ABSTRACT
In many jurisdictions in the United States, proposals to “bring back the orphanages” are gathering momentum. Charles Murray of the American Enterprise Institute, a proponent of institutional care, espouses an end to aid to dependent children payments to single mothers, with resultant savings to be spent on orphanages. This chapter attempts to answer two questions: is a return to orphanage care feasible? and if so, would the re-creation of orphanages benefit the children who would be placed in them? It focuses on the efficacy of the solution. The chapter describes the orphanages, their uses, population, funding, staffing, and contemporary views of the care. Policymakers should be able to predict how long-term institutions for children might function in the environment, and what children’s experiences might be as residents of new orphanages. The records of the Orphan Asylum Society of the 1920s contain letters to and from parents that reveal a pattern of consultation and involvement.
