NOBODY’S CHILDREN

[Music] my [Applause] of the population of the united states some 35 million one-fourth of the nation are children upon the way these children are brought up upon the way their character and intelligence are developed depends the course the country will take in the future in few other nations does attention focus more completely upon the junior members of the community upon their comfort and happiness upon their education and health more prosperous than most other peoples americans on the average are able to provide a greater measure of security for the young [Music] in the american home children are brought up in accordance with a social code which recognizes their right to an abundance of affection and attention [Music] this attention begins in the hospitals where 75 percent of american children are born here though the birth of a child is a matter of routine repeated many times a day the characteristic tendency of new fathers to give expression to their exuberance is viewed with indulgence a matter of course with child-loving americans is the ritual of attention as elaborate as the family can afford centering around the mother and her newborn baby yet tens of thousands of american babies come into the world each year unwanted a burden to the mothers who have borne them i just don't see how i can earn enough to take care of him well a father has to support his child you know you can get a lawyer and go to court even though you're not no thanks he let me down i wouldn't go to him if the baby and i were starving the nation's children's homes and institutions are filled with unfortunate children not only babies born out of wedlock but those from broken homes all with no parents at all most of whom face life without the love and security of an established home yet even these have a chance of sharing in the advantages available to more fortunate youngsters for these babies there exists a continuous demand among american couples who have been unable to have children of their own you know dear i've been thinking lately we've gotten pretty much everything we set out to get everything except george why don't we adopt a child for couples such as this there are scores of social agencies which handle adoption procedure in accordance with varying state laws the aim of these agencies is to select from among the many applicants for children those couples who measure up to their standards tactful social workers determine whether the applicants will make suitable parents but wouldn't it spoil the peace you've worked all your lives for having a rough and tumble youngster about the house and if you adopted a baby now or by the time he's ready for college let's face it you and your wife would be 70 years old more important than the financial standing of the prospective parents is their motive for adoption whether they want a child for its own sake or for selfish reasons in order to gratify their egos or in a desperate effort to patch up their marital troubles sometimes i think we wouldn't always be getting on each other's nerves like this we could only have a child why not adopt one in evaluating such people the social worker is constantly on the alert for signs of emotional instability for men and women whose temperaments indicate that they would make poor parents must be carefully eliminated every place i go all the girls are talking about formulas and baby clothes and nursery schools and oedipus complexes and what can i say so i told frank we just can't let the rest of our crab get ahead of us like that i've got to have one too so here we are but among america's married couples of whom one in every seven is childless there are many well-adjusted husbands and wives with secure incomes and stable temperaments who feel keenly their lack of children but we both want one so much doctor isn't there any way have you ever thought of adopting a baby obtaining a child through a social agency involves a process of careful investigation now before this agency can go any further in arranging an adoption for you i'd like to talk with you at your home could you give me an appointment for say next saturday afternoon following the interview with the agency the home environment of the applying couple is thoroughly checked by the social worker the ideal home need not be luxurious but it must offer the child a promise of adequate care security and affection while investigating the home the social worker has a further chance to observe the characters of the parents if home conditions receive a favorable rating the next step is to talk with family friends to find out the standing of the prospective parents in their community [Music] from the husband's employer and business associates the social worker gains more knowledge as to his financial responsibility and his reputation among those with whom he works thus bit by bit is assembled a composite picture of the prospective parent a picture which serves as a reliable basis upon which the agency may choose suitable babies as candidates for adoption [Music] the first responsibility the agency takes upon itself is to see to it that only children in good health are offered children who will be a source of happiness rather than a burden to their adopted families [Music] the physical condition of all candidates is studied closely over a period of time during which their growth and behavior are under constant observation when possible the medical histories of their families are examined for any sign of hereditary weakness or disease so that it may be treated or reckoned within placement not only must the child be sound in body but he must meet mental standards appropriate to the home he is expected to enter by exhaustive tests of the child's intelligence and behavior the agency can select the brighter children for parents of superior mental level while average children go to families of average