A Legacy of Caring

by John McCullagh

  — Hanna McDonough describes

  the Family Centre

  Services to youth

  In the 1960s, Canadians were obsessed with young people who were challenging the norms and values of an older generation. An article in Our Children summarized these concerns.

  “By now everyone has seen them. Like others of their generation, they drift around the streets in weird garb, hair long and stringy — a desperate earnestness in their pale faces. The hippies. Children’s aid societies have dealt with rebellious youth for decades but this phenomenon is a new thing. Running away is as old as time, but children opting out, living off the streets in hordes, begging and turning to drugs is new.”

  — Excerpt from an article in

  Our Children about ‘60s youth

  By now everyone has seen them. Like others of their generation, they drift around the streets in weird garb, hair long and stringy — a desperate earnestness in their pale faces. The hippies.

  Children’s aid societies have dealt with rebellious youth for decades but this phenomenon is a new thing. Running away is as old as time, but children opting out, living off the streets in hordes, begging and turning to drugs is new.

  Talking to the kids themselves a picture emerges of deep discontent with school, unhappiness at home, feelings of futility, a desperate urgent need to feel wanted for themselves and their attitudes and a certain peace in having each other.

  There is also sickness — physical and mental. And there are drugs with blatant publicists such as The Beatles and Bob Dylan, brilliant musicians who sing of drug taking.

  The agency was in a quandary over how to handle the problem. Workers had to be concerned about the safety of youngsters wandering around at will. But to the children, the CAS represented the very society and adult authority from which they were trying to break loose.

  Among them were many out-of-town “transient” youth running away from indifferent or hostile parents. For years, many of them had appeared in juvenile court, charged with vagrancy, until other approaches were developed. One was a program called The Trailer, in which Metro CAS and several other agencies collaborated. The program — it literally was a trailer — operated in the middle of the Yorkville “hippie” community and was a place these young people could get medical help, financial assistance and counselling. Many were returned to their home communities through the society’s Transient Program — in 1972 alone, it worked with 229 youth — while others were taken into care.

  The Trailer program — it literally was a trailer — operated in the middle of the Yorkville “hippie” community and was a place these young people could get medical help, financial assistance and counselling. Many were returned to their home communities through the society’s Transient Program — in 1972 alone, it worked with 229 youth — while others were taken into care.

  Another agency initiative was the purchase of a three-story house at 28 Simpson Avenue to be used by teenage girls who were alienated from their families. Unlike other group homes, it had a minimum of rules. The atmosphere was designed to be conducive to helping the residents sort out their issues so that they could return to their own homes after a short time.

  The reasons why these youth were running away from home were barely understood at the time; most adults and child welfare workers simply believed that they were looking “for fun and adventure.” It took the tragic sexual assault and murder in 1977 of twelve-year-old Emanuel Jaques, described by the media as a “shoeshine boy,” to raise awareness among social service workers and the community at large about the needs of street-involved youth and to understand that most were escaping unhappy or abusive homes in the only way they knew how.

  Although the hippie movement eventually faded away, the Jaques murder led, among other initiatives, to the establishment of Inner City Youth, a forerunner of the programs provided in later years, by the society and others, to meet the needs of homeless and runaway youth.

  Child abuse and neglect

  Although Metro CAS’s work expanded to include prevention services, efforts to protect abused and neglected children remained the society’s priority. In 1973, a central abuse committee was established to validate and monitor all new referrals of alleged abuse of children less than five years of age. It developed resources needed to provide service effectively, tried to increase the level of knowledge and practice skills in the area of high-risk protective service, and measured the effectiveness of various methods of treatment. Local branch committees provided an opportunity for workers to consult with colleagues and specialists on difficult case situations.

  In 1973, the society established a central abuse committee to validate and monitor all new referrals of alleged abuse of children less than five years of age. It developed resources needed to provide service effectively, tried to increase the level of knowledge and practice skills in the area of high-risk protective service, and measured the effectiveness of various methods of treatment.

  The committee structure was supplemented by a training program for nurse practitioners who would not only conduct medical examinations and consultations but would also support the abuse committees. Each nurse practitioner served as a member of the branch abuse committee. She accompanied family service workers when an abuse situation needed medical assessment and, if necessary, gave evidence in court. She made follow-up visits in high-risk situations and assisted with community education.

  “Establishing a trusting relationship was the key to success with abusive parents. Trust grew from the very first contact when the presence of a nurse trained to assess damages may have avoided the threatening experience of taking the child to hospital. Even giving evidence in court was not necessarily damaging to a good relationship. On one occasion, I remember testifying that a mother was giving only adequate care and noticed that she was listening intently and nodding her head in agreement!”

