The Detroit tribune. (Detroit, Mich.) 1935-1966, 1936-05-02
ORPHANS &c 7
sly M P A THY
AND c ARE
By Staff Correspondent

1t is fitting, on the week of
Mothers Day to give some thought
TO the plight of the hundreds OF
children in our city who have no
means Of support or livelihood,
whose present is a waking horror
and whose future is a dreadful
nightmare. Few people ever stop
to wonder what happens to the chill
dren in their communities who are
bereft of care and who are home
less and friendless. Yet, if the par
ents of families only knew what
narrow margin separates their own
children from such a fate, they
would spend more time in consider
ing the problem.
If a train crashed into your car
on a trip, killing you and your
wife, what would happen to your
children? If an accident on the
street suddenly wiped you out,
what would your little ones at
home do? To whom would they turn
for aid? On whom could they de-
pend for support?
Hundreds of Cases
Within the colored race in De-
troit alone there are hundreds who
are dependent upon society for
their support. Children who are the
hapless victims of death; children
who are discarded by unmarried
mothers; children who, for one
reason or another, are not wanted
by their parents, and are so neg
lected and mistreated that they
must be taken from their homes.
Each year large numbers of chill
dren come from broken or desti-
tute families into the care and pro
lection of the Childrens' Aid So
ciety. -. Their histories are tragic,
their outlook is hopeless; but their
fate, thanks to the recognition OF
the fact of their existence, is not
as bad as is commonly believed.
No Starving Children
In Detroit there are no children
maurauding about the streets I'M
wild bands, fighting, begging, or
stealing, in order to live. No or
phans home exists here to put a
blight upon the growing child with
its strict discipline, poor fare, and
the realization by the children
that they are unwanted
by any living soul.
Detroit has a far better system of
caring for her dependent and neg
lected children. Among colored
people many great-hearted cou-
bles, supervised ny seven workers
If the Childrens' Aid Society, CO.
Operate in the work of caring for
lie Negro children, who have mo-
'alitable place to lay their heads
Number Is Larger
One of the things that investiga-
tors discovered is the fact that the
Negro family is deteriorating faster
than the white family. That sepa-
ration, crime, death, and econo-
mic insufficiency have taken a far
greater toll of the Negro communi-
ty than of the white community,
leaving the children of those dis
rupted families to fare as best they
can in a society in which mercy is
at a premium.
A Typical Case
A recent case from the files of
the Childrens' Aid Society reveals
this pitiable story of colored
family:
The father of five small children,
in Detroit since 1925, found him
self unable to keep a job because
of his addiction to drink, and in
disgust at himself for his failure
to control his drinking urge, he
abandoned any pretence of re-
spectability and became a chronic
drunkard, neglecting his wife and
children so terribly that the family
was reduced to a state bordering
on starvation.
Neighbors reported that when
winter came the mother burned
her furniture to keep a fire going
for her small children. She finally
succumbed to tuberculosis and died
within a few months of that dread
disease. Her children were found
to have a childhood type of the
disease and were placed in the
sanatorium at Worthwhile for treat
ment.
When they were pronounced cur
ed there was no place for them TO
go. The father could not be found;
none Of their relatives were able to
take care of them. What would hap
pen to these five children, the old
est of which was twelve?
One Remedy
The Childrens' Aid Society of De-
troit came into being with the
realization that something must be
done for children whose cases were
similar to that of the one outlined
above.
For the last several years, under
the leadership of Leon Frost it has
worked in an effort to enable So
ciety's small victims to enjoy the
privileges of children who are
reared in their own homes, under
the protecting love of their own
parents. Race has made no differ