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13 Reflections
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13 Reflections No child should grow up in an institution. My upbringing was harsh, with little in the way of pleasurable ease, not much nurturing, and many unanswered questions and unacknowledged needs. By and large, I was raised by people who made do with little. The Sisters of Mercy and Marianist Brothers worked long hours in a system that stretched them beyond the limits. Only the strength of their calling kept most of them from breaking. It is with some relief that I can say that today society understands there is no perfect, one-size-fits-all “answer” to the question of care for vulnerable children. In 1964, the year before I left St. Vincent’s Home, President Lyndon Johnson initiated the Great Society agenda, generally known as the War on Poverty, under which federal entitlements were funded for adults and children who, for one reason or another, were not prospering in U.S. society. Billions were sent to the states to enhance educational, health, and human services. In the foster care world, opportunities I could have only dreamed of became available, serendipitously coinciding with innovations in child welfare theories and practices. For example, at St. Vincent’s, several initiatives were launched: 1. Foster boarding homes were created, where children of all ages would be placed with a suitable family rather than in congregate care (often in large, campus settings). 2. Group foster homes were instituted, where teenagers would live in a large one-family house in a regular neighborhood,supervised 198 | on my own by specialized agency staff, often a married couple, who would care for and raise eight to twelve adolescents. 3. A physical and programmatic renovation of its large residence (St. Vincent’s Home) for 150 boys was undertaken. Dormitories were converted into rooms and recreation space and programs were expanded. Food services were enhanced to be tasty and enjoyable as well as nutritional, and available whenever a child felt hungry. 4. Professional teams were designed for each child. Childcare workers, social workers, and clinicians combined their collective talents to guide and ensure the child’s growth and development. Natural families, whenever possible, were engaged to support and inspire. Whenever advisable, the team prepared the child to live with his or her family and then discharged the child to the family’s care. 5. Educational reinforcement entered into every child’s life, wherever and whenever needed—in the foster boarding homes, in the group homes and at the main residence. Children who were ready and who expressed the desire often went to private and Catholic schools. A college program was initiated, and even today St. Vincent’s boasts of its numerous college graduates. The agency’s objective became “No more welfare; instead, thriving careers.” 6. Family involvement was initiated and enhanced so that the children were in touch with their roots and developed loving relationships with their relatives, which encouraged them to quickly and steadily become children of worth. As the childcare field developed in the 1980s and 1990s, very large residences and institutions were nicknamed “warehouses,” sometimes unfairly, depending on a child’s experience. As foster boarding homes expanded and community-based group homes multiplied , each with more and more specialized services for distinct populations, the large residences/institutions gave way. [54.81.157.133] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 21:58 GMT) Reflections | 199 Simultaneously, more options became available, particularly subsidized adoptions and kinship foster care. Foster families who were willing and fit to adopt foster children but lacked sufficient independent income to do so were subsidized by the state. More recently, government has turned its attention to adoptions that were shaky or failed because those children still require services. Like any human endeavor, there is success and failure! Allowing relatives to become foster parents moved many, many children from congregate and boarding home care to live with loving relatives under an agency’s supervision. This opportunity is particularly advantageous for large sibling groups of children, preadolescents , and adolescents. As foster care entered the twenty-first century, government began preventive programs. When a family is at risk of having their children enter foster care because of “family troubles,” social workers are sent to the family home to intervene and restore family functioning , so that the children remain within their family. Overall, it has been successful, but government budget challenges limit the number of families that can be helped in this manner. Another dimension of more recent child welfare practice is neighborhood development...