Anonymous
11/19/2024 20:13
Subject: What was it like in American Orphanages?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Horrible
Particularly ones that are religious
In the 1970 s catholic ones all over the country were shut down.
Same with unwed mother’s homes. The Catholic ones were horrific
Guess who plans on restarting these? Don and Betsey Devos and Youngkin
I do think there was a major shift in the second half of the twentieth century. I read the entire report on the Irish orphanages plus I’ve done some reading on American orphanages. I think in the 19th and early 20th century, there was actually a lot more sympathy for the idea that any girl/woman could end up in a bad situation with a baby. People were very poor, lots of men died in industrial accidents or with contagious diseases, women got raped or coerced into sex with no real repercussions for the men. Yes, there was some stigma to unwed pregnancy but it was so common, especially among the very poor, to end up in that situation or widowed with young children. There was a communal appreciation for the work that orphanages did.
Then around WW2, it seems like something sort of broke and the whole system became much more punitive and shame based and there just wasn’t wide spread social support for it so donations went down, etc. I think also that the decline in people entering the convent might also have had an effect — there just weren’t as many nuns overall so maybe it was harder to find nuns that really had a calling for working with young children? Or maybe part of it was the comparison with middle class home life, as standards of living rose for non-orphanage lfkfe. So whereas an orphaned was maybe better than an unsanitary urban hovel of the 19th century, it wasn’t better than a nice Levitt suburban house of the 1950s.
I’d actually like to do more reading about it, if anyone has good book references.
This seems accurate. In the early 20th century, there were lots of orphans living on the streets in New York City. An orphanage was at least shelter. But kids went to work early. I don't know how that worked with orphanages and how long they housed them. My grandfather, from this era, only went to school through 8th grade and then went to work as did his siblings.
Anonymous
11/19/2024 20:04
Subject: What was it like in American Orphanages?
My sister's father-in-law was orphaned in Michigan, probably in the 1930s. The parents died and there were five children. They went to an orphanage but he was sent to work on a man's farm at 16. I don't know if this was an adoption or some other arrangement. The man was abusive so he ran away and joined the army. The kids lost track of each other but one of them arranged for a reunion in the 1980s or 90s. They had not seen each other in all that time. He was an alcoholic and functioned and worked but was overall a mess.
Anonymous
11/19/2024 19:49
Subject: What was it like in American Orphanages?
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Look up Georgia Tann, my tablet won't let me post a link.
Whoa.
Here’s just one story of the 5,000 children this woman stole.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-08-20-vw-882-story.html
Wow. That baby became a nurse and passed away as grandmother but her kids said in her obituary that she was “born” to the adoptive parents instead of to the birth parents. I wonder why they wanted to put that incorrect detail in there.
https://thomasjustinmemorial.com/tribute/details/1387/Sandra-Sandy-Kimbrell/obituary.html
Born in Denver which is also factually incorrect....