  — Marilyn Pearson on the

  agency’s nurse practitioners

  Marilyn Pearson, who became the nurse practitioner for Toronto East and Toronto West branches, recalls:

  Establishing a trusting relationship was the key to success with abusive parents. Trust grew from the very first contact when the presence of a nurse trained to assess damages may have avoided the threatening experience of taking the child to hospital. Even giving evidence in court was not necessarily damaging to a good relationship. On one occasion, I remember testifying that a mother was giving only adequate care and noticed that she was listening intently and nodding her head in agreement!

  Marilyn Pearson, nurse practitioner for Toronto East and Toronto West branches and the originator of the High Risk Infant Nurse Program

  Services to children in care

  Society staff who worked with children in foster care, group homes and residences, along with those in adoption, were serving a changing population. This was the result of shifting social conditions, such as those described at the beginning of this chapter, and legislation that helped shift the focus of child welfare work to maintaining children safely in their own homes.

  As a result, many of the children now being admitted to Metro CAS care were older than in the past and were increasingly living with physical or developmental disabilities. The society had to direct its efforts toward new and more skilled uses of foster family care. A home care program, a specialized foster home program, foster family group homes and admission-assessment foster homes were all examples of the continuing development of the foster family as the best placement for children who must live away from home. Meanwhile, the higher percentage of teenage children needing care prompted the development of an array of youth residences.

  A home care program, a specialized foster home program, foster family group homes and admission-assessment foster homes were all examples of the continuing development of the foster family as the best placement for children who must live away from home.

  These changes dramatically altered the agency’s adoption program, as will be described later
in this chapter. It had to adjust to older children, as well as those who were handicapped and slow learners, while placing increased emphasis on early permanent adoption placements for those children.

  Homefinding

  The challenge for the society, therefore, was to recruit suitable foster and adoptive families to care for these young people. In 1972, the agency supported 1,485 foster homes. As part of the approval process, each was studied and assessed by the society’s homefinding staff.

  After an initial telephone conversation and an office visit, and after securing permission to obtain pertinent medical information, the homefinder made between three and six visits to the family home to acquaint the parents with the hazards and pitfalls involved in caring for someone else’s child, especially one who had come from a deprived home situation and might present unexpected problems.

  The society was innovative in its use of the media to inform a broad segment of the population about its need for homes.

  The society was innovative in its use of the media to inform a broad segment of the population about its need for homes. Every Monday morning in the early 1970s, for example, while mothers were getting their children ready for school, Jim Paulson of radio station CKEY wound up his morning show by talking about one of the agency’s children. The segment was called “Our Foster Child of the Week,” and each was a thumbnail sketch of a hard-to-place youngster in Metro CAS care. The idea was later taken up by CFTO Television, which created a weekly program called Family Finder. Baby Jessica was one of the children featured:

  Baby Jessica has never known what it is to like have a mother of her own and a home. She has spent the three months of her life in hospital under the watchful eyes of nurses and doctors. Jessica has a heart condition and suspected epilepsy. She may need an operation eventually. She is well enough to leave the tiny iron crib and learn what it is to be cuddled by people. She is on digitalis every day and her foster mother must be able to take her to hospital frequently for observations.

  “Baby Jessica has never known what it is to like have a mother of her own and a home. She has spent the three months of her life in hospital under the watchful eyes of nurses and doctors. Jessica has a heart condition and suspected epilepsy. She may need an operation eventually. She is well enough to leave the tiny iron crib and learn what it is to be cuddled by people. She is on digitalis every day and her foster mother must be able to take her to hospital frequently for observations.”

  — Family Finder, CFTO Television

  Danny was another child whose story was told on the radio:

  Danny has stirred up a peck of trouble in his eight and a half years. But he hasn’t had much from the world but trouble, either. His mother is a prostitute and an alcoholic and he has known no father. He has been expelled from school for fighting and truancy. So he has home tuition until he learns how to get along with other children. Danny has brown eyes and brown hair and is small and wiry. He smashes toys at a rapid rate and has learned no table manners. As you can see, this boy is a real challenge. He must have the kind of foster parents who can see him through psychiatric treatment. He may be unlovable just now — but oh, how this lad needs a loving foster home.

  A popular syndicated newspaper column, “Today’s Child,” was another way in which the agency, along with other children’s aid societies, alerted the public to the need for good homes for children in care, this time for adoption homes. It began in 1964 when Helen Allen, a reporter for the Toronto Telegram, had the idea of using photographs of children available for adoption. Hardly a world-shaking idea in itself, perhaps, but the use of photographs of CAS wards — advertising them in the paper, no less — was so controversial that at first only the Metro, Hamilton and Kenora societies went along with the idea.

