Charles Loring Brace by Courtney Swatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb Historical Figure Virtual Poster en-us 2019-02-07 05:45:59 UTC 2023-07-21 16:45:17 UTC hello@padlet.com Charles Loring Brace CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328598964 June 19, 1826 – August 11, 1890 ]]> 2019-02-07 05:48:07 UTC https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328598964 Who was he? What did he do? CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599126 Charles Loring Brace was a congregational minister who founded the Children’s Aid Society. The purpose was to counteract the effects of homelessness and poverty on young immigrant children, who often times turned to begging, selling items, or crime to survive. The overall goal was to transform the lives of the street children in New York through education, work, and exposure to a more wholesome family environment (Hansan, 2011). ]]> 2019-02-07 05:49:31 UTC https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599126 Orphan Train CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599215 Brace is most remembered for his more radical idea to remove these children entirely from their current circumstances and send them to what he deemed to be more ideal living environment. Between 1853 and 1895, Brace sent over 90,000 children to live with families on the new frontier (Jansson, 2015, p. 115). This concept was called “Placing out”, but is historically referred to as the Orphan Train. 
Brace began his “placing out” program in 1854 with a group of forty-six boys traveling by train to Michigan with an agent. The children were taken before an assembly of townspeople in a local church where the agent explained the children’s need for homes. Within one week, local farm families had claimed all the children (Hansan, 2011) ]]> 2019-02-07 05:50:21 UTC https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599215 CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599306 2019-02-07 05:51:05 UTC https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599306 Controversy CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599684 Because a number of the immigrant groups were Catholic, church authorities thought the orphan train movement had a hidden agenda: weaning Catholic children of their faith (Grossman, 2018). 

Due of the lack of screening in the families that took the children, and without follow up to ensure the safety and well being of the children, it has been criticized that this program did not place children with loving families, but rather that the children were indentured to the families that acquired them (Grossman, 2018). 

]]> 2019-02-07 05:55:41 UTC https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599684 Impact CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599749 Brace’s views on the negative impact of institutionalizing impoverished or abandoned children ultimately influenced the reform in policy and society’s approach to dealing with this vulnerable population. “As a result, sectarian groups developed their own social services and child-caring institutions, such as orphanages. In the late nineteenth century, the Catholic church built institutions at a furious pace, a sharp contrast with the trend toward placing-out children. By 1910, there were 322 infant asylums and orphanages serving almost 70,000 children annually” (The Adoption History Project, 2012). Ultimately this would influence the development of our modern foster care system, and our child welfare policies. ]]> 2019-02-07 05:56:36 UTC https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599749 References CourtneySwatsenbarg https://padlet.com/CourtneySwatsenbarg/80gqvu30csdb/wish/328599908 The Adoption History Project. (2012, February 24). Adoption history: Charles loring brace (1826-1890). Retrieved from https://pages.uoregon.edu/adoption/people/brace.html

Grossman, R. (2018, July 23). The orphan train: A noble idea that went off the rails. Retrieved from https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-flashback-orphan-train-children-separated-immigrants-0722-20180718-story.html

Hansan, J. E. (2011). Charles loring brace. Retrieved from https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/people/brace-charles-loring/

Jansson, B. (2015). The reluctant welfare state: Engaging history to advance social         work practice in contemporary society (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

Rice, L. (2018, July 3). 'Riders of the orphan train' preserves the unforgettable stories of unwanted children. Retrieved from http://www.kut.org/post/riders-orphan-train-preserves-unforgettable-stories-unwanted-children

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