Orphan Train Research Paper

In her book, The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction, Linda Gordon argues that the events of October 1904 in Clifton-Morenci, and the Supreme Court’s case that followed, were to blame for the development of a more obvious racial hierarchy in the US’southwestern states. The events covered in this book include the New York Foundling Hospital’s use of orphan trains to attempt to place New York orphans with Catholic families in Arizona, the Anglo-Protestant community’s negative reaction to the NYFH’s process, and the legal battle which resulted from this. To support her argument, Gordon illustrates the three way battle of motives between the sisters sent by the NYFH, the Mexican adopters, and the Anglo kidnappers of 1904 Arizona.

I believe that Christina Baker Kline wrote Orphan Train to give insight on the little known fact that, from 1854 to 1929, orphans were placed onto a train and shipped around the United States to prospective parents. Kline was trying to bring upon the point of social injustice and welfare that humans endured during that time. “You’re not allowed to bring keepsakes with you on the train.’ ‘It’s- It’s the only thing I have left” (27). During the process of Niamh being adopted; “I’ll be honest with you.

In History and Society, edited by Paula S. Fass, vol. 2, Macmillan Reference USA, 2004, pp. 680-681. U.S. History in Context, link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3402800328/UHIC?u=azstatelibdev&xid=698a7145. Accessed 7 Dec. 2017. Orphan Train by Christina Baker

Back in the 1800 many children were poor and homeless and begging for food. Now that we have realized that this is happening to children there are charities who feed the homeless and have foster homes. Usually in major cities there are more homeless children and people that need help. Charles Loring Brace founded a charity in New York, to help poor children that are in the city for example. Charles found caring homes to teach the child good manners and not for labor. There are many organizations like the Charles Loring Brace charity that help out children in need. Back in the 1800’s there were no charity’s to give out food and water and supplies for the children but now that we have grown to be a better society there are more and more people

The book Orphan Train written by Christina Baker Kline gives the reader a detailed look into the lives of both Vivian and Molly, and how their stories compare and contrast. Molly, a young “goth” teenage girl who is orphaned at young age due to the death of her father, is introduced as a “delinquent” of sorts that has to make up for a book she has stolen from the library. Her boyfriend, Jack, finds a volunteering opportunity for her through his mother; the job requires Molly to sort through and get rid of mementos that belong to an old woman named Vivian. As Vivian and Molly organize the mementos, Vivian informs Molly that she too is an orphan, and explains the stories behind each item they encounter. As the story progresses, Molly learns more and more about Vivian’s life, and becomes infatuated with her anecdotes. Vivian tells of how her parents and sister supposably died, how she had to board and “Orphan Train” and was sent to various families. Vivian describes in detail what problems she faced as an orphan, the people she met, and how it shaped her as a person. Despite initially being reluctant to help Vivian, Molly comes to realize that her life story is fascinating, and helps Vivian research the people that came up in her story.

Orphan trains and Carlisle and the ways people from the past undermined the minorities and children of America. The film "The orphan Trains" tells us the story of children who were taken from the streets of New York City and put on trains to rural America. A traffic in immigrant children were developed and droves of them teamed the streets of New York (A People's History of the United States 1492-present, 260). The streets of NYC were dirty, overcrowded, and dangerous. Just as street gangs had female auxiliaries, they also had farm leagues for children (These are the Good Old Days, 19). During the time of the late 1800's and early 1900's many people were trying to help children. Progressive reformers, often called

Contrary to its name, the Orphan Train riders included not only orphans, but also children with only one parent, children that were given up because their family was too big, and runaways. These children often underwent parental death, abandonment, or prostitution. Still other orphans were immigrant children. They suffered from the overpopulation of New York and lack of job availability. Even the jobs they could get did not pay enough for them to survive. Many of the orphans turned to selling small items such as newspapers or matches to survive on the streets. These children often formed gangs to protect themselves from the sometimes violent world of street life in New York City. Police, after finding some of these gangs,

The differences between the New Deal reformers and the child welfare workers who provided services to Malcom X’s family was that the child welfare workers were not providing adequate and equal services to the family(Haley, 1996). Malcom X ’s stated that when the social worker came to their home “they were looked at as if they were not people”. Even though Malcom X’s family was receiving some kind of service, to the eyesight of these people Malcom x’s stated that “they were just like things”.

About thirty to forty children rode these trains with only two to three adults. They were told that they were going out west, but the children really had no idea what that meant. Most of them had never been outside of New York.

4). In the scope of adoption, it is evident that child welfare agencies use the majority of their available resources for placing children in foster families, investigating child-abuse cases, and providing other family services. “As a consequence, they do not possess adequate additional resources for efficiently placing children in adoptive homes once they are available for adoption, depriving many children of the benefits a stable, permanent home provides” (Snell, 2000, p. 2). The current government operated child welfare system is detrimental to the children involved due to its inability to ensure their safety and

Children were orphaned everyday, and many of the older orphaned children were forced to take care of the younger orphaned. In order for the children to survive, they needed to make themselves useful. Small children would crawl through narrow openings and smuggle food into the ghettos for their friends and families. They did this with great risk, because if they were caught they would be punished severely. Jerry Koenig continues, “The only way you could survive was by supplementing your diet with the things bought through the black market. But you can imagine that if the sellers were risking their lives to obtain these things, then the price is going to be extremely high” (Remembering: Voices of the Holocaust).

The Orphan Trains started in the 1850’s. This story highlights the 1920’s and how the Children’s Aid Society provided aid for orphaned children, which was ever-present as an estimated 30,000 children were homeless in New York city in the 1850’s (Childrensaidsociety.org, n.d.). Molly Ayer and Vivian Daly are the main characters in the book. Molly, a seventeen-year-old girl, is living with foster parents after her father died, and mother turned to drugs and deemed unfit to care for Molly.

Underground railroads have been prominent in history since the early nineteenth century. Throughout time, numerous different underground railroads have been created for many different purposes, all liberating those subject to slavery or poverty. Modern slavery, known as human trafficking, usually affects immigrants who do not completely know their rights or who are tricked into a “job” that does not fit its original description. This applies to Unwind due to the way the kids are treated and the fact that they must escape their fate by travelling this underground railroad and reaching “the promise land” which welcomes them to freedom and safety.

In 1980, about 500,000 children were in foster care, but a series of successful reforms began with that year 's Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act which dramatically decreased the number of children in foster care. But in the early 1990s, with the advent of crack cocaine and an economic recession numbers went back up. Child welfare advocates said that the foster care system was in need of changes so that children spend less time in foster placements and that America’s child welfare system needed an improvement. Some children in care were separated from their siblings, others transitioned from one foster care placement to another, never knowing where to call home. Too many children were being abused in systems that were supposed to protect them. Instead of being safely reunified with their families or moved quickly into adoptive homes many remained in foster homes or institutions for years.

For twenty-six years beginning in the year 1854 homeless children from New York City were sent out west on trains. The west was thought of as the land of the future and change. People would move out west to “start over”. Beginning in the 1860s the Sisters of Charity began to play a significant role in helping the homeless children in New York City. One way the Sisters of Charity helped children was by allowing mothers of unwanted newborns to leave their babies in the sisters care. Due to the ‘growing Catholic political power” (Gordon, Location 210) the Sisters of Charity won “a regular state subsidy by 1873 as well as a grant for a new building” (Gordon, Location 210). This allowed them to expand their operation. They were also able to keep