FOUNDLING HOMES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 14224, 22 November 1909, Page 8

FOUNDLING HOMES.

[bt 1. HUDSON'.]

* ; s *Apf*h.kd and perplexed by the ghastly in--1 ; fant tragedies which have .recently clawed • public attention,,the thoughtful realise that I the community is"faced by a grave problem I - which implies urgent need, and the .point. I to-be decided is the best way of meeting the need, for by efficiently meeting the need E ' the problem will eventually be. solved. . . i A foundling-hospital-has been suggested Kfe >«, a solution of the difficulty. A foundling I. : hospital, organised and worked on right ' ' lines is worth consideration, but before the , I people of Auckland lend themselves to any ' scheme, it would be well to look at it from ■v - different points of view. In dealing with the " • question in hand, the prevention of ghastly : infant tragedies, two individuals-mother as ? well as demand to bo taken into aci -count. A so-called solution of the problem <{ ; that meets the need of tho one, adequately or inadequately as the caso may be, while ■ ignoring, and by ignoring intensifying, the ;? '' need of the other, in itself constitutes a ; serious danger. To meet the cases referred - 1 ' to. admissions to a foundling institution - would require to be anonymous. Direct communication, if insisted upon between : the authorities and the mother, would mean that while some, to free themselves from ; - the burdensome encumbrance, would \i.' brazen the matter out, the sensitive, i\' shrinking ones who in their frantic misery K and shame do the desperate deeds that shock and bewilder the public, rather than Y~: make known their disgrace, would continuo ; to seek refuge in the usual childish and unk, availing attempt's to hide it. Apart from 1 this, anonymous admissions would be an if almost unmitigated evil to the community. p The knowledge that there was provided an j. easy way of escape from public conse- '£■;• quences, financial and other, would be a direct encouragement to men of a certain 1 stamp to betray and ruin girls. While I freeing girls from their responsibilities is to deprive them of the most effective way open !■ to them to retrieve themselves, and to bet come self-respecting and respected members [' of society. This will be dealt with more r fully later on. There are foundling hos- |„ pitals conducted on other lines, but |i comparatively few of them are based on % .'.;-' right, principles. Take, for instance, the world-famed foundling hospital, Guilford- : street, London. Writing of this institution in the Nineteenth Century for September, "'.- •' 1903, Miss Frances H. Low, an authority on f English orphanages, says: "'ln quite a 1 number of respects the foundling hospital in I: Guilford-street occupies a unique position. I'.. Its situation in the very* centre of jLondon, \ the distinctive and quaintly-pretty dress of : children, the vast funds which tho governors control, and the strange tragic circumstances attaching to the birth of the infants brought ' to the gates by the youthful mothers, not ' only give the institution the prestige that j*. attaches to mystery, but also a kind of peril' manency of character, so that no one either % . questions or ■ criticises, even' in these topsyJ r turvy days. Every leaflet and report issued | by this institution bears these impressive ']■;:'. words: 'It should never be forgotten that I this institution, in addition to the mainten- ||'.; ance and education of the children, has Sft another most important object, viz., tho restoration to society and their friends of young persons of previously good character, V and it is impossible duly to estimate the ifi'V immense importance of this work.'." The '■ * writer goes on to show that the help given to the young mother, '■' the immense importance of which cannot bo duly estimat- ,'; ed," is precisely nothing. Not only are no steps taken to preservo the relationship of mother and child, but effectual steps are ':' taken to cut off the child from the mother. They are as effectually separated as are the . mother and child in the instances where admissions to foundling institutions are anonymous. "MORE SINNED AGAINST." Nothing is done on behalf of tho young ;< mother. She is simply relieved of her child, Iv > oftentimes the one being she has , left to care for, and the one being capable of making demands upon, and calling forth, her love the one barrier between her and the 1 extremity of despair. Usually the unmarried mother so dealt with is not depraved or vicious, for the officials emphatically state that a woman presenting herself with a second child born out of wedlock is promptly sent about her business. The worst that can be said of these first-fall mothers is that they are young,';: ignorant 4 , of -: the world's pitfalls and temptations, wanting in . self.f, ■ control and that which self-control implies, I ; but not wanting in s?.possibilities and qualities that, < skilfully developed, J could be turned to- account, for themselves, their offspring, ? and the , community i in general Though often more sinned against ;?..?? than sinning,,; they are 'not invariably victims, as some enthusiasts would have? the ] public believe, butt? they fare generally willing to admit their wrong-doing, to own j the error of their' ways, and show honest ] desire to amend. ) The child is the one and 1 only reliably effective instrument in bring- ! ing about this; amendment, ; and '? this fact cannot be too often or : too strongly insisted jKon/K Separate the mother ; from her child, i and she is deprived of the strongest incentive to live down her past, and at the same time atone for it by making the fullest use ?of the opportunities offered her. It is only ; by i resisting temptation, struggling, enduring, and; toiling for the? sake of her child, that she can work out her salvation. It is i more than merely; unwise, it is absolutely i disastrous, to part mother and child for first; six months, at • least, of ' the child's life.? H;;? is during that ? ; time that the- mother -and her ; little one ; are knit together by ties such ras cannot, !' from the nature of things, be? formed at a later stage. Keep mother and child to- ; gether for half-a-year or ; longer after -? the child is born; while so doing, draw out and give the mother, love scope to expand, and the chances are that ■ the unmarried mother will do that, will bear that, will fight through that for her child, that the mother of happier circumstances does not feel called on to do, or bear, or fight through for the child of her, marriage. The unmarried mother's attitude towards her child is the supreme test of her repentance, and the soundest guarantee rof ; good "behaviour ~in the years to come. '- Not once, but repeatedly, have »I; seen the life arid conduct, nay, the very nature and character of a betrayed mother transformed and transfigured by tho influence of her child. ? On the other hand, I state here, what I state on every possible occasion, 1 5 have yet to know a single instance of a girl giving up, or, being deprived of, the child she has borne, where the effect on the? girl-mother has not been listinctly bad in one or several. ways.

