THE CASE OF THE ORPHANS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17502, 19 December 1918, Page 4

THE CASE OF THE ORPHANS.

As broadly outlined by tlie Minister of Public Health, the course which the Government proposes to adopt in respect of the treatment of the children who were bereft of their parents during the epidcmic of influenza meets the requirements of the ease fairly well. It lias been decided that orphan children and children left in a condition of distress by the death of father or mother shall practically become wards of the State. The organisation of the scheme will be in the hands of the Education Department, which, as it administers the Infants Act, possesses the necessary machinery for inquiry and inspection and also has the staff that will enable it to carry out the scheme. Coming to details, which are of supreme importance in a matter of this description, the Minister has explained that it will be the object of the Government to give the orphans as much of home life as possible. Any scheme which did not provide for placing the children in a suitable environment, such as is implied by a home life attended by conditions that will bring as much cheer and joy into their erdstenoe as can be secured, would certainly be regarded by the public as wholly objectionable. The idea of an " institutional" life for children is generally associated with the maintenance of a monotonous and depressing routine, governed by hard-and-fast regulations and rigid restrictions, such as should be spared the children upon whom has fallen the tremendous balamity of the loss of their natural guardians as' one of the results of what may reasonably be called a national disaster. It is to be hoped, however, that when the Minister deprecates an " institutional " future for these orphans he draws a distinction between State institutions and the private orphanages that are conducted by philanthropic and denominational organisations. Those who are acquainted with the way in which these orphanages are conducted would dissent very strongly from the suggestion that the reproach of institut-ionalism'' attaches to them or that the comforts and refinements of a home life are denied to the inmates. It would, indeed, be far from a misfortune for such of the orphans as would, by reason of the religious professions of their parents, be eligible for admission to private denominational orphanages if provision were made for their accommodation in them. Generally, however, it will be desirable to arrange, as far as possible, for the licensing of the orphans to relatives or friends of approved character, with a view to their ultimate adoption by- them, under the supervision of the Education Department. The nature of tha State provision for the maintenance of the orphans has been explained by the Minister of Public Health, whose department will, by a curious and unsatisfactory arrangement, be responsible for the finance of the scheme which it will not administer. Upon this point Mr Russell is reported to have said: It was not usual for payment to be made to the foster-parents, but the policy would bo that when it was necessary for a maintenance payment to to macle itwould be at the rate of 10s 6d per week for each child. In tho case of a child left fatherless, and where tho mother was entitled to tho widow's pension, the amount paid by the State would be tho difference between the amount of the pension and tho 10s 6d per week. Whore children were left without their mother, and the father required assistance, it would be provided along the samo linea In the ease of boys, the assistance would bo continued up to the age of 16, and in the case of girls up to 18 years. Every case would bo reviewed annually, and the conditions would be readjusted in tho event of the father or mother remarry-

The provision that is being made financially by the Government for the maintenance of the orphans, most of them very young, is, it will be seen, not illiberal. The extent to which the scheme will bo successful will, in the circumstances, really depend upon the choice that is made of homes for the children. In this particular a heavy responsibility will rest on the officials of the Education Department who are entrusted with the administration of the Infants Act.