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From: "ihayes" <>
Subject: SHELTERING CHILDREN
Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 23:05:21 -0500


Hi Listers:
I have just finished some study at a library and found a book of interest. I
would like some feedback on the following information if you think this is
relevant:

Sheltering Children in Simcoe County 1894-1944

1844-1912
The link to the Barrie Children's Aid Society was through one of the most
passionate of those reformers, J.J. Kelso. As a young journalist with the
Toronto World, and then the Globe, he had helped to establish Toronto's
First Humane Society in 1887. That Society was originally developed for the
protection of children as well as animals. Kelso "eloquently preached the
gospel of child-saving and of nurturing youngsters in a loving family." He
also argued for foster homes for children rather than institutions where
"hundreds of clean, well-fed children" were growing up never to know "the
ordinary joys of childhood and the endearments of home ties."

Temporary Homes - An Uncertain Experience
By the end of his first year as the Ontario government's Superintendent of
Dependent and Neglected Children, 1893, Kelso and interested citizens had
already established five children's aid societies in Ontario. His priorities
were obviously shard by the citizens with whom he worked to organize the
Society at Barrie in 1894. Foster Home, Visiting and Temporary Home
Committees were immediately established by local citizens.

Ontario's new Children's Protection Act required towns with a population of
10,000 or more to have a "receiving home" for the temporary care of
apprehended children. Barrie, Collingwood and Orillia apparently
established these homes in the earliest years of the Society's existed,
although only the Barrie experience appears to have been documented in any
detail.

First Temporary Homes - Barrie
Mrs. B. Steer, Napier Street, Barrie, offered to furnish a home for four
children in January 1899. However, she applied to "adopt" a child placed in
her care the year before. She would later become the "matron" in two house
prior to the establishment of the first "permanent shelter". In 1919 she
also became the first full-time paid employee of the Society, as Matron of
its first "permanent" shelter. MRS. HAWKES, Collier Street, Barrie, also
provided temporary care in 1898.

In May 1899 a committee of women of the Board of Trustees was appointed to
investigate the "present home" and if considered unsatisfactory to secure "a
better one". There was no subsequent indication of which home was being
investigated, the nature of the concern, or the outcome of the enquiry.
However, a Board member, MRS. STEVENSON'S "place her home at the disposal of
the Executive as a temporary shelter" for a young girl 5.

The frequency of use of these homes and the length of stays in them are not
recorded during this period in a systematic way. Payment was apparently
made on a per-diem and "as needed" basis. Mrs. Steer, for example, was paid
$1.50 per day for each child in her care on specific days.

Kelso Policy Directives

J.J. Kelso issued policy directives that possibly reduced the demand for
temporary shelter accommodation in this period. Children could be sent to
him in Toronto for admission to the TORONTO SHELTER. He seemed to be clear
in his commitment that temporary home stays should be short. Children "not
disposed of in 3 months were to be forwarded to him" for placement in the
Toronto Shelter. No child under 2 or 3 was to be admitted to the "Protestant
Orphan's Home, Toronto.

Temporary Homes or Shelter?

The Board of Minutes reveal little more in this period about temporary homes
or shelters. However, "the shelter" had become the common term of reference
for this aspect of the Society's work. Mrs. Benjamin Steer's home was still
used in 1903 for child placements. A year later a Mrs. Burton was said to
have been in charge of the "Society's Shelter. A child "from a family living
in a wigwam in Mr. Lovering's woods" was apprehended in 1906 and was "in
very critical condition when handed over to MRS. BURTON'S SHELTER and not
withstanding good care passed away after 3 weeks.

??? Do you think this is our Mrs. Hawkes who took care of the BHC???
??? Do you think this is our Mrs. Burton who took care of BHC???
???Do you think Mrs. Stevenson is the wife of Mr Stevenson bring our BHC to
Canada???

If you agree that the above six typed pages are what we are looking for, or
could be valuable information, and, if I receive a sufficient number of
replies (10) by e-mail I will continue to type the balance of the 29 pages.

All the Best
Isabel Hayes

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