Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - V. Social Movements - 4. Other Social Movements - Care of the Needy and Destitute. By G. H. von Koch
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74 (i
v. social movements.
care of children, distributes information upon care of children and strives to
prevent and punish child-neglect. A great development has attended this activity.
The lack of one common authority for information and control over the whole
country being widely felt, the means for consultation in the care of children
has come into being, through the Poor Law Reform Association, with the help
of a subsidy from the State. As the name implies, the object is purely to afford
information, and its necessity is obvious from the increasing demand for
information in organizing enterprises of every kind for the care of children.
It is characteristic of the present work for the care of children that as much
as possible parents are provided with opportunities for looking after and bringing
up their own children. This applies even to illegitimates. While these used to
be separated from their mothers and taken in hand by boards of guardians or by
homes, the present endeavour, on the contrary, is to strengthen the bond between
mother and child, and good results for both sides have resulted from the method.
First by private efforts — at Stockholm by the establishment of Infants’
Homes — and later by the action of the municipality (in Stockholm and
Gothenburg), so-called "Homes for destitute mothers and their infants" have been
established, where mothers can care for their own children during the nursing
period. Fifteen such homes have been established.
Mention may also be made here of the work of the inspection of
foster-children that have been put out.
Help in different shapes is afforded to children cared for in their parents’
homes. Thus about eighty milk dispensaries have been instituted, which are
intended to give help in the artificial rearing of children. These establishments
are developing more and more into bureaus for giving information and advice,
and not least aim at encouraging the natural rearing of children. Parents unable
to look after their children during the day, owing to working away from home,
may send them to creches, at a trifling cost. These are intended as a rule for
children of from two to six years of age, but of låte also creches for infants
under two years of age have sprung up in many places. Mention has been
made before of the work done by "childrens workshops", children’s shelters, and
other institutions for older children; and likewise schools for the care of children,
which serve to instruct parents in appropriate care of children, kindergarten,
and feeding.
For children who from various causes require public management, two ways
are open, boarding-out, or care in an institution. The public opinion demands
more and more the former expedient; but stern control is necessary in the
matter of foster parents. The city of Stockholm has boarded out in the
provinces between 2 000 and 3 000 in this way, and the control is exercised partly
by officials in the various localities, and partly by travelling inspectors.
In cases where children’s homes still seem to be necessary, i. e., for defective
children or in districts where there are no suitable foster-homes, a conviction
is gaining ground that small homes (as much as possible resembling the family
homes) are the most beneficial. But even large homes can be arranged quite
satisfactorily, by appropriate organization and by providing individual care. An
example of such a home is the Freemasons’ Orphanage at Kristineberg, near
Stockholm, founded 1753; but now, under its superintendent, Pastor Carl Bergö,
it has been remodelled into a perfectly modern institution, accommodating about
170 children. As an instance of a children’s home where the family idea has
been fully developed, we may mention Prince Charles’ establishment at Cålön.
Both date far back, but in their principles they are quite modern. Children
are boarded out with tenants on the estate, and these stand in almost the same
relation as parents; but supervising control is exercised by the institutes.
Modern care of the poor has assumed quite different forms, owing to the
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