Orphanages in the United States An Option to Reconsider in the Welfare System

Orphanages in the United States

An Option to Reconsider in the Welfare System

Diane Flanagan

University of Phoenix

Are the children in foster homes being cared for as well as we would like them to be?

We have children that are being lost in the welfare system because we do not have

enough social workers to handle the caseloads of children in their care; social workers who do not have the time to visit or assess the homes we put our children in and the care they are receiving. Are there other means of care along with foster homes we can look at to help these children? A place where social workers could visit more than one or two children in a single day? Somewhere our children can get a good education, meals, clothing, discipline, supervision, friends, and still feel like it is a place they belong.

Length of stay in U.S. foster care

Children sleeping in Mulberry Street (1890) Art.

Esther Dyson at the Buzovny Orphanage House

One of the alternatives to look at is the reestablishment of the orphanage, (or as they are now called group homes) a "home" like no other but still a place to call home.

Our Welfare System is suffering a shortage of good foster homes in the United States

and it may be time to look at revisiting orphanages as a means to help our children. "In

1994, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich ignited a firestorm by suggesting that orphanages are better for poor children than life with a mother on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)." (McLaughlin 1998, p 1). Gingrich received much criticism for the suggestion and the idea of bringing back orphanages was dropped and hasn't seen much light of day since. This study will try to show why orphanages should be looked at as an option in conjunction...