Poor Relations: The Children of the State in Illinois, 1818-1990

Front Cover
University of Illinois Press, 1994 - 295 pages

This comprehensive history traces the care of dependent, delinquent,
and disabled children in Illinois from the early nineteenth century to
current times, focusing on the dilemmas raised by both public intervention
and the lack of it. Joan Gittens explores the inadequacies of a system
that has allowed problems in the public care of children to recur regularly
but at the same time insists that the state's own history makes it clear
that the potential for improvements exists.
 

Selected pages

Contents

Introduction
1
Dependent Children
13
Minimal Offerings 181899
15
Extending the Boundaries of Care 18991950
35
Coherence and Crisis 195090
60
Children in Trouble with the Law
87
Defining Delinquency 181899
89
Establishing the Juvenile Court 18991925
105
Disabled Children
159
From Hope to Fear 183899
161
Optimism Reborn 19001940
185
Progress for Handicapped Children 194090
206
Conclusion
234
Notes
239
Bibliographic Essay
271
Index
285

Harsh Measures 192549
125
Rejecting the Parental State 195090
143

Common terms and phrases

Bibliographic information