Kim Bokinskie, Kari Funseth, Sarah Johanson, Amanda Lewallen, Laura Rindahl

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• Kim Bokinskie, Kari Funseth, Sarah Johanson,
  Amanda Lewallen, Laura Rindahl

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Anna Bassett
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Edward Hoyt
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Nellie Crook
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Sarah Hunt
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Anna May Potthoff Keeton
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Overview

• History
• Map
• Who and Why
• Compare to today
• More experiences

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History Overview

• The Orphan Trains originated in New York City
• Charles Loring Brace and The Childrens Aid
  Society
• The New York Foundling Hospital

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Charles Loring Brace

• A young minister
• Founded Childrens Aid Society in 1853
• Concerned about the wellbeing of young children

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Childrens Aid Society

• Services the CAS provides
• Adolescent Developing Mentoring Support   
• Adoption and Foster Care
• Arts Recreation
• Camps    
• Community Schools 
• Community Centers   
• Health Services   
• Housing 
• Youth Court Diversion  
• Homemaker Service
• Still exists today in New York

http//www.childrensaidsociety.org/locations_servi
ces
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• Sister Irene- New York Foundling Hospital

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New Foundling Hospital

• Sister Irene and the Sisters of Charity of St.
  Vincent de Paul
• They took in babies that would have been left to
  die
• Infants would stay here until they were healthy
  enough to ride the trains
• Created Baby Trains for Catholic Families
• Preplanned adoption
• The list of services this organization provides
  seems endless, it is available at
  http//www.nyfoundling.org/what_we_do.htm
• The New York Foundling's Mission
• The New York Foundling, in the tradition of
  openness and compassion of its sponsors the
  Sisters of Charity, helps children, youth and
  adults in need through advocacy and through
  preventive and in-care services that strengthen
  families and communities and help each individual
  reach his or her potential.

http//www.kancoll.org/articles/orphans/or_hist.ht
m
http//www.nyfoundling.org/mission.htm
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The First Train

• Left the Childrens Aid Society on September 20,
  1864
• Went to Dowagiak, Michigan
• Forty six ten-to-twelve year old boys and girls
  were on board
• All children were placed in homes off this train

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Map
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Who Rode the Orphan Trains?

• Infants
• Children
• Teenagers
• Homeless
• Orphans of all nationalities and religions
• The poor
• The abused and/or neglected

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Why Orphan Trains were Allowed

• Welfare programs werent developed
• Children had no rights
• Children were viewed as property
• There were no laws or protection for children
• There were many homeless children known as
  Street Arabs

http//www.orphantraindepot.com/files/OTHSAWP.ppt
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This is a copy of the Childrens Aid Society
Placement Card
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(No Transcript)
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Before and After
Two of the Fortunate Children Who were placed
in a wonderful loving home after riding The
Orphan Train
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Come and See the Children

• Children stood on stages or platforms
• Families checked them out, and observed them
• Touched the children
• Checked their teeth
• Made them perform
• Towns were aware of
• when children would
• be there so they could
• pick out their new child
• Some children went to good
• families, some were not so
• lucky

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The ENDING of the Orphan Trains

• In total 200,000 children rode the trains
• As of 1996, 500 Orphan Train riders are still
  alive
• The Orphan Train came to an end in 1929 because
  of various reasons
• The Depression
• New laws and new programs designed to help
  children

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Today

• Not enough shelters A shelter is not a home
  anyway! There is no money to fund these shelters
• Children are left to die in dumpsters or trash
  cans
• One in four children are being born to a single
  mother
• Drugs, Rape, Abuse, Neglect, Money, all reasons
  children may be homeless
• Women have babies in bathrooms
• There are a lot more organizations for the
  homeless
• Main cause is unaffordable housing for the poor
• Homeless people feel the most important help they
  could get is finding a job, help finding housing,
  and assistance paying for housing
• NIMBY Not in My Back Yard- Oh no you arent
  building apartments for homeless in my back yard
  

Make Change Happen
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Statistics in the U.S. Today

• Study conducted in 1996 by service providers
• 444,000 people experienced homelessness on any
  given night in October, which is about 6.3 of
  the population
• 842,000 people experienced homelessness on any
  given night in February, which is about 10 of
  the population
• 39 of them were children
• Not all people utilize services so this doesnt
  even account for all the people that could be
  homeless

http//www.homeless.org.au/statistics/
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How we think of homeless today, because there is
no such things as an orphan train to bring them
anywhere and we dont know what to do about this
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How the Orphan Trains relate to Social Welfare

• They started the adoption and foster care system.
• They created the child protection regulations.
• Social workers help place these children today.