A Legacy of Caring

by John McCullagh

  These two extraordinary leaders, whose careers ran in tandem, were similar in a number of ways. Both possessed a marked ability to adapt to changing times as they steered their agencies for the better part of three decades. Both stimulated growth in those organizations, turning them from well-meaning but often ineptly run operations into modern, professional social service agencies. Both were skilled managers and successful fundraisers. Both held and exercised a quiet power that was well regarded by their boards, staff, foster parents and volunteers, as well as other professionals and the child welfare community at large. Both negotiated with governments and other funders from a position of strength, technical knowledge and practical experience, to the lasting benefit of their respective agencies. Governments and funders, in return, often sought their advice on child welfare and other social service matters.

  Foster parents were particularly shy to provide homes for adolescent boys as well as the increasing number of emotionally disturbed children being admitted to agency care.

  Moberly and Mills met together regularly throughout their careers. In latter years, they held weekly conferences, in which the city’s welfare department also participated, to provide a team approach to managing issues of common concern as well as to determine how specific client situations might best be handled. Although they both could see how an amalgamation of their two agencies would likely create a more stable and dynamic organization to protect and care for Toronto’s needy children, the times were not yet propitious for such a move.

  Mills and Moberly, whose careers ran in tandem, were similar in a number of ways. Both stimulated growth in their organizations, turning them from well-meaning but often ineptly run operations into modern, professional social service agencies.

  Moberly died in November 1945 while still at her post as executive secretary of the Infants’ Homes. Since 1919, she had led the agency through the gradual change from a nursery and infirmary caring for largely sick infants to an organization that became a network of central office, clinics, foster parents, field staff and volunteers caring for youngsters who were usually physically healthy and living in substitute family settings. Before her death, she saw her ambition of a receiving centre for the observation and assessment of children at least partially achieved. In 1956, a group living program for children was opened at 136 Isabella Street, on the receiving centre campus, and named in her honour.

  Upon leaving the society, Mills was invited by B.W. Heise, J.J. Kelso’s successor at the province, to work as a child welfare consultant in the Department of Public Welfare. He stayed there for about two years. Although he eventually developed Parkinson’s disease, Mills enjoyed ten years of retirement before his death in March 1959.

  Writing his obituary for The Globe and Mail, Charlotte Whitton commemorated Mills as one of the first people in North America to have tried to assess the cost of services provided by the not-for-profit sector, to devise standards to measure efficiency, and to require that financial support be justified based on results achieved. His enlightened policies and uniting efforts did much to shape the present-day CAS of Toronto.

  Both Mills and Moberly were child welfare pioneers whose compassion, integrity and insight contributed to making Toronto a better place for children.

  Belle Carver and Stewart Sutton

  In 1945, Belle Carver, a former protection worker at the CAS of Toronto, replaced Vera Moberly as executive secretary of the Infants’ Homes. The following year, Stewart Sutton succeeded Bob Mills as the new managing director of the CAS.

  Sutton was the first professional social worker to hold a senior administrative position at the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto. Previous to joining the society, he had worked for the Protestant Children’s Home, at York County CAS and in Kingston at Frontenac County CAS. During the Second World War, he was a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian armed forces and set up the army’s first social service corps. Sutton later ran the forces’ directorate of social science and, before resigning his commission, spent some time organizing social services for the federal Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

  Both Sutton and Carver were to work together cooperatively to achieve the next milestone in Toronto’s child welfare history — the amalgamation of the Infants’ Homes and the Children’s Aid Society.

  CHAPTER 5

  Amalgamation and Growth,

  1950–1964

  Toronto at mid-century

  During the 1950s and ’60s, Greater Toronto’s population nearly doubled, from just over one million to nearly two million. There were a number of reasons for this unprecedented growth. Besides the baby boom, municipal reorganization had extended the city’s boundaries, while increased industrialization attracted rural families and a new influx of immigrants to the city.

  At first, these immigrants came mainly from the British Isles, the traditional source of newcomers to Canada. They were followed by migrants from western and central Europe, including Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Yugoslavia. The onset of the cold war, however, restricted immigration from countries under the influence of the Soviet Union, and migrants from southern European countries, particularly Greece, Italy and Portugal, replaced them in large numbers.

  These immigrants headed for the cities, particularly Toronto, where they worked in the expanding manufacturing and construction industries or aspired to jobs in the professions. Although still primarily Christian, these new Canadians began the process of changing Toronto’s demographic character from predominantly Protestant Anglo-Celtic to a multi-racial, multi-ethnic community of many faiths.

  Although still primarily Christian, new Canadians began the process of changing Toronto’s demographic character from predominantly Protestant Anglo-Celtic to a multi-racial, multi-ethnic community of many faiths.

