Date: Mon, 19 Oct 1998 11:15:53 -0400 To: Fldollfin@aol.com From: Susan Ryan <sryan@stetson.edu> At 12:40 AM 10/19/98 EDT, you wrote: Hi Susan, Would your library have any information on so called " Orphan Trains" in the 1880's? I am told they ran into Ohio from FL. and that my grandmother must have been on one and been adopted as her death cert says she was born in Sanford Fl. Any help as to where I could find this information would be appreciated. As is I have two volumes " Decendants of Thomas Sanford" 1911 by Carlton Sanford which list her father Rolland A. Sanford. By the way, the Henry Sanford , for whom the town of Sanford Fl. is in there too. Carol Gilliland 3639 Belle Vista Dr. E. St. Pete Beach, FL. 33706 (813) 360-7189 ++++++++++++++++++++++++ Magazine: Child Welfare, January, 1995 A HISTORY OF PLACING-OUT: THE ORPHAN TRAINS Between 1854 and 1930, the placing-out or orphan train strategy, considered to be the forerunner of modern family foster care, relocated approximately 150,000 children and youths from the city of New York to families in the Midwest. The program was designed to give children who were orphaned or from impoverished urban families an opportunity to live with rural families to increase their chances to become productive citizens as adults. This article summarizes the implementation of placing-out, including contributing social conditions, the underlying philosophy, the basic components, and professional and public perceptions. Implications of the orphan trains for current child welfare policies and practice are considered. One of the central issues of poverty with which American society has struggled involves assisting people who are poor without making those people indefinitely dependent on public support. Traditionally, providing assistance to individuals whose poverty was due to circumstances beyond their control has encountered less resistance than helping other groups of people. Though children generally have been categorized as "deserving," the motivation for providing assistance to them has not always appeared to reflect that sentiment. This article examines the development, implementation, and discontinuance of placing-out programs for poor children from New York City. These programs, operated between 1853 and 1930, placed approximately 150,000 children with families for family foster care and adoption. Placing-Out: The Orphan Train Strategy In the mid-nineteenth century, Charles Loring Brace [1880] and the Children's Aid Society (CAS) [1893] argued that the agency's programs would fill an existing gap in services by providing for children for whom there was no room in orphanages and those for whom an orphanage was inappropriate. Brace and CAS also argued that institutional care did not prepare children for life in the community, and that most children did not want to go to orphanages. Orphanages were criticized for their selective admission policies, generally made on the basis of race/ethnicity and religion; their use of harsh discipline systems; their administrative freedom to discharge children arbitrarily; their overcrowding; their inability to accommodate the growing number of children in need of care as a result of immigration and the Civil War; and the disproportionate number of immigrant children in placement [Bremner 1970; Downs & Sherraden 1983; Kitterson 1968; Letchworth 1893]. Despite the diversity of services offered by CAS, the placing-out system is the one program for which the agency and Brace are most often remembered, credited, and criticized. This was the most ambitious and controversial program undertaken by CAS. Although the concept of placing children with families to whom the children were not related originated neither with CAS nor in the United States, the agency's placing-out system was significant in several ways. It was the first extensive and systematic placing-out program initiated by a charitable organization [Wheeler 1983]. In addition, the program differed from the indenture system in which children were legally apprenticed to families and paid for their work. One policy of the CAS program was that the agency or the biological parents would retain custody of any child placed unless adoption was requested by the foster parents and legal requirements for adoption were met. Another important distinction from indenture was the program's emphasis on finding families for children as opposed to the employment arrangements common to indenture programs [Brace 1880; Children's Aid Society 1893; Langsam 1964; Nelson 1987; Young & Marks 1990]. Children were selected for the program in various ways. Some children were already participating in one of the agency's other programs. Some were referred from the courts, juvenile facilities, and other children's institutions. Some parents brought their children to the agency for placement. In addition, CAS's community agents, who worked in neighborhoods to encourage children to participate in other programs offered by the organization, also recruited children for placing-out [Children's Aid Society 1893; Nelson 1985; Wheeler 1983]. Children chosen to be placed out were considered orphaned, homeless, abandoned, dependent, or neglected. In reality, only a few were orphans, and many others had at least one living parent and housing of some sort. Unless children were actual orphans, parents were required to give their permission for the child's participation in the placement program. Children who were thought to be incorrigible, who appeared to be sickly, or who were physically or mentally handicapped were generally not accepted for participation. African American children also were excluded, possibly because of concern that the agency would be accused of practicing slavery or due to their small numbers in New York and the prejudices of both the sending and receiving communities [Children's Aid Society 1893; Fry 1974; Holt 1992; Langsam 1964; Nelson 1985; Patrick et al. 1990; Wheeler 1983; Young & Marks 1990]. After placing 207 children individually during the first year of the program, a decision was made in 1854 to send children in groups because more could be accomplished with little increase in cost or the magnitude of work. Before the initiation of a trip west for any group of children, a CAS agent visited various towns within the targeted states. The agent's tasks were twofold: promoting the children's arrival and appointing a selection committee that would be responsible for approving potential foster families and that would provide a linkage between the foster family, the child, and CAS [Children's Aid Society 1893; Langsam 1964; Nelson 1985; Patrick et al. 1990; Young & Marks 1990]. When needed, housing in one of the agency's group residences was provided for the children pending departure of the next scheduled trip to predesignated towns in the Midwest. Each child was given new clothing for the trip. A CAS agent and members of the caregiving staff accompanied each train that transported the children [Children's Aid Society 1893; Nelson 1985; Patrick et al. 1990; Wheeler 1983; Young & Marks 1990]. At each stop, the children left the train and were taken to a local community gathering place, usually a church, courthouse, or opera house. Some families had made previous arrangements to receive a particular child, but most often the children were lined up for interested adults to view and select. Children who were not chosen during this process would be transported to the next town for consideration, unless the agent tried to recruit a placement locally before the train departed [Nelson 1985; Patrick et al. 1990; Wheeler 1983; Young & Marks 1990]. CAS required that a child go with a family willingly and that the agent make a home visit before settling the placement. Families had to provide an education and proper care. In addition, either the family or the child could request an end to the placement, resulting in arrangements for an alternate family or the child's return to New York. CAS also required follow-up personal visits and correspondence with the children until they reached adulthood and were living on their own [Brace 1880; Children's Aid Society 1893; Langsam 1964; Nelson 1985; Patrick et al. 1990; Young & Marks 1990]. Between 1854 and 1930, approximately 150,000 children were placed by the = CAS emigration program or one of the other organizations that modeled the CAS program. The children rode the trains to California, Colorado, Illinois, indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin. A small number of children were placed in southern states--Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. Some children were placed within the rural areas of New York State and other northeastern states, such as Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania [Kitterson 1968; Langsam 1964; Wheeler 1983; Young & Marks 1990]. Another major New York-based emigration program was started in 1876 by the New York Foundling Home, which placed infants and preschool children in Catholic families. The Foundling Home's initiation of its program was based in part on a complaint expressed by the Catholic leadership that CAS was placing Catholic children with Protestant families in an effort to decrease the number of Catholics in the country [Kitterson 1968; Langsam 1964; Patrick et al. 1990; Wheeler 1983; Young & Marks 1990].