User talk:Frozen-constellations/sandbox

This is my sandbox page to help me practice codes for school.

Plan to add new History section to [Children's Aid Society (Ontario)] Wiki page, as a university class project.

Suggestions are welcome.

As discussed on the Talk page, it has come to my attention that the Canadian CAS page is in dire need of a history section. I propose to detail this foundation’s history by detailing how the Society was founded, and set in within the historical context it was created in a new section. I will also include important components, such a detailing the significance of orphan trains and the possible effects they had on CAS as well as give a bit more background on the society’s founder, Charles Loring Brace. It is my impression that a timeline of sorts is also necessary, detailing important events in the Society’s opening years, and plan on detailing relevant events in the subsequent decades. I estimate that my timeline of subject matter will likely span from the 1850s to the early 1960s. While I realize that records of CAS are largely hard to find, I believe that my sources will prove beneficial in clarifying and expanding this Wiki page. My proposed sources can be found below. Please let me know your thoughts, recommendations, and feel free to comment, thank you.

Aitken, Gail. “Changing Adoption Policy and Practice to Deal with Children in Limbo.” Child Welfare 74, 3 (1995): 679.

Chambers, Lori. Misconceptions: Unmarried Motherhood & the Ontario Children of Unmarried Parents Act, 1921-1969. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007.

Hasan, Jack.“Brace, Charles Loring – Social Welfare History Project,” Social Welfare and History Project, http://www.socialwelfarehistory.com/people/brace-charles-loring/ (February 9, 2016).

O'Connor, Stephen. Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001.

Trammell, Rebecca S. "Orphan Train Myths and Legal Reality." The Modern American, Fall 2009, 3-13. Accessed February 9, 2016. https://www.wcl.american.edu/modernamerican/documents/Trammell.pdf

Unknown, “History of Firsts,” The Children’s Aid Society, http://www.childrensaidsociety.org/about/history/history-firsts (February 8, 2016).

Frozen-constellations (talk) 17:39, 11 February 2016 (UTC)

Childrens Aid Society (Ontario) First Draft

Origins

Children’s Aid Society was created in 1853 in New York to aid with the rising number of orphans in the city. Created by Rev. Charles Loring Brace and other reformers, the Children’s Aid Society can be described as the beginning of child welfare in America. To deal with this influx of children, the reverend created the Orphan Train Movement, sending over 30,000 orphaned children across the country to settle with farming families. One of his notable achievements lies in the passing of the Children’s Protection Act by the Canadian Government in 1888 in cooperation with Canada’s Humane Society, a bill that gave the government more input in children's welfare. He later became known as the “children’s friend” for his child welfare advocacy. He remained active in children and women’s social causes until his retirement in 1934. By definition, Ontario's Aid societies offer child protection services and take the following precautions and actions:

• investigate reports or evidence of abuse or neglect of children under the age of 16 or in the society's care or supervision and, where necessary, take steps to protect the children
• care for and supervise children who come under their care or supervision
• counsel and support families for the protection of children or to prevent circumstances requiring the protection of children
• place children for adoption

History

Late 19th Century

Industrialization had created cramped quarters and Toronto found itself full of poverty stricken and working class individuals suffering under poor sanitary conditions. The influx of immigrants and lay men seeking work left many children abandoned due to economic circumstances. Due to a lack of a law similar to the British Poor Act, which provided assistance to the needy, there was little public action for the poor, as the attitude that society “valued those who were self-supporting, respectable and hard-working” remained from Canada’s pioneer days. It is in the late 19th century that the idea of foster care gained prominence. At the time, the general feeling was that "children in institutions learned what were perceived to be “evil” or “idle” habits from one another and generally did not have the chance to 'morally improve'" A child living within a substitute family was believed to gain positive influence and as a better place to build character.. Foster parents ensured a child was clothed, fed, went to school and Sunday school, and supportive of "the child's character development" but received no compensation for their efforts. At this time, orphaned or abandoned children were seen as a threat to social balance and were often placed in adult prisons.

Home Children

There was also the issue of ‘Home Children’ sent from British Colonies, often through organizations like Dr. Barnardo’s Homes, a popular foster home which was used as a model for others in Children's Aid Societies. According to the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies, between 1870 and 1957 more than 100,000 children (70,000 in Ontario alone) were sent from overseas. Although some work placements were successful, “[t]he successes of placements appeared to be often focused on the needs of the family rather than on the needs of the child.” Pressure from the British government to legislate these visits later came to fruition as the Canadian government had immigration agents visit each child once, "usually during their first winter he or she spent in Canada". After the 1897 Children's Protection Act Prior to 1927, adoption was permanent until the introduction of temporary wardship. This is largely believed to stem from the changing sentiment that parents could learn to take care of their children and that the two parties should not suffer through a permanently severed bond.

Interwar Years to Early 1960s

During the interwar years and the Depression, it wasn’t uncommon to see children displaced from their families due to a lack of food or shelter. Thought to be resilient, it wasn’t until after WWII that agencies and child welfare activists began to question the effects of displacement on children, creating a greater awareness of children’s needs. It wasn’t until the 1960s that initiatives to create programs for family support were taken. Frozen-constellations (talk) 16:41, 24 March 2016 (UTC)

Good information, though I wonder what purpose the offset block of text serves.LadyLessa (talk) 22:39, 27 March 2016 (UTC)

Comments

Frozen-constellations, this is a good start. You don't seem to be using many different references - can you add additional sources? I also wondered if you might include more about the impetus behind the Children's Aid Society. Why did reformers like Brace and Kelso want to help children? What was the ideology or purpose behind the organization? How did it operate on a day-to-day basis? Do we have any sense of how many children were in care at different points? Were they put in institutions or fostered? What is the connection between CAS and the Department of Welfare? What is the connection between CAS and Home Children? Were they involved in placing children arriving from Britain? Home Children already have a page of their own, so you need to demonstrate a connection here, otherwise this part is too repetitive.

I suggest adding more concrete details about: A) the motivation behind the group, B) how it operated and C) if these operations or procedures changed over time. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cliomania (talk • contribs) 21:14, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

I found this to be a good addition to existing page. Well written, clear in its information and message. I was thinking it might be helpful to add some more on why this Children's Aid Organization became so necessary. Why were there such an increased number of abandoned children who needed help from this organization? It might also be helpful to touch on how this organization worked, as well as what this organization aspired to do. Kabkzb (talk) 20:43, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi Katharine, I sent you an email already, but for some reason, what shows up on my page versus what is actually there when you click "edit source" is vastly different. I don't know how to fix this and it is very frustrating. I am still working on it to fix it. --Frozen-constellations (talk) 18:16, 7 April 2016 (UTC)