NEED FOR ORPHANAGES
With a mass immigration from Eastern Europe came many children that needed somewhere to stay or someone to take care of them. Either their parents hadn’t survived the trip to America or couldn’t find somewhere to live once they arrived here. This led to the creation of orphanages and other institutions to help care for these children. These homes weren’t just for parentless children, but also for children whose parents couldn’t care for them due to poverty, mental or physical illness or just no desire to parent. The orphanages were often overcrowded or in poor conditions and had limited staff that were overwhelmed with the number of children they were left to care for.
Although the orphanages did get some monetary help from the public, families of the children still had to pay a monthly fee for the children to stay there. The fee was based on what the family could pay.
The Orphan Train program ran from 1853 to 1929 that placed many children from the eastern part of the United States in to the western part of the United States. Orphan Trains were a way to prevent overcrowding and were used to connect children with potential parents. The trains would stop through towns and go through what was like an interview process. If the parents felt there was a fit they would sign a paper and raise the child until they were eighteen. The potential parents could sign for as many children as they would like. Also part of the process was parents could be able to return the child or children after one year if the fit was not right.
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