  A popular syndicated newspaper column, “Today’s Child,” was one way in which the agency, along with other children’s aid societies, alerted the public to the need for good homes for children in care, this time for adoption homes. It began in 1964 when Helen Allen, a reporter for the Toronto Telegram, had the idea of using photographs of children available for adoption. Hardly a world-shaking idea in itself, perhaps, but the use of photographs of CAS wards — advertising them in the paper, no less — was so controversial that at first only the Metro, Hamilton and Kenora societies went along with the idea.

  It took a remarkable number of phone calls to acquire photos of the first twenty-three children — and get permission to use them. Luckily, the twenty-three published pictures and stories resulted in eighteen adoptions. Before the program was three weeks old, many of the reluctant societies had changed their thinking and were asking if they, too, could take part. What began as a six-week pilot project continued for many years to tell readers about the variety of children needing homes and turning up families for them. Mikey, Cindy and Frankie were among them:

  Mikey is a good-looking blue-eyed boy whose early development was slow. For a while, we thought he had mild cerebral palsy and we were worried about muscular dystrophy. This last was unfortunately confirmed about a month ago. We must provide for his needs with a family who are prepared to care for a boy with this handicap.

  Cindy is a very attractive part-Indian lass who was born with a heart defect which will require surgery sometime during her childhood. She is legally free for adoption. Will she have to wait in a foster home until after the surgery before we can find her a family? Will it be too late then to move her?

  Frankie, aged 10, is hoping to find an adoptive home where parents will appreciate a super-active but thoroughly lovable kid! He loves fishing, camping and animals and would, in fact, prefer to live outdoors if he could! He’s also mad about hockey and likes to read a lot. Need we say that he has bright red hair to go with those freckles!

  Foster family care

  As described in earlier chapters, foster families had been the cornerstone of support for children in the care of the CAS of Toronto since its earliest beginnings. Boarding home care, a specialized service that eventually became the norm, had begun at the Infants’ Home at the end of the First World War, when, because of severe epidemics, it was medically dangerous to leave large numbers of small children together in institutions where infection spread rapidly. Successful efforts were made to place these children in families, and the mortality rate declined rapidly.

  Almost as an additional bonus, both the CAS of Toronto and the Infants’ Home later discovered that children raised in foster families were able to make a better adjustment to adult life than those who grew up in the then-prevalent large institutions or orphanages.

  Almost as an additional bonus, both the CAS of Toronto and the Infants’ Home later discovered that children raised in foster families were able to make a better adjustment to adult life than those who grew up in the then-prevalent large institutions or orphanages. Out of this grew the conviction that child welfare agencies should place all the children in its care, except for the most seriously disturbed or handicapped ones, in foster homes. The continuation of this long tradition was reflected in a 1977 article in Our Children that told the story of foster parents Joy and Harry Chong:

  Joy and Harry Chong have been foster parents for nine years and during that time have fostered a total of 158 children! The shortest stay in that period was four hours and the longest seven and a half years!

  One of those children was Georgie, who came to them “for three months” when he was three years old. Georgie’s young mother had had no idea of parenting and his natural father had taken no interest in the boy at all. Little Georgie consequently spent most of his first two years in a crib in a semi-dark room.

  When CAS discovered him he was covered in sores from the infrequent changing, his eyes had been affected by the lack of light and his lower jaw and teeth were deformed. He couldn’t walk, could sit only for a short period and he was not used to taking solid food, only a bottle.

  For a long period of time, Joy had to take him to Sick Kids [hospital] weekly for his physical pro
blems but gradually they responded to loving care. His emotional trauma was more deep seated. Accustomed to the safety of his crib, Georgie was fearful of larger spaces and only felt secure when he was in his playpen. Attempts to help him stand only frightened him. It took a long time and much patience to help him gain confidence.

  One sheltered spot in the kitchen seemed less frightening than others and there he was willing to make an attempt to stand. Harry, who works for the Post Office, encouraged him patiently whenever he was at home and the whole family clapped and cheered whenever Georgie made an effort. He loved the attention and the applause. “One good thing,” says Joy Chong, “Georgie was able to learn to trust.”

  Stimulation and encouragement from all the family were the remedies that brought Georgie out of himself and helped him develop into an interesting, warm and loving youngster. Meanwhile, Georgie and the Chongs became more and more attached to each other.

  Eventually, however, Georgie was made a ward of the Crown and became free for adoption. Although the separation was traumatic for all concerned, Joy said that the adoption workers couldn’t have been better. “They were really sensitive and helpful and Georgie’s adopting family is super.” At last report, Georgie and his new family appeared to be living happily ever after.

  “When CAS discovered him he was covered in sores from the infrequent changing, his eyes had been affected by the lack of light and his lower jaw and teeth were deformed. He couldn’t walk, could sit only for a short period and he was not used to taking solid food, only a bottle.”