The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1913-05-10

sight of them. 1t is the hardest feat
ure of this work to have to tell a
mother that If we take her children
for placing, we cannot tell her where
they are placed, though we always as
sure her that We will gladly give her
any news from them as to how they
like their new home, how they get
along in school, and any other inform
alton that would not result in unset
tllng a child in it's new home. For
when foster-parents accept a child and
give 1t their love and a home and an
education. at time when it is not
possible for the parent to do so, they
are entitled by law not to have the
child unsettled by having correspond
ence with, or visits from its former
friends, especially in the case Of young
children who soon forget their own
parents. You would not undertake to
care for and educate a child Of some
one else-especially if it were born
out Of wedlock-if you knew that its
former friends would be apt to coax it
from you or unsettle it in its love for
you. Hence child placing agencies are
forced to keep the location of children
from their own parents after they are
surrendered for placing. But it hurts
just the same, and l have the deepest
sympathy for them in their agony of
soul. 1 am obliged, however, to make
this point clear in every case before
the child is surrendered to us, as it is
otherwise likely to create hard feel
ings.
In other cases less worthy, but in
which some young and misled girl
mother seeks to give up her child
for adoption, it seems the only right
thing to do is to advise her by all
means to keep it and nurse it at least
during the natural nursing period,
If she has any possible means of sup
porting herself and her infant, or to
go to the Crittenton Home and keep
her child. In a number of cases such
girl mothers have decided to keep
their babies and nurse them, and
am sure it will develop in them the
best motherly instincts, even though
they may have but little money for
clothes and the good time" they
thought Indispensable until the call
came to support a new little life. But
there are caseS-many of them-Where
girls are homeless and helpless, with
no friends to look to in the hour Of
their need, with no possible way to
keep their child without deep shame
to themselves. 1t is hard to know
just where to draw the line in all
cases, but I feel that many a young
mother would always be subjected to
shame and probably insult because of
common knowledge that she has
gone wrong" and that she should be
given every opportunity to rehabili-
tate herself and make good" again.
In many cases this can only be done
by accepting her child and placing 1t
where it will have both a mother and
father, who take it because they hun
ger for children-the very object she
thnllOht fn I nor 19Vjng
this down as a general principle, but
it is often true. The scores of let
ters We receive from foster parents
rehearse the exceptional qualities and
smartness of their little darlings, and
visits in many of these homes have
shown their feeling to be perfectly
sincere, and their love deep and last
ing.
However, during the past year by
far the greater number of our wards
have been older children of legiti-
mate birth. An unusually small num-
Der of girls have come into our care
this year, and an correSpondingly
larger number of boys Of from 6 to 9
years. The latter are much more
difficult to place than girls, and many
of our boys have been with us for
several months. Quite number of
them have needed minor surgical
operations to fit them for life in a new
home, and others have defects of
one kind and another that make people
slow to take them. The following
table shows the children cared for,
and their distributions:
ChiIdren's Statistics.
On hand April 1, 1923.
Received for placing-45. (Three
after temporary care for Juvenile
courts.)
Returned for replacing-13.
Received from courts and county
authorities-17. (Three transferred
for placing.)
Received for temporary care-32.
Total cared for in Receiving Home
during year-130.
Aided with clothing and otherwise
--16
Marriages forced-2.
Juvenile cases inVestigated-32.
Total cases asststed--176.
Placed first time in families-31.
RepIaced-11.
Returned to friends-32.
Returned to. other authoritieS-2.
Transferred to placing work..
Died-1O. zone in boarding home
outside)
On hand March 81, 1885.
Legal adoptions reported-12.
1t may prove of interest to show
the causes that brought many OF the
cases to the society during the year:
One, truant from school, ordered by
court into our care, to keep him in
school.
One, colored; bad home surround
ings.
One, white; bad home surroundings
One, held pending trial
Three, drunken father.
One, incorrigible girl.
Two, incompetent mother; sent by
visiting nurse. ..
One, desertion by father; mother
none too good. .r.... ".
Five, mother in hospital; father out
of employment. . .-....
One, no friends or home.
One, sent to reform school because
father would not send to school.
One, crippled badly by Potts disease.
One, muscular paralysis.
One, father deserted mother.
Two, insane father; mother has
others to support. a...... g..
One, runaway. ....
One, abandonment.
One, brutality of husband; mother
unable to provide. s.. H. ~.
One, mother held to court. ~ Il
Three, deserted mother, given work
for few days. .
One, father dead, mother given
work.
Two, wife deserted husband; father
cared for boys as long as possible;
family reconciled later.
The above are sample cases. The
principal cause of trouble is desertion
and divorce, incompatibility of temper;
mothers with broken health, drink,
extreme poverty, illegitinacy. Poor
housekeeping undoubtedly is a con-