The guardianship of best interests : institutional care for the children of the poor in Halifax, 1850-1960 / Renée N. Lafferty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lafferty, Renée Nicole, 1973- author.

Series:

McGill-Queen's studies in the history of religion. Series two ; 60.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Poor children--Institutional care--Nova Scotia--Halifax--History--19th century--Case studies.

Poor children.

Poor children--Institutional care--Nova Scotia--Halifax--History--20th century--Case studies.

Urban poor--Institutional care--Nova Scotia--Halifax--History--19th century--Case studies.

Urban poor.

Urban poor--Institutional care--Nova Scotia--Halifax--History--20th century--Case studies.

Institutional care--Nova Scotia--Halifax--History--19th century--Case studies.

Institutional care.

Institutional care--Nova Scotia--Halifax--History--20th century--Case studies.

Nova Scotia--Halifax.

Genre:

Case studies.

History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xix, 373 pages, 6 unnumbered pages) : illustrations, charts

Other Title:

Institutional care for the children of the poor in Halifax, 1850-1960

Place of Publication:

Montreal & Kingston ; London : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2013].

Language Note:

English

Summary:

"A history of charitable children's homes and emergent state-centred child welfare policy in Nova Scotia. It is difficult to imagine how orphan asylums and children's homes - often depicted as places where abuse, deprivation, and cruelty were commonplace - once presented a viable solution to child neglect. Renée N. Lafferty examines this response as it played out in Halifax, demonstrating how these homes reacted both creatively and valiantly to their environment, despite chronic underfunding and a narrow vision of the possibilities available to disadvantaged children.The Guardianship of Best Interests traces the creation and administration of children's homes in Halifax from the mid-nineteenth century to their closure in the mid-twentieth. Against the backdrop of a city torn apart by race and religious politics, financial challenges, two world wars, and the devastating explosion of 1917, Halifax institutions frequently represented themselves as the cutting edge of professional child welfare methods. Placing their histories at the core of this study, Lafferty challenges the common assertion that such homes were readily abandoned in favour of the foster care method promoted by the Children's Aid Society.Through the unique perspective gained by considering inter-denominational competition, along with the effects of racism and the political posturing of the province's emerging welfare bureaucracy, The Guardianship of Best Interests unearths the significant similarities between past child welfare practices and our current approaches toward neglect and dependency."--Provided by publisher.

Contents:

"We Need No Reform": The Organization of Local Services and Administrative Innovation, c. 1850-1924

Race Uplift, Racism, and the Childhood Ideal: Founding and Funding the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children

The Unremitting Exercise of Watchfulness: Institutional Environments, Routines, and Practices

"Out of Mutual Respect Will Come Mutual Responsibility": Coordinating Services and Promoting Interagency Cooperation after World War One

Managing "High Standards of Professional Ethics": Institutionalization, Gwendolen Lantz, and the Emergence of the "Modern" Children's Home, c. 1940-1952

From Protection to Treatment: Group Care and the Transformation of the Institution after World War Two

Conclusion

Appendices.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 333-359) and index.

Other Format:

Print version: Lafferty, Renée Nicole, 1973- Guardianship of best interests.

ISBN:

9780773587946

0773587942

9781283901567

OCLC:

1162508937