capacities [Music] it is the final personality report which determines the kind of home the child will enter and the environment in which he will grow up they plan to send the boy they adopt to college little johnny over here would fit these people perfectly the tests show he's right as a button and physically he's an ideal type see he has brown eyes in here just like mr callahan thus when the long waiting period is over when the new parents take home the one baby they have lovingly chosen from among all those submitted they can be reasonably sure they have made no mistake but whether the child and the adoptive parents are ultimately right for each other only months of living together can tell [Music] for this reason the first year should be regarded as a trial period during which the social worker keeps an eye on the progress of the adoption during this period the parents may give up the child though few do or the child may be taken away by the agency if the arrangement should not be working out well when the adoption has been proved successful it is made legal in binding by court action giving the child all the rights of one born to the family including the right of inheritance but social agencies find that many couples resent the safeguards devised for their own protection people who fail to realize that no hurried decision should be made in a matter destined to have so deep and lasting an effect upon at least three lives do you mean that to get a child we'd have to wait two whole years that's right there are ten couples waiting for every available child why that's preposterous we know a lawyer who can get us a baby just like that come along darling we're wasting our time here of grave concerns of social agencies as the so-called black market in babies actually a legally permissible procedure whereby unqualified persons procure children for adoptive parents too often without any sense of the tremendous obligations to both parent and child which such service entails in this traffic usually conducted by doctors and lawyers parents often pay big money to adopt a child about which they know almost nothing except that it looks appealing again and again despite warnings against such dubious practices parents who bought black market babies have discovered too late that they have made a mistake likely to affect their whole lives this child has congenital heart disease if he lives to be an adult he'll be an invalid for the rest of his life [Applause] [Music] foreign now a branch of the federal security agency the children's bureau has functioned since 1912 as an organization devoted to child betterment available to the public in its reports and pamphlets is information on every aspect of child welfare from child legislation to the care and rearing of the young heading the bureau is ms catherine lenroot a leading figure in american social work who presides over the organization and all its fact finding and other functions under miss lenroot's direction the bureau has amassed in its files the most extensive collection of information concerning children to be found in the country in the years these files have been accumulating they have recorded a notable improvement in the care provided for america's homeless and dependent children estimated at 225 000. of them over 100 000 are in children's institutions which bear little resemblance today to the grim orphanages of yesterday in which children were herded about in uniform and treated almost like prisoners in a majority of these institutions the children are now dealt with understandingly as individual personalities their need for affectionate care is recognized and met so far as it is possible to do so and their health is looked after better than it would be in many homes [Music] yet in general child experts agree that the young need in their lives some substitute to take the place of a father and a mother that most children are better off in boarding homes where more normal emotional ties can be provided boarding parents are chosen from among volunteers who are especially sympathetic to youngsters they receive fees from public and private agencies and their homes must be licensed and open to supervision in some states laws regulate the number of children any one home may keep but despite such laws there exist throughout the nation unlicensed boarding homes many of whose owners operate them as small scale rackets jamming into their houses as many youngsters as possible they divert to their own pockets much of the money which should go to feed and clothe their charges neglected and badly treated these children have little chance of growing up into healthy well-adjusted adults in most states such homes operate outside the law but many states have inadequate regulation while six of them require no license whatever these and the other problems of needy and dependent youngsters of all ages are the concern of miss land route and the children's bureau today some social agencies handling adoption problems report that they can satisfy only about a tenth of the great demand for babies this situation can be changed if we can persuade more people to adopt older children people should understand that while there aren't enough babies to go around institutions all over the country are caring for attractive older children many of whom are eligible for adoption among the many children and orphanages today are some older youngsters who though their number is small are in the truest sense nobody's children without relatives in need of affection and security but most prospective parents are not interested in these older children whose characters they feel have already been formed [Music] and no matter how worthy of adoption these older orphans may be most childless couples prefer to adopt children still in their infancy children they can cherish and rear from babyhood as their own time marches on you