Item Detail
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12921
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0
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0
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English
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Protect the Children--Protect the Boys and Girls : Child Welfare Work in Utah, 1888-1920
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Salt Lake City, UT
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University of Utah
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Ph.D. diss.
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"Important among the complex of reforms advocated by the American middle classes in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth centuries was the effort to establish protective legislation to secure the rights of children. Above all else these efforts sought to protect the child, insuring the rights guaranteed all citizens under the Constitution particularly the right to a safe and secure home environment. For the first time the differences between adults and children were recognized by law and special facilities were created that were designed to serve those different needs. Finally, these laws advanced governmental authority in cases involving children--giving to the court the power of discretion in what had hitherto been seen as private matters of family relationships and thereby greatly diminishing the power of parents and guardians. This is a study of the child welfare movement in Utah during the period 1888-1920 and addresses three distinct areas of concern: (1) the reform school and other public and private institutional facilities, (2) the juvenile court system, (3) protective legislation. Utah's movement for child welfare as exemplified in protective legislation, in the juvenile court system, in the reform school or in the state's private and public child saving agencies was unified by three basic and predominant themes: (1) a new appreciation and respect for the rights of children, (2) the effort to preserve the family unit, and (3) an awareness of the opportunity for the reformation and rehabilitation of young citizens through moral education. In the area of child welfare reform Utah was in the first third of states seeking to legislate change. More than any other single factor, protective legislation was practical--it sought to remedy short term problems rather than to prevent them." [Author's abstract]