By the 1930s, Lutheran churches had taken over support of the mission. During the Depression, however, the Oaks administration could not afford to run both a school and the mission, so the school went public. Financial pressures also drive caretakers to bring their young wards to Oaks. It's not that they don't want them, but they cannot afford them. The program, which relocated to Delaware County more than 150 years ago, is celebrating its 200th year of operation.
Oaks shed the mission name some years ago and became a full-fledged children's home.
Some of the missionaries' expectations, however, stayed in place. We get lots of kids right on the verge, and they are going to go one way or the other. A young Sol Mockicin decided to take the right path. Now middle-aged and a volunteer at the home, Mockicin said Oaks affected his life so positively that he had wanted to give something back since his youth. That desire to return to Oaks must be strong.