Orphan Trains: The Story of Charles Loring Brace and the Children He Saved and Failed [Hardcover]

Stephan O'Connor devoted ONE chaper to TWO boys who rode the same orphan train, who later went on to become mayors of Alsaka and N. Dakota. He talked mainly about the mayor of alaska, and harly any about the other one. Even then, he described the "tough life" that Brady faced, making it sound like he hated his homes. Yet this author wrote a FULL chapter on a SINGLE boy who grew up to become a murderer.

Also, in the end, when showing where foster care has progressed to, Mr. O'Connor chose almost all horrer stories and no successes!! As a "product" of the foster care system (3 1/2 years under the rule of the Division of Youth and Family Services) I can say that yes, it isnt perfect, but it DID save me from a lot of mistakes and trouble, and has even STRENGTHENED my relationship with my birth family! Anyone reading this book without background information will be completely turned off to the idea of foster care.

After reading Orphan Trains, which deals with the origins of the foster care system in the mid-nineteenth century, the first attempts to deal with the problems of children without families, rather than dealing with the problems (primarily crime) that such children created for society, IÕm struck by the fact that this failure is far from a new thing.

Charles Loring Brace, the founder of the ChildrenÕs Aid Society, which found homes for orphans, runaways, and children who had essentially been abandoned by their families, was both an intelligent and a well-intentioned man. Fighting the prejudice of his time, he argued that homeless children were not criminals and threats to society, but potentially upstanding citizens. All they needed was the love and attention of a family. A noble sentiment, but unfortunately Brace mixed it with another noble, but tragically wrong, sentiment. He believed that all middle class families, especially farm families, were good. So he put New York children on trains headed west to be taken in by just about any family that would have them. Many children were adopted by wonderful, caring families, but others ended up as virtual slave labor. Girls were often subject to sexual abuse.

In hindsight, it is easy for us to see the flaws in BraceÕs thinking. But in a fascinating final chapter, Stephen OÕConnor points out that we are making many of the same mistakes today because, like Brace, we donÕt see children who need families as unique individuals. We argue abstractly about whether it is better for a child to stay in a flawed family or be removed to a foster family, when the truth is that there are thousands of factors to take into consideration in each case (of course taking those factors into consideration would require well-trained social workers with small caseloads Ñ which we are unwilling to pay for). We argue about whether a child ought to be placed in a family of his race or ethnic group, or whether any good family is better than none, when the truth is that it depends on the child. Some children feel out of place if they are not in families that look like them; for other children race or ethnicity makes little difference. But to get children to the right place, we need to invest time, and time is expensive.

Whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty-first, good intentions and theories about what is best for children donÕt take the place of seeing children as individuals. As a society, we need to decide if we care enough about children to pay for the time and attention they need.

Orphan Trains has a complex and fascinating story to tell and makes a great contribution to an important national issue.