  The characteristics of family life also changed gradually during the post-war decades. Families got smaller. More and more married women began to work outside the home, slowly moving beyond their traditional roles as wives, mothers and care providers. A major problem they experienced, however, was the ongoing lack of appropriate child care and home help services. A growing number of children was being cared for inadequately, increasing the incidence of “latchkey kids” left unsupervised after school.

  A major problem working married women experienced was the ongoing lack of appropriate child care and home help services. A growing number of children was being cared for inadequately, increasing the incidence of “latchkey kids” left unsupervised after school.

  There were, nevertheless, still very strong conventions about the sorts of family relationships that were socially acceptable. The divorce rate was low and, until the late 1960s, common law relationships were disparaged and legally disadvantaged, while same-sex relationships were against the law. The stigma against unmarried parenthood remained, and church-run maternity homes in Toronto were very busy as young women from around the province — and further afield — sought a place to give birth to their babies in secrecy and anonymity. Almost all of these mothers relinquished their children for adoption, which was why adoption services were a major focus of the work of children’s aid societies during this era.

  During the 1950s and 1960s, the adolescent years between childhood and adulthood gradually came to be identified as distinct, and the teenage population began to develop its own culture, with identifiable traits, mores and behaviour. Young people stayed in school longer and attained greater autonomy than ever before. Gaps between the generations were frequently disruptive to family life. This trend was reflected by the development of specialized services for youth, such as those described in Chapter 6.

  Meanwhile, the face of the Toronto region was changing extensively as a byproduct of the rapid urbanization of former agricultural lands in the townships beyond the city limits. To administer this growing community, a federated urban government, the first of its kind in North America, was formed in 1953, when thirteen adjoining but separate jurisdictions were united into the Municipality of
Metropolitan Toronto. (In 1967, further reorganization reduced the thirteen communities to six.) It was not long before Torontonians were referring to this new municipality, and the geographical area it administered, simply as “Metro.”

  Increased affluence made this a time of greater government spending in support of low-income families. One outcome was the development and management by the Ontario Housing Corporation — a provincial government agency — of thousands of public housing units, both in the city and the burgeoning suburban communities.

  This was also an era of consolidation and growing professionalism in the social services. The Master of Social Work (MSW) degree enjoyed a high level of credibility, and children’s aid societies hired increasing numbers of workers with such a background. This led to a better understanding among CAS workers of the unique and complex needs of children, insight that was enhanced by the work of John Bowlby and Henry Kempe.

  Bowlby, a British child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, published research in 1951 in a report called Maternal Care and Mental Health. (A popular, abridged version of this work appeared in 1965 under the title Child Care and the Growth of Love.) In it, he demonstrated how important it was for a child to have a loving relationship with a mother figure, and how children who lacked such a relationship developed problems becoming emotionally attached. His work had a significant influence over the decisions CAS workers made about the admission and placement of children in care and for adoption.

  British child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby’s research showed how important it was for a child to have a loving relationship with a mother figure, and how children who lacked such a relationship developed problems becoming emotionally attached.

  Kempe, a Colorado pediatrician, invented the term “battered child syndrome” to describe physical violence against children. (He deliberately coined the phrase to bring home to the public the reality of the physical abuse of children that, until that time, was referred to by the catch-all expression “cruelty to children.” The term “abuse” did not gain currency until the 1970s.) In his research, he found that this violence was more common than most people realized, and that many of the children who were abused were under three years of age. His paper, published in 1962 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, made a considerable impression on the way CAS workers investigated and intervened in these situations.

  Colorado pediatrician Henry Kempe invented the term “battered child syndrome” to describe physical violence against children. His research made a considerable impression on the way CAS workers investigated and intervened in these situations.

  Improving social conditions and the widespread use of antibiotics contributed to a dramatic reduction in the infant death rate — from sixty-one to twenty-seven deaths for every 1,000 live births over the twenty years from 1941 to 1961. Conversely, in the late 1950s, more than 50 percent of the deaths of children between one and twelve months old, and about a third of the deaths of children between one and five years of age, were due to infectious diseases. While some of these diseases were associated with families of low socioeconomic status, others, like poliomyelitis, which swept the city in the early 1950s, did not respect any income group.

  The introduction of government-funded hospital insurance in 1957 and of universal public medical insurance in 1966, reduced the vast disparities of access to medical resources between the insured and the 50 percent of the population that had been uninsured in the early 1950s.

  Although these advances, and a buoyant economy, contributed to the health and well-being of both the city and the province, the children and families served by children’s aid societies generally remained poor. The population explosion, the increasing complexities of urban life and the other changes referenced above produced more families in need of professional help. The apparently simple needs of the pre-war years were long gone.

