The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-05-05

president Of the Catholic Home Blu
reau of New York City. A similar
topic was treated in a paper by Mr..
Joseph C. Judge. OF Baltimore, on the
After Care and Supervision OF Chill
dren from Institutions" the discussion
following proving most important. Ky
almost unanimous consent 1T seemed to
be agreed that the day Of institutions
for the training OF destitute children
has passed, every speaker urging the
the children may be adopted AID
raised under home influences rather
than in the great asylum where they
are treated by rule en- ,nasse.
The Child in the Home.
DIR. McKenna referred to the objections
which had been raised to the placing
out system. He had been told. he said,
that he could never succeed in plac-
ing children among Catholic couples:
that there were few childless Cathollc
couples; that the influences of heredity
would tell; that the boys would grow
up to curse their foster parents, while
the girls would turn out worse.
The work of the Catholic Home Blu
case. that it is possible to take child
into your home and raise 1t under
proper influences, and have 1t turn out
we'll. There Is no mysterious germ
| The child taken from bad surround
ings and given an education among
proper environment will not necessari-
| " turn out badly. In the ten years
we have been working ss1-2 per cent.
have turned out we'll, from cases taken
at ten. twelve and even fourteen years
of age. What the result will be from
children taken in infancy 1t is impos
I sibe to tell as yet, our work being
but ten years old"
The machinery of the home bureau
was explained. First We find home.
| We investigate the applicant and his
surroundings. and then select child
| that will fit the home. and last of all
we continue to visit that child after
1t is placed. Oour agents go out to
| find homes, interview the pastor and
tiia neighbors, talk with the appli-
cant view the surroundings and make
their report The home bureau is not
an employment bureau. where people
can apply and get grown boys and
| girls to work on their places.
I'VE are receiving about 500 appli-
cations year, and last year placed
| over 800 children in homes of people
who have adopted them and will raise
| them for the love of the child. OF the
1853 children which we have placed
/ In homes III ten years, all of whom we
! have record Of, and all of whom are
visited regularly, there have been but
fourteen deaths, while in institutions in
which children are herded there have
been epidemics Of typhoid, measles and
other diseases-one asylum having lost
| forty children from measles last year.
After Supcrvision.
/ Mr.. Judges paper followed close on
| that of DR.. McKennn, calling es-
pecial attention to the Importance of
the after-supervision of the home in
which the child is placed. Mr. Judge
a greed that individual treatment was
impossible in large institutions. and
that nothing could take the place to
the child OF home. Charity begins
/ at home and so does citizenship and
government" declared the speaker.
/ Mr.. Judge continued: DO not sacri-
flee the religion Of your child and his
moral training on the altar OF secular
/ education. Many Catholic children have
| been placed in Protestant homes. where
their religion has not one chance in a
Thousand. Placing-out agencies are res
luctant to adopt rigid rules for the
religious welfare of the child.
But with proper supervision, child
/ is better off in home than in any
institution a systematic form of
inspection is necessary, however, to
guard against the abuse of the child.
the neglect of its health, overwork,
failure to properly educate and clothe
the child, or to look after it's religious
4 needs
Taking Care of Them.
Mr.. Thomas w. Hines, of Brooklyn.
told of visits to homes in which adopt
/ ed children were we'll taken care of,
kept clean. neat and happy, saying
that children raised in great institu-
i tions We're more susceptible to evil in
1 fMence after leaving the asylums than
/ home raised children.
4 Or. William ]. White, of BROOKLYN,
/ said that zen poor home was bet
ter than "a best institution, and this
i statement provoked general applause.
"Still," he continued institutions
i will always be necessary for certain
discussion followed as to the treat
ment Of orphans and children Of
4 whom there We're relatives having
some claim. Tho placing-out system
| was further explained by Mr., William
/ i. Dousherty, of New York, supern.
! tendent of the Catholic Home Bureau,
4 who told OF a single family which had
I successfully raised three orphan chill
/ dren all OF whom turned out we'll,
Mir, Hardy OF Boston. interested In
an asylum for the care of infants under
three years of age, asked as TO board
ing out infants Dr. McKenna replied
that his institution only placed chill
\ dren with people who would begin with
/. charity and end with love, taking 70
i payment for the board OF the child
/. adopted into the home. Continuing, he
said: Last year we had but one death
among our placed out children, girl
Of seventeen We placed out during
H tho year oightS-ftve children below
three years old among whom there
n 40 u In Mt, !