'he Long

farms and the removal of the children to ^^^^^^\

Randall's island, which was purchased by the ment

city in 1835. In the same year a committee proving

of the board of aldermen reported in favor of ^"^^^^s^^^-

tory,

moving both the children's institutions and the almshouse to Randall's island. Nothing was effected for some years, although the subject was reported upon nearly every year. The message of the mayor, May, 1840, states that there were 900 children in the schools on the Long Island farms, and that 349 children had been bound out during the preceding year. In 1843 plans were adopted by the almshouse commissioners for the removal of both the almshouse and the children's institutions to Blackwell's island. Buildings were to be erected just north of the present site of the almshouse, to accommodate 1000 children. This plan was not carried into after much effect, and in 1845 the Long Island farms delay and had been sold, and a large building was sojourn erected on Randall's island for the pauper with the children. This, however, burned before the ^'^''^^ P^^'

children were removed to it, and the ques- Blacktion again arose as to where they should well's be located. It was finally decided to erect ^^^" ' a series of detached buildings on Randall's island. Early in 1847 the large building now occupied by the almshouse for women on Blackwell's island was completed, and the children were removed thither, "owing to the dilapidation of the old and wretched Long Island farms hovels." Here they remained a year, during which time ten brick buildings were erected for them on Randall's island. The commissioner again stated it to be his intention to retain the children, before indenturing them, until they had received a better education. He thought girls should not leave the institution until they were thirteen years, and boys, fifteen years of age. He also condemned unsparingly the custom of detailing adult paupers, vagrants, and even criminals from the city institutions to care for the children. " Proper and efficient nurses should be hired, whose characters are a guarantee for the propriety of their actions." On the chil- April 15, 1848, the children were removed to dren were ^^^ Randall's island institutions, and the com-

removedto . . . , , , _,^