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such children can be estimated, although complete statistics are not available. The following table shows the number of children in institutions in 1904 and in 1910 according to the tabulations made by the Bureau of the Census. Separate figures are given also for a number of the leading states.1

In this table the number of children in orphanages and children's homes does not include that considerable proportion of children who are placed in some institution with one of their parents. Accordingly the table understates the number who are actually receiving institutional relief, since in 1904 5625 children were enumerated in so-called "Permanent Homes." The figures for the years 1904 and 1910 for orphanages and children's homes, however, are quite comparable and indicate a slight increase during these six years in the proportion of children in institutions. The highest rates are in New York, which state has in its children's homes more than one-fourth of all the children found in such institutions in the United States. According to figures by its State Board of Charities, New York had 34,530 children in institutions in 1910, or 4000 more than the number stated by the Bureau of the Census, which did not include foundlings and some classes counted by the New York Board. The District of Columbia and California follow New York in their high percentage of children in institutions, and as will be shown later, the system of relief used is largely responsible for this condition.

Eleven states each had more than 2000 inmates in their institutions at the close of 1910. In the United States as a whole and in the majority of states the number of children remaining in the homes at the end of the year is greater than the admissions during the year- a fact which implies that the length of stay in the institutions averages more than one year. In some states, such as Massachusetts and New Jersey, the opposite is true, children being returned to their homes or placed out with a considerable degree of rapidity.

The total number of institutions apparently rose from 1075

1 United States Bureau of the Census. Benevolent Institutions, p. 26 ff. The Survey, February 15, 1913, pp. 712–713.

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in 1904 to 1152 in 1910. Although some new homes were built, probably a number of the homes included in the latter year were overlooked in the former. New York leads with 154 orphanages and children's homes, while Ohio and Pennsylvania follow with 106 and 105 respectively. The states vary widely in the proportion of institutions to population, indicating either a wide difference in the proportion of poverty or in methods of handling dependent children. In some states the boarding and placing-out system is used more extensively than elsewhere.

In 1910 the Bureau of the Census for the first time studied the societies organized for the aid, protection, and placing-out of children. A total of 212 societies were tabulated which placed out 23,794 children during the year. Indiana led with the largest number of societies-35-followed by New York and Pennsylvania. New York, however, handled by far the largest number of children more than one-third of the entire number placed out by societies throughout the United States. A large proportion of the children handled by these societies are merely under guidance and protection. The number actually placed out during the year is therefore considerably less than the number under their care at the close of the year.

Summarizing the work of the children's institutions and the aid and protection societies, we find that at the close of 1910 they had 142,680 children under their care. During the year, however, the institutions placed out 14,031 children. This number, added to the figures tabulated for the 212 societies, yields a total of 37,825 children placed out in 1910. More than 180,000 children therefore passed into or through the hands of these child-caring agencies during the year. If to this number could be added the illegitimate children, crippled, foundlings, and others included under the inmates of homes for adults and children, or not covered by the census, the total number of dependent children cared for within a single year will considerably exceed 200,000. This demonstrates the need of efficient child-caring agencies as well as increased efforts to reduce the causes of dependency.

CHAPTER II

PROBLEMS AND PRINCIPLES OF CHILD SAVING

As was shown in the previous chapter, social workers must deal with several types of dependent children. Each group raises a separate set of problems, and therefore different methods of control must be devised. This is especially true of four classes of children: the deserted, the illegitimate, those without homes or removed from their homes, and the defective classes.

Certain principles which can be generally applied, will be considered first, and certain special problems connected with particular classes will be studied later.

1. General Principles of Child Saving.

Social workers were long divided into two camps on the question of the proper method of caring for dependent children. One party advocated the institution plan and favored the orphanage, the children's home, the permanent home, and the industrial school where children should be brought up to adult life. Without natural supporters they would, it was believed, prosper better in some institution where discipline, education, moral instruction, good environment, physical training, and other advantages could be provided. This party also pointed to the defects of the placing-out system, and spoke of its unsatisfactory results. The advocates of the latter system, on the other hand, insisted on the absence of real family life in the institution and declaimed against the evils of congregate living. They claimed great advantages for the home and contended that life away from the temptations and pitfalls of a large city and outside of an institution would yield the best results. Even the temporary home was opposed by the most radical advocates of the placing-out system.

The contending parties finally sought to harmonize their

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differences. Some good in institutions was discovered on the one hand and the value of the placing-out system was definitely recognized on the other. In 1899 the National Conference of Charities and Correction adopted a report which ended the strife and set forth the principles of child saving on a permanent basis. These principles are restated in the report of 1906,1 and an elaborate exposition was published in the Report of the White House Conference held in 1909.2

a. Principles asserted at the White House Conference.

The principles concerning which there was substantial agreement among the social workers called together by President Roosevelt are the following:

(1) Preservation of home ties wherever possible.

(2) The paramount importance of preventive work.

(3) The superiority of the foster home as a substitute for the natural home.

(4) The adoption of the cottage plan for institutions.

(5) The incorporation of child-caring agencies.

(6) State inspection of the work of child-caring agencies.

(7) Education in institutions as part of the public educational

system.

(8) The keeping of adequate records.

(9) Physical care.

(10) Coöperation among child-caring agencies.

(11) Undesirability of legislation by states so as to handicap the placing-out of children from other states.

(12) The need of a national association for the care of dependent children.

(13) A federal children's bureau.

b. The Importance of the Home.

The home is an institution fundamental to our civilization and its preservation must be rigidly guarded. The duties taken from the home must not be so numerous as to lessen the cohesive force of this civilizing power. In fact, the state is using the home as one of its means of achieving further progress; but in all

1 National Conference of Charities and Correction, 1906, pp. 87-89.
The Survey, February 20, 1909.

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