The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-26
SUMMER NOT All SUNSHINE, SOME
 CHILDREN KN0W'
Many Long For Care Of Loving Mother; Local h. stitutions Help Alleviate Sorrow.

Summer with it's radiant sunshine,
 may mean any one of a number of things to Americas future citizens,
 the children of today. To some it means happiness, time for vacation
 jop. To others it may mean nothing
 but another period of sorrow
 To the average child summer is the
 most eagerly sought season of the year. The youngSter looks forward
 to the time he or she will be free from
 studies, when he can swim and play
 baseball and go on picnics. But how
 about those children who are home
 less, destitute, without parents? To
 them summer is an empty dream,-
 or would be such if it were not for
 certain agencies which care for the
 child, and help bring him up away
 the most important and yet the least thought of by the public is the or phanage.
 Doing Excellent Work.
 In this city the homeless are cared for by various institutions of this sort. Perhaps the largest are the Protestant | Orphan asylum, the Bridgeport He
 brew Orphan asylum, which house and the Child Welfare Bureau.
 At the present time there are at the former place 64 children, some half orphans, some destitute and some orphans; children taken from homes where the parents, if there are any, are unable to support the children. Some are taken because both parents have died and there is no way in
 which the child may be supported and nurtured.
 The children at this institution.
 which is on Ellsworth street, corner Fairfield avenue, are between the ages l of three and 6. Most of them, though, | are from eight to 10 years. Here they | are taught to become good citizens. Here they play games; the boys have
 their Boy Scout troop, the girls having
 dancing classes; baseball is played, and parties and picniCS are organized | And yet is it possible that the chill dren are perfectly happy? Can they | not remember when they lived with
 their father and mother, when they | had everything a child could wish :? Do they not long for someone to love Private Institution.
 At the Bridgeport Hebrew Orphan asylum, 779 Lafayette street, where there are now 28 boys and girls, most ly between eight and 12 years of age, everything possible is done to make
 the children happy. The home is man. aged by a corps of volunteers, an as sociation of 700 members of the He brew Orphan asylum association. There is no municipal support what ever, merely the funds received by the members dues.
 A Hebrew class is in session an hour each day so that the children
 may keep to the faith. Games and entertainments are prepared for the youngsters. A number of pleasant | looking dormitories are furnished for their benefit, but is it home? The
 children here are mainly those where there is one parent living who can
 not afford to support the child prop
 erly. In some cases there is no one l to care for the child, so the latter is sent to the asylum.
 Very Few Adopted.
 Very few of the children have been adopted during the past few years. The Bureau of Child Welfare has for it's principal task the placing of dependent and uncared for children l in good foster homes. and to keep | opment therein. Workers of all | faiths and creeds are employed by
 the organization. They are experi-
 enced in dealing with child welfare
 look after health conditions in 1i-
 censed boarding homes. Persons
 prominent in welfare work have said
 for many years that the carefully se- lected foster home is for the normal
 child the best substitute for the natur-
 al home. Yet, few children have been
 adopted in this city in recent years. | Surely these must be some homes
 where there is longing for child s
 laughter and joy, where the lonely
 residents would do anything, if they
 could have someone to call them
 daddy" or mother" Perhaps some child dear to their own hearts has | passed beyond this life, hearkening to the call of the angel of death. Here
 indeed there is sorrow. At the or
 among those children who cry for the
 love of a mother. Is it not possible | that the sorrow be changed to joy
 that it be mtttgated to some extent
 are welcome at all times, the officials