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NEEDS OF THE MOTHER. And yet foundling institutions, admitting anonymously and admitting . otherwise, equally deny the mother the right conferred " by her motherhood, the right to retrieve herself, and make her life anew in the one certain and sure way, through the influence of her child. As far as foundling institutions are concerned, the unhappy girl is left to face tho world unaided and alone, homeloss, without means of support of a respectable kind,;with little to care for and less to live for._ The solution offered by foundling organisations ; meets :the'• need 'of the child to a certain extent, but it ignores the L' " need of the mother, throws her back on .':' herself, intensifies and reproduces that need, adds to the complexity of. the problem, and is, in plain language, in fact, a premium on sin. Is it to* bo wondered at, if run ; down from : physical causes, lonely, uncared ; for, apparently unwanted, the girl-mother : :; . is driven to extremity, becomes reckless of consequences, ; and drifts into a, life «that a sheltered, pure woman, shudders to think • - about? This sort of restoration to society. ,'"' and friends ; is, alas! of only ' too common occurrence, and it is truly impossible to .-' duly estimate the, importance of taking such .' . steps as will prevent the introduction of this / reprehensible method of "help"—so-called— hJ:':-\ jnto this country. v r .. ' ,y ' What the citizens 'of Auckland are clearly called on' to do is to afford the; mother " of an illegitimate child every genuine chance v to regain her footing in society, and with ' all possible favour ,shown' her. "She can never wholly- get back her forfeited position, tho penalty is exacted to the utterV most by a law outside human jurisdiction, and must be paid. Whilo considering the mother, the- child's rights and privileges must be stringently safeguarded, and, over and above all, no stone should be left unturned to find tho .man, and insist that he shall, at least, ' bear his full share of the financial burden. •;,'<.,: ■ ■ 1 AN T OBJECT OF PITY. And what of the child, placed in a foundling institution? Very largely the answer depends on the woman who is at the head of the institution. A big-soulcd, lovinghearted, cultured woman, with tho mother instinct strongly developed, creates an at- • mosphere that "can transform, even a bar- ' racks-like institution into a homo.- Such a woman will radiato an influence that will do much to compensate : the children tinder her charge for loss of father-love, motherlove, individual training- and supervision, the 1 educative forces of wholesome family . life, and the ' countless - nameless - blessings

