The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-12-15
Private Families Best

Those who have made a big study of child welfare work advocate the placing out of such children with prt' vate families, one baby to a family, thus scattering them. In connection with this plan there must be good woman of intelligent personality who will get the right baby for the right family and then visit 1t at least once a month to see that everything is as 1t should be and that the baby is be- ing properly tended and cared for. Such a woman continually Ieseens the expense for the city as when the bae btes are placed with the right families they will very often want to adopt them, thus relieving the city of the expense Of their board.
 In spite of the many applications which private families make to board one of these babies, the departn ent of charities does not dare scatter the babies with no friendly visitor to watSh over them.
 le odty has but one investigator, Morr1ssey and all the invest1- gating of the department of charities falls upon his< shoulders it would be a physical impossibi1ity for him to at- tend to these babies alsos-
 Mrs. Gordon Helps
 At present Mrs. Gordon, wife of the superintendent of charities, from in- terest in her husbands work is giving a great deal of her time to looking out for these babies and Is trying to interest various people in them in or der to find mothers and fathers for them, if possible. Just lately she has interested several people in Christ mas babiesa
 I recently talked with Mr. Gordon on the question and he summed up his views by saying:
 f Every baby has right to a real homo life. While a child of four years is very young, it has been shown that it takes many years and much care full watching to eradicate the bad hab- it's learned by a child who had lived in a wrong environment until the age of six. Inasmuch as these babes are the children of unfit parents, there is all the more reason why the city should safeguard their lives. Individual care eliminates the danger of contagion which Is always imminent when they are housed together.' These are the two dangers of the housing together plan. It destroys individuality and an epidemic is al- ways imminent. Such ailments as skin diseases, which go from child to child very rapidly, are nearly always present.
 Originality Destroyed A child brought up in an fnstitu- tion is likely to become more of a ma
 
 comes so used to responding to the rules of the home that he has no fn- itiative or originality and at the end of his commitment is thrown on the world in this state of unpreparedness Such is the case of a colored boy now at LakeVtew home, who was in the County home for many years. The report of the state board o1 charities for the years of 1911 and 1e1z says concerning the provision for de- pendent and neglected children in the county temporary, homes:s
 '.The decided increase in the num- her of children on support of the col1n- ty homes shows that the whole matter Of caring for dependent and neglected children in Connecticut is a serious one and should be given serious study in all its phases. Under the present system of county ownership, of state support, and of commitment by town | city and probate courts there is a di-