The legacy of the famed Orphan Trains that began during the first days of the Children’s Aid Society in New York lives on today. An estimated 150,000 children took part in the Orphan Train Movement from 1854 to 1929, giving them new lives and a bright future by removing them from the poverty and danger of the city streets. 
Charles Loring Brace, the founder of the New York’s Children Aid Society was the leader of the Orphan Train model. He believed that in order to give children a chance of escaping a lifetime of suffering, that they should be placed with morally upright farm families. Charles Brace’s work with the Orphan Train movement is fascinating history – living history – as the lives and legacies of his efforts continue today.
The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America Inc (OTHSA) is an organization formed in 1987 to provide a clearinghouse of information of the lives and legacy of the Orphan Train experience. OTHSA maintains the Orphan Train Riders Research Center, a museum with an archive of newspapers, census records, oral histories, letters, and photographs pertaining to the Orphan Train accounts. These genealogists and historians seek to salvage and share information on the Orphan Train riders, and the extended biological families that are alive today.
An estimated 30,000 children were homeless in New York City in the 1850s, when Charles L. Brace began this historic effort. That’s a lot of personal stories, and after a century and a half, generation after generation of families tie their roots back to the Orphan Trains. For more on the stories of Orphan Train riders, click here.
Tags: adoption, Charles Loring Brace, Children's Aid New York City, Orphan Train Movement, Orphan Train Riders Research Center, orphans, The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America Inc
By David
In the 1850s in New York City, orphan asylums and almshouses were the only “social services” available for homeless children. But Charles Loring Brace, the founder of The Children’s Aid Society, was determined not to choose between the squalid slums and New York City streets or the orphan asylum. He was convinced that the institutional care of the day stunted and destroyed children, and decided that all children needed families in order to grow into happy and productive adults.
Sociologists have studied and described the constant stress of poverty. By lifting a generation of New York City children out of the stress of poverty, The Children’s Aid Society was lifting future generations from poverty too. The challenge remains today, as reported in a Cornell University Study, and published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The studies found that there is an adverse relationship between poverty and memory, demonstrating that the stress of poverty can affect the way that a child’s brains develops.
Believing that healthcare, education and a wholesome family atmosphere were the keys to brighter futures, The Children Aid Society’s progressive ideas have translated into far-reaching services and reforms for poor and homeless children, working women and needy families. Through the work of The Children’s Aid Society, needy New York City children and families have avoided much of the daily stress and suffering of poverty, and over the last 150 years, generations have been lifted up.
Tags: adoption, Charles Loring Brace, Children's Aid New York City, Cornell University, education, healthcare, homelessness, National Academy of Sciences, poverty
By David
New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) recently marked the beginning of National Foster Care Month with a commemoration to raise New Yorkers’ awareness about foster care, celebrating generous New Yorkers who have opened their hearts and homes as foster and adoptive parents. The Children’s Aid Society in New York, which partners with ACS, began its efforts to help the thousands of homeless, abused and orphaned children living on the streets of the city in 1853. That program, called the Orphan Train Movement, is still recognized as the foundation of the modern-day foster care system in the United States.
Today adoption and foster care constitute one of The Children’s Aid Society’s largest service divisions, and among our highest priorities, as we continue to work for the nearly 17,000 children living in foster care in New York. National Foster Care Month is a great opportunity to highlight this continuing need — thanking foster families and social workers who care for children — and encouraging New Yorkers to become foster parents, volunteers or mentors. Many foster care alumni have taken that crucial early support and mentoring to go on to many great things in life.
New York’s Children’s Aid Society finds safe and nurturing homes for more than 640 needy children a year, a powerful statement of commitment and care. In addition, we also provide many specialized services for youths and families in the foster care system. Learn more about becoming a foster parent.
Tags: adoption, children's aid society, Foster Care, foster parents, national foster care, new york city, orphan train
By David
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