that surround the happy child in the everyday, well-regulated homo life at its bestIt is a matter for devout thankfulness that I such women are to bo found filling responsible positions in institutions, but it is also a matter of profound regret that experience proves that women of this type are in the minority, so much so that they may bo classed as exceptions. What of the child living in an institution, where the woman in charge is not so much intentionally unkind as senselessly stupid? Think of the young life in a place where discipline, precision, routine, and dead-level dreariness roign supreme; where there is no timo (or inclination for that matter) for , the personal development of tho small people who live, exist rather, in tho midst of highlyorganised monotony, without a single outlet that the heart of a child craves; whore individuality, power of initiative, j resourcefulness and self-reliance, latent talents, and special gifts arc looked on with suspicion; saddest of all, where the child grows up without love, and without being taught to love, without the sweet outward tokens of affection, which are to tho child what, sunshine is to the plant. Foundlings are clothed, fed, housed, taught more or loss intelligently, but a foundling, reared in a palatial institution, ono of many, where all tho inmates are of the- same class, and are all alike labelled "foundling," seldom, if ever, comes to the same completeness of body, soul, and spirit attained to by the child in a lesser institution, who, it may be, has fewer clothes, less satisfactory food, humbler surroundings, but who has that atmosphere which develops individuality, initiative, resourcefulness, self-reliance, and other essential qualities that make for usefulness in the man or woman of tho coming years. If the foundling is an object of pity while in the institution, it is doubly so when sent out to face tho world. Here the true meaning of its label "foundling" is forced home to it, and it realises what it is, and its relation to happier children. It is in ' the hurly-burly of life that the defects of the huge institution bringing up show themselves, and the conclusion cannot but bo arrived at that such institutions are often kept up and vast, sums expended with deplorable result that the inmates are handicapped in fighting, instead of being mado strong to fight, life's battles. "It is an ill-bird that fouls its own nest, and far bo it from present intention to, in any sense, belittle or cast unworthy reflection on the magnificent work done in the Old Country, but still the fact remains that there is much that calls for improvement in the administration, organisation, and management of some much-vaunted charitable institutions, in, say, England. These institutions have not kept, abreast of the times, but are working on the lines of 50 or more years ago, content with tho same ideals, methods, and results, as were thought adequate then.

MAN'S SHARE OF MAINTENANCE. It must be admitted that New Zealand is, in certain directions, in advance of tho Mother Country. New Zcalanders arc able to see how the conditions prevailing at Homo can be bettered here, where the limitations and restrictions of a crystallised order of things do not, as yet, exist, and seeing the opportunity they are quick to seize it, and improve upon that which is accepted as good enough by older countries. .■■ An exceptional chance presents itself for the people of the Dominion to make a further distinct advance upon the stato of some charitable organisations that obtains at tho present time in England. If the public is convinced that measures should be taken to combat'the evil that from time to time forces itself unpleasantly on the attention of society; if the public is truly desirous of preventing the tragic loss of infant life and the wanton waste of womanly possibilities, then let the public determine that tho measures taken shall bo no makeshift measures,: merely palliative and alleviative, but that they shall* be measures based on sound principles, tested by experience, calculated to meet both the need of the child and of the child's, mothor: calculated to allot to the father of the child his due share of the financial responsibility, and calculated to meet also the just needs of societyFinally, the points to be borne in mind are: 1. The mother and child should not be separated during the first half-year of the child's life. After that period the mother should still'bo kept in close touch with her child, and feel herself responsible for its various needs. There must bo no shirking of the results of her own actions, though she has the relief of knowing that while she is earning the wherewithal to clothe herself and little one and help in its support, the child is safe in skilled, sympathetic care. "

;/ 3, In.. the interests of society and for the protection '; of other girls, as well as in the . interests, of mother and child, the father should, wherever possible, be made to contribute his just share towards : maintenance. . ■

4. The child should not be labelled "foundling" after it comes to, say, three years of age. ."'• It should then be drafted out of the institution, and its life arranged on other, lines, such as would suggest themselves to experts in finding suitable homes and surroundings for these homeless ones.