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ILLINOIS CHILDREN'S. HOME AND AID SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society took place at the Y. M. C. A. January 30. Mr. S. C. Kingsley, Superintendent of the Relief and Aid Society gave the principal address on "Ideals and Methods in Child Saving Work," an excellent presentation whose guiding thought was, the need for real knowledge of child nature by those who would assume to direct the destiny of children.

Superintendent H. H. Hart at His Desk.

SUPERINTENDENT'S ADDRESS. The year nineteen hundred and four has been the most prosperous and successful one in the history of the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society. The Society attained its majority, having reached the age of twentyone years. Looking back upon the evolution of the past twenty-one years we can only say, "What hath God wrought?"

In 1883, our founder, the Reverend Martin Van Buren Van Arsdale, began this work, without income, constituency or children, moved by a great thought of beneficence towards neglected little ones, upheld by faith in God and inspired by a steadfastness and tenacity of purpose, worthy of his sturdy Dutch ancestors.

In 1884, at the end of the first year, the Society had received and cared for forty children and had expended perhaps $1,000. In 1894 it cared for 332 children, the total number from the beginning had reached 2,016, and the expenditures for the year were $15,800. In 1904 it has handled in its Plac

ing Out Department 528 different children and has also found situations for 104 mothers with children. The total number of children received from the beginning has reached 5,300, of whom 2,200 still remain under the care of the Society as wards. The expenses were $44,718. Besides its placing out work the Society, now carries on a large "Aid Department", in which during the year 1904 such applications were received in behalf of 1767 children, of whom 611 were referred to other agencies, 46 were turned over to the Placing Out Department and 1,114 were cared for by the Aid Department.

In 1883 the Society was without standing among the child saving agencies of the United States. In 1893 it made an exhibit in the World's Columbia Exposition, which was awarded a bronze medal, placing it in the third rank of the child saving agencies of the United States. In 1904 the Society made an exhibit in the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis, which was awarded the "Grand Prize", the highest award, plac

ing it in the first rank of the child saving agencies of the United Sates. This award has great significance because our exhibit competed with those of the great child saving institutions of the City of New York, and other leading cities, and because the jury of awards was made up of such eminent and impartial specialists as Dr. Edward T. Devine, Secretary of the New York Charity Organization Society; Dr. Charles R. Henderson, of the Chicago University and Hon. Timothy C. Nicholson, a well known member of the Indiana State Board of Charities.

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OBJECTS AND AIMS OF THE
SOCIETY.

The objects of the Society are:

1. "To seek out homeless and neglected children, establish and maintain temporary homes, to place children in approved family homes, and to maintain guardianship and watchcare until the children reach their majority or are legally adopted, returned to friends, or otherwise disposed of."

These objects are accomplished through the Placing Out Department.

2. It is a rule of the Society that any person in Illinois who is in trouble about a child may make application and an effort will be made to solve that trouble, whatever it may be. It may be to compose a family quarrel, to reform a drunken father, to .reclaim an erring mother, to provide temporary care while the parents are in temporary distress, to secure medical or surgical treatment, to secure commitment to an institution for deaf, blind, feeble-minded or cripple children, to send to friends at a distance or to secure protection through the courts.

This work is accomplished through the Children's Aid Department which employs the entire time of four agents and a portion of the time of others.

In seeking to attain these objects the Society aims to ascertain in every case just what ought to be done for the benefit of the child in question and then to accomplish, if possible, that desirable thing.

This aim involves a high ideal, both of wisdom and of insight, to discover the best thing to be done, and of skill, energy and patience to accomplish it. This means that the workers of the Society shall be men and women of consecration, intelligence and common sense. This it not a work for decayed clergymen, worn out school-mistresses, and unsucessful business men, or inexperienced young people. It demands people of high grade, who are wanted in other fields, competent to act promptly, without error, in matters affecting the whole future of the child. In taking on new employes the question of efficiency, consecration, unselfishness and faithfulness is the determining one. No charitable organization has a more devoted, harmonious and faithful band of workers than the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society.

THE STANDARDS RISING.

