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Arguments to Bring Back American Orphanages

“Without consistent moral guidance, without consistent discipline, without a positive self-image, and with no cause for hope, the child becomes a fertile soil for delinquent behavior and for drug involvement. Children become depressed, and some become suicidal. Some become violent and angry, and many become mentally ill, sociopathic, or psychotic.”~ Judge Estella Moriarty[1]

In the early 1900s, people began to voice concern over the state of the child welfare programs in the United States. This led to the end of the orphanage system and the beginning of the foster care system that we know today. However, during the 1980s, the tides began to shift in the other direction. People began to voice concern about the state of the foster care system, questioning whether or not the foster care system was really the best option for children, especially those who came from abusive or neglectful families.[2] These included professionals such as family court judges and sociologists who worked with the current foster care system and saw various problems every day. These problems include the limited availability, in some areas, of foster care homes, problems with abusive foster care homes, the social effects of foster homes on children, and so on.[3] The professionals also made some suggestions on how to rectify those problems by switching to a childcare system that consist of the different lessons that we have learned through the foster care and orphanage systems that the United States has used. The following articles go over some of the arguments that have been given in the last thirty years about the failings of the foster care system and some examples of institutions (orphanages) that are currently in use today.

References

  1. ↑ Estella Moriarty, LL.D., “The Nation’s Child Welfare Problems as Viewed from the Bench,” Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century, ed. Richard B. McKenzie (Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 1999), 41.
  2. ↑ Moriarty, “Child Welfare Problems,” 41.
  3. ↑ For more information and source material, see article “Problems with the Current Foster Care System.”





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