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-JHE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
17
The Work of the Hebrew Orphans Home
the White House Conferences
and 1919 stressed the advan-
"‘(0; family home-life, that called
b j ident Hoover in November,
p30. aced no special emphasis on
or institution care beyond de
claring ‘ .. I
ilt that “every child and orphan
a need must be supported and
protected” and
, 3, hat “every child is entitled to
he feeling that he has a home,
he extension of the services
it the community should sup
plement and not supplant
parents.”
It seems to me debatable that a
child can have a feeling that he has
a home if the only home-life he knows
is one shared with others whose de
pendency like his own, has been
caused by a break-down of their fami
lies, in inability to maintain their
place in the community. No institu
tion for children can approximate
home-life as we find it in the eco
nomically, morally and spiritually
self-sufficient family; and it is in
only such homes that we board our
children. In the best of our institu
tions for children, where numbers are
cared for there are rules and regula
tions that the very word “institution”
differentiates from what we know as
the “family”. At all three White
House Conferences emphasis was
placed on the preservation of the
child's natural home and that poverty
alone should not cause its disruption.
In the second of the two recommenda
tions quoted above from the last con
ference, appear the words “supple
ment but not supplant parents.” Not
until we decide that the disintegra
tion of American homes has pro
gressed so far that the state becomes
the substitute for the family as the
unit of our civilization, should we
surrender to the distracting complexi
ties of our age and institutionalize
all our children.
It is on this principle that for the
past twenty years the Hebrew Or-
Home has been subsidizing
children in their own homes, prevent
ing the breaking up of these units
an ■ the estrangement that absence
ferent standards of living make
difficult for reuniting of the
after the child has metaphori-
-amed to speak a different
langi
Of
coul
horn
bv
be ,
tute
vea
live
un .
pa;
ine
the
Sh
sti
tui
ge from that of his relatives,
arse, there were children who
not be maintained in their own
because they had been broken
astrophies too well known to
cribed in detail. These consti-
our institution population a
go. The contrast between the
: these children and those also
our care, but living with their
• ls * in the same community, made
able a comparison in favor of
living in their own homes.
: our children living in the in-
10n be denied the same oppor-
1 or individual attention and love
: by our subsidized children be-
’hey had made the mistake of
n £ the wrong kind of parents?
‘d f >ard, through a committee,
ed the question for almost a
making careful inquiries as to
ther Jewish communities were
and soliciting the opinion of
T Y
po-
yet
doij
By MRS. ARMAND WYLE
students in the field of child-care.
We finally decided to make the ex
periment where it had never been
tried. Each home was accepted only
after all the tests of the composite
procedure of other Jewish placing
agencies had been applied. The se
lection of children for these “certi
fied” homes was made only after con
tacts by the child and the foster par
ents had been tentatively effected and
the results recorded, formally and
otherwise.
Supervision has been thorough, all
the so-called efficiency of the Insti
tution following the children into their
new homes; medical and dental ex
amination and treatment; checking of
school reports and deficiency slips;
Hebrew and religious education; re
creation; in fact all except the rela
tively stricter discipline that makes
an ordinary evidence of spirit in a
social home, an offense in institution
al life. Added to this is something
that no institution can give; the in
dividual love and attention that an
interested mother can give to one or
two children.
After they have been placed, a
social worker visits the children in
their foster homes two to four times
a month, as the need is indicated.
It is important that we establish a
friendly relationship with the family
and at the same time care must be
exercised that the child will not feel
that we are more important than the
foster mother. We arrange with the
foster mother to send the children to
Sunday School, to attend religious
services with the family, and to en
courage them to attend Hebrew
classes. She makes arrangements for
special instruction in music or danc
ing of the child shows interest or
talent. Every effort is made to pre
pare the child for his social and eco
nomic independence in later years.
With this equipment and because of
being socially and spiritually a part
of an established family and his com
munity, the child is better able to
work out his problems and develop
his character.
We have found that the children
are happier as a part of a family
group and that in a very short time
there is created a bond of affection
and loyalty between the child and
foster parent that cannot help but
benefit both. Our children have al
ready shown the effects of their resi
dence as members of a real family.
These results evidence themselves in
their self-confident appearance, in
gains in weight, in their attitude to
their neighbors and friends. The old
institutional reticence and lack of ini
tiative have disappeared and in its
place their faces radiate happiness,
independence and an impression of
“belonging”.
Much of the clothing of the children
has been purchased by the Ladies Aid,
and I take this opportunity of express
ing my personal *PPr«“‘’° n
Edgar Liberman and Mrs. Berth
Hirschberg for their continuous ef-
forts to please our children.
Our foster homes are not sufficient
ly remunerated to be attractive as a
commercial proposition. On the con
trary the foster mother does her part
gladly as her “bit” to humanity and
for love of the child. Most of their
homes are owned by our foster par
ents and have either a piano, victrola
or radio, and sometimes have all three.
Many of them maintain automobiles.
The number of acceptable homes so
far has been greater than we have
children to place in them.
The task of providing a substitute
for the normal home is one which
calls for careful and skillful selection
both of homes and children; and above
all for patient and adequate supervis
ion after the children have been
placed. Before attempting to place a
child it is necessary to have a full
history of the family, the habits and
characteristics of its members and to
know the physical and mental condi
tion of the child. With the help of
this knowledge we can decide more in
telligently the type of home in which
the child will be most likely to adjust,
and consequently be happiest.
In the selection of our foster homes
we must be careful to secure one
which will fit the child’s tempera
ment. A girl who desires to become a
teacher would not be contented with
a woman who does not regard educa
tion of great importance; a boy who
promises well as a mechanic might
be a failure in a family of the well-
to-do-class; so that careful investiga
tion of the family history and life
of each prospective foster parent is
also an important part of our work.
Just as the foster parent wishes to
know all about the child, so must we
know all about the foster parents, in
order to insure a happy relationship
and a permanent placement.
We have justified our belief in fam
ily life as the right of every child
by our policy of subsidizing children
with their mothers. However, it often
happens that the widowed mother is
physically, mentally or morally in
competent to care for her own chil
dren and that is why we have added
to our honorable record of service by
giving such children the next best,
and sometimes superior environment
to its own home.
The job of being a real parent or
a foster parent is perhaps the most
difficult, and certainly the most
worthwhile one in the world. Through
our Foster Mothers’ meetings and
through the “Parents’ Magazine” that
each foster mother receives, we try
to help them—for we must admit that
parents need all the information that
specialists and students of child wel
fare can impart. Our parents seem
interested in this information and we
want to know the best methods of
rearing their children. They discuss
questions that puzzle them and gather
opinions and ideas that help them to
create a pleasanter family relation
ship. They have been made to feel
that they are a part of our organiza
tion and their work cannot be meas
ured in terms of financial reward.
An important phase of our work is
concerned with recording our visits and
observations. A great amount of time
is required for the clerical part of
record keeping. But this is most neces
sary and serves to increase efficiency.
During the past year we have visit
ed the following cities in the inter
ests of our children: New York,
(Please turn to page 18 >
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