In the evolution of the Society during the past 21 years, there has been a gradual elevation of the standard of the Society. Methods which seemed good, ten or fifteen years ago, have been discarded; plans which proved good have been steadily improved and new forms of work have been gradually developed. For example: The Society formerly placed children on recommendation of refer

A Pillow for a Weary Head.

ences selected by the applicant, or by the Society. Now it requires in addition the personal visit of a trained employe; formerly illegitimate children were received soon after birth, with little question, on request of the mother; now every effort is made to induce the mother to care for the child, at least during the nursing period; formerly the Society confined its efforts almost exclusively to the work of placing children in family homes, but during the past seven years it has developed an Aid Department, which is rapidly becoming a leading feature in the work.

METHODS OF WORK.

The Children's Home and Aid Society is brought into action, first by an application in behalf of a child presented by its father, mother or relative, by a compassionate neighbor, by a probation officer of the Juvenile Court, or by a member of one of our 640 local Advisory Boards. This application is presented at the central office of the Society in Chicago, or to one of our ten district superintendents scattered through the state. The agent to whom the application is presented makes immediate inquiry into

the circumstances in order to ascertain what ought to be done.

Our best work is accomplished when, by counsel or persuasion, or by assistance secured by some local individual or agency, the parents or relatives of the child are led to meet the necessity. For example: A young man came to a district superintendent and said, "I want you to make provision for a child not yet born. I will give your Society $150 or $200 to provide a good home for the child." On inquiry, the district superintendent learned that two farmers living on adjoining farms had become involved in a boundary dispute which resulted in a feud. The son of one family and the daughter of the other were lovers, but the parents forbade their union. This prohibition resulted in an illicit relation, and the consequent application to the Society. Our agent visited the father of the young man; exhorted him; rebuked him; argued with him; prayed with him; spending most of the night. Finally, the father admitted that he was in the wrong and promised to endeavor to right it. The agent then visited the other father, who yielded more readily. The farmers were reconciled. The father of the young man purchased a farm in Kansas and the father

of the young woman provided furniture and live stock. The young people were happily married and cared for their own child. The Society received no money but accomplished the best possible results.

Often the parents are in temporary distress and can care properly for their children if temporary provision can be made for them. The Children's Home and Aid Society does not undertake this temporary care, but is able to secure it, either by finding a boarding place in a private family or by invoking the co-operation of the manual training schools, the Industrial Schools, the Orphan Asylums or the Children's Homes which are now given up largely to the important work of furnishing such temporary care. If the parents of the child are able they are expected to pay for a portion of the expense of boarding the child, but if they are unable to pay, the child will be cared for by any of these institutions for a reasonable time without payment.

In many cases the child is orphaned or abandoned, the parents may be vicious, immoral or incompetent and it becomes necessary for the Society to accept the child. In such cases it is necessary, for the future protection of the child, that the legal custody shall be conveyed to the Society. This is done either by a voluntary surrender of all rights by the parents or guardian, or by action of the county or circuit court under the Juvenile Court law. It is very important that the legal requirements shall be strictly complied with, in order that the child may be protected from further interference by the parents, and in order that its rights may be secured in case of legal adoption by the foster parents. This is peculiarly important for the reason that defects in the proceedings are likely to be overlooked and not to be discovered until years afterwards, when it may be impossible to correct mistakes.

THE RECEIVING HOMES.

When a child is accepted by the Society, it is usually tranferred immediately to one of its three Receiving Homes, in Chicago, in Rantoul, 100 miles south of Chicago, or in Shelbyville, 200 miles south of Chicago. The Society has maintained a fourth Home at Du Quoin, 300 miles south of Chicago, which is temporarily closed awaiting a new building.

Each of these Homes is small, providing for about 25 children. It is the policy of the Society not to increase materially the size of these Homes, but to preserve in them the family atmosphere and conditions. Each Home is under the charge of a matron, carefully selected with reference to her special fitness. Although these Homes are small they need matrons as competent as those of large Orphan Asylums, on account of the character of the work required of them. Children come to them neglected, crude, untaught and ill-mannered. In a few weeks time they are expected to reduce them to orderliness, politeness, obedience and good behavior. Our Englewood Nursery in Chicago, with a capacity of 25 children, enrolled 350 different children in 1904 whose average stay was less then two months.

