Comments on: Let’s hear it for orphanages

By: Mrs Whatsit

Mrs Whatsit — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 02:52:21 +0000

I see no edit function at the moment, by the way, though it’s been here other times that I’ve commented recently. As Neo said, it seems to come and go at its own choosing.

By: Mrs Whatsit

Mrs Whatsit — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 02:49:51 +0000

My hairdresser, a very successful entrepreneur and small business proprietor, a wife and mother and a pillar of the community, was wild in her youth and ended up spending a year or two in what we would have called, back then, reform school. She was actually from a strong family and regained close ties with her parents and siblings after her wild period — but she says it was the reform school that showed her how to live and made her want to be successful.

By: Assistant Village Idiot

Assistant Village Idiot — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 02:47:14 +0000

Boarding schools were sometimes horrible places not so long ago, as many Englishmen, including George Orwell and CS Lewis, would be glad to let you read. Keep such things in mind when judging even the grim orphanages of the past. Corporal abuse of children and letting groups punish their own – as we now do with prisoners – was common even outside of orphanages. Food was bad, work was hard, and fuel was scarce, even for the middle class.

My third and fourth sons came from orphanages in Romania. They had been in two – a Casa de Copii, a state orphanage in Oradea which they described as the mouth of hell, and a small private Christian orphanage in Beius that they liked well enough and still keep in touch with other American adoptees about. Son #2 worked in the latter orphanage a few summers after and came back saying he wasn’t impressed with many of the staff, but his brothers just shrugged. If you had food and clothes and didn’t get beaten, the important thing was you got to be with friends. The private orphanage was such a relief that they were unbothered.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 01:23:06 +0000

When I was a teen, I was on one of the sports teams in high school. We had a meet with another team that included a girl who lived in the local state orphanage. She wasnt actually on the other school’s team; she was the orphanage’s team, but since they was only her on the team, she competed with a local high school. She had a huge (relatively speaking) contingent of people rooting for her. Probably about fifteen or twenty people, there to watch her.

The orphanage made sure its kids got to participate in a wide array of extracurricular activities. They also had normal kid things for them. For example, they had slumber parties for the girls at the orphanage. It’s almost impossible for a foster child to be allowed to attend another child’s slumber party. And I’m not sure if foster parents can let there kid host a slumber party.

They also were very supportive of trying to help the kids get into and go to college.

Too many people thing orphanages were out of Charles Dickens.

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 01:22:23 +0000

When I was a teen, I was on one of the sports teams in high school. We had a meet with another team that included a girl who lived in the local state orphanage. She want actually on the other school’s team; she was the orphanage’s team, but since they was only her on the team, she competed with a local high school. She had a huge (relatively speaking) contingent of people rooting for her. Probably about fifteen or twenty people, there to watch her.

They also were very supportive of trying to help the kids get into and go to college.

Too many people thing orphanages were out of Charles Dickens.

By: Richard Saunders

Richard Saunders — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 20:45:10 +0000

As someone who has been through infertility, I can tell you that even though adoption would have been a good option, the social worker bureaucracy does everything in its power to prevent it. They fight couples seeking adoptees like the Russians defending Stalingrad. I’d say that a good orphanage would be preferable to being bounced around in foster care or (which is the social worker’s preference) being returned to the birth parents (if they can be found!).

By: om

om — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 20:02:31 +0000

“I have read that in 17th century England it was common for parents to send their children, aged 7 to 12, off to live and work with other families.”

Example from literature that turned out well – Fanny Price, Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen.

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:54:44 +0000

As Neo said, some are good and some are bad, and the same is true of every single organization & institution on the planet throughout history.
Plus some situations that are good for one person are bad for another, because of history and personality. Looks like each institution has to be judged individually instead of relying on stereotypes — gee, why does that sound familiar?

Surellin: Dickens immediately came to mind for me as well, with a side-bar of “Little Orphan Annie” and a couple of others.

By: MikeK

MikeK — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 18:08:58 +0000

I have read that in 17th century England it was common for parents to send their children, aged 7 to 12, off to live and work with other families.

William T Sherman was sent to live with another family after his father died and left his mother destitute. He was a boy about 9 at the time. He eventually married the daughter of his foster father.

A friend of mine was send from Cuba to relatives in Florida by his parents who then were unable to get out for a couple of years. He spent two years in an orphanage.

By: TommyJay

TommyJay — Wed, 28 Nov 2018 17:19:56 +0000

McQueen’s most memorable role, not necessarily his best, and his last, was in The Hunter where he plays Ralph ‘Papa’ Thorson. It’s the true story of a bounty hunter. A major side plot is his large home that he has turned into something of a half-way house for wayward souls.