  Amalgamation of the CAS and Infants’ Homes

  In 1935, the Federation for Community Service had asked the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto, the Infant’s Home and the Protestant Children’s Home to consider amalgamating. All three agencies prepared position papers on the advantages and disadvantages of such a merger, and although discussions went on for a couple of years — and Vera Moberly of the Infants’ Home and Bob Mills of the CAS were generally in favour — no action was taken, largely because the boards of the Infants’ Home and the Protestant Children’s Home did not wish to lose their separate identities or the expertise they believed they had developed as specialized child placement agencies.

  After the war, the issue of amalgamation was once more placed on the table. While the Protestant Children’s Home continued to believe that a merger “would compromise service to children and families in need,” the Infants’ Homes took the opposite view. Under the leadership of Belle Carver, they thought that greater collaboration between the Infants’ Homes and the CAS of Toronto would improve services, eliminate situations where the two agencies duplicated each other’s work and reduce competition for scarce resources.

  Greater collaboration between the Infants’ Homes and the CAS of Toronto would improve services to children, eliminate situations where the two agencies duplicated each other’s work and reduce competition for scarce resources.

  Carver and Stewart Sutton of the CAS began discussions in earnest in 1949. Their arguments in favour of a merger persuaded the boards, staff and foster parents of both organizations. The rationale was summed up in the minutes of a joint meeting of both boards:

  There is no reason to believe that the amalgamation will bring about any reduction in staff or expenditures, but it should mean substantial economy in that better services should be provided for children and other clients at a cost represented by the combined budgets of the two agencies.

  As the desire was for a friendly merger, many hours were spent discussing how the many difficulties and problems common to amalgamations — particularly those between organizations with valued and settled traditions — would be resolved. With goodwill on both sides, it was thought that these issues would not be insurmountable.

  On May 31, 1951, the two agencies amalgamated under the name Children’s Aid and Infants’ Homes of Toronto, becoming one of the largest child welfare organizations in North America.

  Thus, on May 31, 1951, the two agencies amalgamated under the name Children’s Aid and Infants’ Homes of Toronto, becoming one of the largest child welfare organizations in North America. It was a merger of equals, not a takeover of the Infants’ Homes by the CAS, which is why the historical connections to both predecessor agencies were maintained in the name of the new organization.

  Sutton, who had run the CAS of Toronto since 1947, was appointed executive director of the amalgamated agency. Lloyd Richardson, director of the CAS of Lincoln County in St. Catharines, was recruited as deputy director. March Dickens of the Infants’ Homes rounded out the senior management team, as casework consultant.

  The new agency had a full-time staff of 219 — social workers, child and youth workers, nurses, physicians, psychologists, accountants, clerical workers and caretakers. They gave protection to neglected children in their own homes, counselled unmarried mothers and fathers, found the best possible foster homes for children and placed hundreds in adoption homes. They worked out of the CAS offices at 32 Isabella Street and adjacent buildings, at the Charles Street shelter, the Huntley Street Receiving Centre and the Infants’ Homes’ former offices at 34 Grosvenor Street.

  The new agency had a full-time staff of 219 — social workers, child and youth workers, nurses, physicians, psychologists, accountants, clerical workers and caretakers.

  The agency’s budget for its first year of operation was a little over $1.25 million, the largest portion of which came in the form of grants from the City of Toronto and the Community Chest of Greater Toronto, which had taken over the responsibilities of the Federation for Community Service when the latter organization suspended operations at the end of the war. Mos
t of the budget went to staff salaries, boarding payments to foster parents and to pay the costs incurred in running the shelter and the Receiving Centre.

  The agency’s combined budget for its first year of operation was a little over $1.25 million.

  That year, the new agency cared for 2,687 children who were born to unmarried mothers or whose parents could not provide a home for them. Most were placed with agency foster parents or in adoption probation homes, with adoption plans being made for 1,045 youngsters. The agency helped another 3,179 children and their parents in their own homes.

  In its first year, the new agency cared for 2,687 children who were born to unmarried mothers or whose parents could not provide a home for them.

  The challenges posed by amalgamation

  Although much work had been done prior to amalgamation, the senior management team had to ensure that the new agency had a sound organizational structure and strong administrative and casework staff. They needed to develop policies to govern such issues as the way that foster homes were to be supported and supervised, the rationalization of the two agencies’ caseloads, and the development of new working relationships with other agencies in the community.

  Most importantly, they had to make sure that the combined staffs of the two agencies were able to work together cooperatively. This was of particular concern because the staff of the Infants’ Homes were primarily nurses, while those who had worked at the CAS were mainly social workers. The agency also inherited a large number of employees who did not have a professional qualification, some of whom felt threatened by a new emphasis on professional training. Long-time staff member Jessie Watters remembers a difficult meeting when one such employee commented, “It seems you have to believe in Freud to get a raise around here.”