The conditions are specially trying to the matrons, for the reason that the choicest and best children are constantly being sent out for placement in family homes, awaiting them, while the stupid, ill-mannered and disobedient are left on hand. Consequently the matrons, however efficient and successful, can never make a fine showing of the children on hand. In an old-fashioned asylum, where the stay of the children averages perhaps two years instead of two months, the children can be reduced to a

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As Received.

fine state of discipline and training, so as to delight the eyes of the visitor.

An essential feature of the Receiving Homes is the physical renovation of the children. Nearly one-half of the children that come into our care are in need of medical or surgical treatment, having been badly nourished, having disorders of the blood, eczema, catarrh, or adenoid growths, or being in need of some surgical operation or treatment of the eyes or ears.

The Society enjoys the gratuitous service of excellent physicians. The Rantoul Home has the services of a medical staff composed of the local physicians who minister the children in turn; the Middlesworth Home enjoys the voluntary skillful services of Dr. T. L. Catherwood; the Englewood Nursery in Chicago has the efficient care of Dr. Frances M. Allen, while the ablest specialists render their services gratuitously, and most of the hospitals of Chicago throw open their doors without charge to the afflicted wards of the Society.

We aim to send out children from the Receiving Homes well clothed, with change of underwear, night dress, brush and comb, etc., and renovated in mind, body and morals, in order that they may receive a hearty welcome in their new home.

Formerly we maintained schools in our Receiving Homes, but we have found it better to send the children to public schools where they are generously received, notwithstanding the inconvenience caused by frequent changes.

Formerly young infants were kept in our Receiving Homes. In spite of all precau

The Middlesworth Home.

tions the death rate among such infants was unwarrantably high. Young infants are so susceptible that any disorder is speedily communicated. In November, 1903, we abandoned the policy of keeping nursing babies in

our Receiving Homes. As a result the death
rate of our children under two years of age
declined from 30 per cent in 1902 to 16 per
cent in 1904.

On Wednesday morning, October 19, 1904,
fire was discovered in the Middlesworth
Home at Shelbyville, Illinois. The fire was
located in a rear wing of the building which
contained the kitchen, dormitory and bath
room. The flames spread rapidly communi-
cating through the wooden door into the
rear dormitory of the main building.

The matron, Mrs. Jennie Fraser, on being awakened, hurried to the seat of the fire, and then went from room to room rousing the children. The children were sent down the stairway without confusion. When every child was safely out of the building Mrs. Fraser went to the telephone and gave the alarm. The fire department was promptly on the ground and people hurried from every direction, forming a large crowd.

The children and employes had escaped. in their night dresses and were gathered in a little group on the opposite side of the street. Two little boys, Alfred Peterson and Charles Peters, aged 6 and 9 years respective ly, shivering in the chilly morning air and ashamed in their scant nightwear, slipped through the crowd unnoticed, entered the building, and mounted the stairs in order to get their clothing. In the darkness they were not missed until the firemen discovered them, suffocated, in the dormitory.

The news of the disaster was telephoned immediately to the superintendent of the Children's Home and Aid Society in Chicago, who telephoned a request for an immediate inquest.

The coroner summoned a jury of the best citizens in Shelbyville, including two physicians. After a rigid inquiry the jury found that the lamentable disaster was not due to any fault on the part of the matron, or any one else, that every precaution had been taken and that no one was to blame.

NEW BUILDING REQUIRED.

The Receiving Homes of the Society at Rantoul and Shelbyville are very satisfactory. We are expending about $1,000 at Shelbyville in making good the loss sustained by the unfortunate fire which visited that Home in October, 1904. The amount received from the Insurance Company will restore the propcrty to nearly as good condition as before the fire.

We are expending at the Rantoul Home about $1,000 in repairs and improvements, building a hennery and fire escapes, concreting the basement, decorating most of the interior, laying hard wood floors, furnishing the children's playroom, providing shower baths, etc.

