Child Welfare In The United States

Originally Aired: May 25, 1938 In Cavalcade of America #136, "Child Welfare In The United States," the program traces the evolution of child care in America through vivid dramatizations spanning nearly two centuries. The story opens in 1729 with Pierre and other horsemen racing through the darkness to bring orphaned children to an Ursuline Convent in New Orleans following the Natchez Indian massacre at Fort Rosalie. Among the frightened survivors are young Jean and a little girl desperately asking for their lost parents, as the sisters compassionately open their doors to provide America's first organized group care for homeless children. The narrative moves forward to depict the harsh realities faced by orphans in later years. Young Molly endures overcrowded conditions in an almshouse where children, the elderly, and the insane are housed together under a stern matron's watch. Later, Dave Brown becomes a bound boy sent to work on the Whitaker farm, where he faces the prospect of hard labor while hoping to attend school and earn his freedom at age twenty-one. Through these personal stories, the episode illustrates how America's approach to child welfare gradually evolved from desperate emergency measures to more systematic, though still challenging, institutional care.