The old Du Quoin Children's Home was destroyed by fire in 1904. Plans have been drawn for a new Home to be built on the outskirts of Du Quoin at a cost of $7,500. It is hoped to realize $1,500 to $2,000 from the sale of the old property, and the people of southern Illinois have already subscribed about $1,000 towards the new building, which we hope to erect during the coming year.

The Englewood Nursery in Chicago has long been inadequate for use as a Receiving Home. The house is small and inconveniently arranged. It is the property of the Englewood Infant Nursery Association, auxiliary to the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society. This association has generously furnished the house, rent free, with furniture, crockery, bedding and clothing for the children. The Nursery Association has intimated its willingness to sell this property and invest the proceeds in a new home

provided satisfactory arrangements can be made.

It is not the policy to build a large Home. We estimate that suitable buildings on the cottage plan can be erected for $20,000, and that the necessary land can be purchased for about $10,000 more, making a total of $30,000. A new Receiving Home should be provided without delay and it is hoped that the friends of the Society will provide the necessary means.

Note. After the presentation of this report, Mrs. M. A. Garrett, the President of the Englewood Nursery Association, announced that the ladies of the Association had voted to request the Society to take immediate steps to build a new Receiving Home. She stated that they proposed to sell their present property and to devote the proceeds to building one of the cottages for the new Receiving Home.

SELECTION OF HOMES.

home, to become the permanent abiding place
The next step is the selection of a family
of the child. Applications for children are
received either by a personal call of the ap-
plicant, or by correspondence. Many appli-
cations are seen at once to be undesirable.
Some applicants want a child for base pur-
poses, for beggary or prostitution or
for
Some
applicants want children
use in improper exhibitions.
to be passed
off upon a husband or other people as their
own. A man engaged in placing-out work
made the statement that he had given three
children in succession to the same woman,
all of whom were believed by her husband to
be their own off-spring. Some people de-
sire children for their own pleasure or grati-
fication. A young woman of seventeen, mar-
ried to a man of fifty, applied to the Chil-
dren's Home and Aid Society for a girl of
seven and cried like a spoiled child when her
application was refused. Many good people
desire children from mixed motives, partly
selfish and partly benevolent. They want a
child who can be helpful or can furnish com-
pany,, or who will adorn their home by its
beauty or intelligence; yet they have a sin-
cere purpose to benefit the child.

A comparatively small number of people are actuated by pure benevolence. They are willing to take a sickly, deformed, crippled,

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homely or unruly child, and through years of patient endurance to develop the child into intelligence, helpfulness and independence. Many such people have been richly rewarded for their self-sacrifice by the unexpected development of the child in beauty, devotion and gratitude. A gentleman in Ohio took an unpromising and unwanted boy, trained him patiently, bore with his faults, stimulated him to endeavor. The boy developed into a strong manhood and finally went to Congress. The father through the misconduct of his own children, lost his property and was reduced to poverty in his old age. The congressman came to him, redeemed the homestead, notified the local merchants to supply his needs at his expense and finally gave him honorable burial.

It is the work of the Society to sift out the applications received, discriminating between those which are inspired by a spirit of love for little children, and those which are inspired by selfish love of the applicants for themselves. This discrimination is accomplished partly by study of the application; partly by correspondence with reliable acquaintances, but chiefly by the judicious inquiry of a trained visitor, who will often discover essential facts which do not appear either in the application or in the written recommendations.

When the home is accepted, there comes the still more delicate task of fitting a child to the home. We find that in placing colored children in colored homes, it is often

Rejected Because He Was To Light
Colored.

necessary to match the shade. A child was indignantly rejected by an excellent colored woman because he was a few shades too light. A little reflection convinced us that the objection was valid. In a similar manner it is our task to match shades of ancestry, shades of temperament, shades of capability. A dull and stolid child will not fit into a home of refinement and culture; a bright and capable child will be miserable in the home of good, but uncultivated people. One child is fit for the farm, another for the village, another for the city. One child should be trained for a teacher, another for a mechanic, another for a domestic or a laborer. No wisdom or experience can insure infallibility in adapting children to homes. It is often the case of "cut and try." Sometimes a child will be returned four and five times in succession as unsatisfactory, and will finally fit into a home and do well ever afterwards.

After the child is placed, comes the work of supervision. Unless the child is legally adopted it remains a ward, subject to the guardianship of the Society. This friendly

supervision is maintained partly by correspondence, partly by the voluntary offices of our 640 Local Advisory Boards, in the cities and villages of the state, and partly by the visits of the district superintendents and visiting agents of the Society. These agents give detailed reports, showing the condition of the home as to comfort, order, neatness, etc., and the condition of the child as to morals, manners, health, education, religion, care, etc. In case of complaint from the foster parent, the neighbors, the Local Advisory Board, or from the child himself, indicating that all is not well, if the difficulty cannot readily be remedied by correspondence, a judicious agent is sent to visit the child. Much depends upon the wisdom, discretion and tact of the agent. Failure to discern the actual situation, an unwise or hasty word may result in the child's losing the home and being subject to a hazardous replacement. The agent is alone, far from headquarters, and must decide these important and difficult questions by himself. The difficulty and delicacy of the tasks laid upon the district superintendents and agents again emphasizes the necessity for securing men and women of the highest consecration and of first-class ability.

THE WORK OF THE CHILDREN'S AID DEPARTMENT.

The Children's Aid Department is the latest phase of the evolution of the Children's Home and Aid Society. Logically, it comes

Homes Wanted! Invalid mother can no longer care for these two sisters and their little brother.

first, for it is the office of the Children's Aid Department to receive applications made in behalf of little children, to conduct the necessary inquiries with reference to their needs, and to decide what is the most practical thing to be done, and in many cases to accomplish that thing. In Chicago the work of the Aid Department, the Placing-Out Department and the Soliciting Department are separated, and are performed by different persons, but in the outlying districts of the state all three of these functions necessarily devolve upon each district superintendent, adding to the burden and the complexity of the work.

Our

The work of the Children's Aid Department has assumed large proportions. last report showed 975 cases for the year. This report shows 1,767 cases for the year: 961 boys and 806 girls. Of these cases 1,156 were cared for by this Society as follows: Advised 559, investigated 341, boarding places found 50, situations found (mothers with children) 104, returned to relatives 24, transferred to Home Department 46, pending December 31st, 32 cases. Six hundred and eleven children's cases were referred to 52 different organizations, of which the most im

portant were the Juvenile Court, Home for the Friendless, Chicago Half-Orphan Asylum, Hephzibah Home, Chicago Orphan Asylum, Foundlings Home, Illinois Industrial School at Woodstock, Illinois Manual Training School Farm, Allendale Farm, Girl's Industrial School at Evanston, Methodist Deaconess Orphange, Salvation Army, Women's and Children's Protective Agency and the Visitation and Aid Society. We have found the children's Institutions and agencies ready to respond promptly and heartily to appeals in behalf of children coming within their province.

It is a most unsatisfactory task to attempt to reduce the work of the Children's Aid Department to statistics. When we say that a case has been "investigated" it may mean that a clerk has stepped across the hall to the Bureau of Charities, and in one minute has obtained the required information from their records; or it may mean that an agent has spent days in time and has traveled scores or even hundreds of miles; has interviewed from one to ten persons and has had repeated consultation with his superior officers.

When we say that a case has been referred to the Juvenile Court, it may mean that a parent has been sent with a line of introduction to the chief probation officer at an expense to us of five minutes' time; or it may mean that a probation officer of either Society has spent two days in studying the case and has prepared an elaborate history, and then that the Society's attorney has laboriously prepared the petition, the summons, notices to relatives and the court order and has caused the papers to be served upon the proper party, by the Society's probation officer. It may mean, also, that the probation officer has brought the child into court with the necessary witnesses, one, two or three times.

The truth is that statistical methods do not readily apply to work done for immortal souls. How shall we record the tears of a heart-broken mother, the foot-steps of a wandering father, the griefs of an unhappy and neglected child, the anxious thought and study of a conscientious probation officer, the swift, but skillful and decisive judgment of the court. It is easy to array and set in order rows of figures, but how little they can express in the attempt to measure such tasks as these.

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Eugene Brown and Florence Pate. The foster parents wanted a boy and a girl.

employed to place children in homes and to oversee them. They have about 400 children in western homes, of whom about 150 are in Illinois, about 200 in Iowa and the remainder in other states.

In the Fall of 1903, the superintendent of the New York Juvenile Asylum wrote that they were contemplating a change and inquired whether the Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society would be willing to assume their western agency. We replied suggesting that they make a careful investigation of our methods and facilities, which they did. We finally consented to assume charge of their wards in the state of Illinois, about 150 in number. A satisfactory mutual agreement was made and the children were placed in our charge October 6, 1903. The arrangement proved unexpectedly satisfactory on both sides. The New York Asylum was unable to make satisfactory arrangements with other agencies and renewed its request that we should assume charge of all of its western wards, which we did March 8, 1904.

The Illinois Children's Home and Aid Society assumes the entire responsibility for these children, except in the matter of adoption and indentures, visiting, supervising, placing and replacing children as need arises. The work of caring for the children is done partly by the regular agents of the Children's Home and Aid Society and partly by special agents employed for this special work. The New York Juvenile Asylum reimburses this society for all expenses incurred, including salary of agents, traveling expenses, board and clothing of children, office rent, stationery, postage, telegraphing, etc.

The following is a

STATEMENT OF NEW YORK
CHILDREN.

Committed to our charge, al-
ready placed in homes
Received from New York,
during the 15 months, Oc-
tober 6, 1903,-Dec. 31, 1904

370

58

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It was feared that this work might in some way prove detrimental to the Illinois Society, but we have not been able to discover any injury to our work; on the contrary there have been some decided advantages. First: It has contributed to mutual good understanding between the friends of

homeless children in the east and those in the west. Second: The New York work is not longer in any sense competitive with the Illinois work. Third:. There has been some financial advantage to the Illinois society in dividing the expense of office rents, clerical service, etc.

THE COST OF SUPERVISING
CHILDREN.

In performing this work for the New York Juvenile Asylum, we have learned incidentally what it costs to care for children in family homes. During the year 1904 we had under our care about 400 New York children. The actual expense to the New York

Juvenile Asylum of caring for these children

was $6,329, or a little over $15 per child. This rate of expense agrees closely with that of other societies which have kept careful ac

count.

Heretofore we have been unable to ascertain the cost per child of supervising children for the reason that our accounts could not be separated. The expense of carrying On our Aid Dept., receiving children and

gradual recognition of the value and importance of its work, and with the steady increase of confidence on the part of the good people of Illinois, it is hoped that adequate endowments will be provided to guard the society against disaster from commercial

panics and periods of depression all of which is respectfully submitted

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NEW ORLEANS

No trouble to answer questions.

New Dining Cars (meals a la carte) between Texas and St. Louis

Write for the new book on Texas. FREE.

E. P. TURNER, General Passenger Agent, Dallas, Texas

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With Her Foster Brother.

raising money was inextricably involved with the expense of supervising the children. In former years the expense of caring for a child from the time when it comes under the care of the society until its majority was roughly estimated at $50. It is now evident that this estimate was much too low and that the actual expense of caring for a child, when under our care, is much nearer $100 than $50; but even that amount is only a fraction of the cost involved in the old-fashioned plan of bringing up children in orphan asylums.

FINANCES OF THE SOCIETY.

A statement is submitted herewith showing the financial operations of the society for the past year:

The income of the society has been $46,201; expenses $44,718 leaving a surplus of $1,483. For the year ending Dec. 31, 1903, there was a surplus of $581 and for the year 1902 there was a deficit of $2,198, showing a steady improvement.

The net assest of the society were $10,862

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Leaving in our Charge Dec.

31, 1904 ..

We have made placements as follows:

Children received from New

York

57

Children already in the west

35

Of these 92 children we have

Replaced once

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a second time

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