Prior to 1876, any Catholic ‘physical’ orphan in the state of Georgia was cared for by the Sisters of St. Joseph in Savannah, Georgia. You will note that I use the term ‘physical orphan.’ This physical orphan was a child who had no living parents.

Due to crowded living conditions in Savannah, the boys were brought up to Washington, Georgia in 1876, and the new institution was known as St. Joseph’s Male Orphanage. In the thirties, a new building was erected in Washington, Georgia and the name of the institution was again changed, this time to St. Joseph’s Boys’ Home. Even as early as this time, boys who were not actually ‘physical’ orphans, were being referred and accepted for placement. Very good custodial care was given to them.

With the development of the physical sciences and the behavioral sciences, emphasis in child care had to be focused less and less on physical orphans and more and more on ‘psychological orphans.’ Why? The number of ‘physical’ orphans or parentless children was diminishing, thanks to advances in the field of medicine. However, at the same time the number of ‘psychological orphans’ or children who could not or should not live in their own homes was increasing. There are multiple reasons for why children with parents cannot live in their own homes. Frequently, parents consciously or even unconsciously reject their children because these parents are too involved in their own problems to bother with the children; or, for some reason or other the parents feel that the presence of this child cause upset in the home. Other parents ‘view’ a child like a football tossing him from one to the other, or worse still, using the child to get revenge on his partner. In the meantime, these children get all tied up in a knot (we call these intra-psychic conflicts). They become very unsure of themselves and begin to ask, “Am I completely bad? Is it my fault that mother and dad fight so much? Why can’t I behave as nicely as Johnny? Why do I do everything wrong? Nobody likes me.” These doubts about themselves soon begin to creep into their behavior and we find these children withdrawing into a shell away from everyone; or, going to the opposite extreme of doing anything to get someone to notice them -- even if it is to be punished.

We have a youngster who was expelled or asked to leave two schools for just exactly the last mentioned reason. He did anything - even endangering his life - to get the teacher’s attention. This child is from a broken family with a mother who must work. Without proper home supervision and schooling, this boy would soon be in detention or a Y.D.C. center. This child is a bright boy who if he can be helped now, can break this pattern of behavior and can contribute to society rather than always feeling a need to be noticed, and doing anything to fulfill it.

Before I give you any more on the types of children with whom we work, I would like to describe the Village physical plant to you. Those of you who have not seen it please do come out soon. We have a tract of 45 acres of beautiful pine trees on a sloping hillside. We have four cottages, a chapel, a convent-administration combination, and an activities building which contains two classrooms, an arts and craft area, a workroom for each case-worker, a room for medical examinations, and a half basketball court with a small stage at one end. Along with this, we have received as gifts, two horses, two ponies, three dogs and two kittens.

We feel that these physical surroundings are ideal for working with children. The cottages are warm in appearance.

Our children are attending four schools in the area, namely, Most Blessed Sacrament, St. Anthony’s, Cliftondale, and St. Joseph’s High School. If the children are unable to function in a normal classroom setting, we have two special classrooms here on the grounds and thirteen children work here at their own pace. One of our Sisters will finish her master’s work at Peabody this summer. She has been teaching these children so she is familiar with the new approaches in the field. As soon as a child can go out to school, he is sent, for this is one of the first indications we have that behavior is improving. Two very wonderful ladies from St. Jude’s parish, Mrs. Mather and Mrs. Logan, contribute their time every Wednesday to teaching our children here at the Village arts and crafts. At the present time, they are working on a paper mache donkey to add to the outdoor Christmas crib which they began last year with the children.

Let me now turn back to the kinds of children with whom we work. One little girl is very withdrawn. She prefers to play alone, and is just now at a stage where she will try to meet with children her own age. Her mother was quite ill during pregnancy and expected this child to be abnormal in some way. As a result, the parents were almost afraid of her and would have little to do with her, permitting her to spend hours by herself or with a pet. This youngster was thought to be mentally retarded, but after testing it was found that if she could be in a special learning situation, away from her family for a time, she would improve, and she has. Academically, she’s doing very well but her motor control is still poor. She is now able to turn a somersault, to walk a balancing beam, and to tie her own shoelaces. Not only is she playing with the other children in her cottage, but she is learning to hold ‘her own’ very well. However, this required a good deal of time and individual work.

We could go on and on, giving you individual cases of children with whom we are working. We have the children that we call ‘loners’ who, when they come will play by themselves, and are too fearful to reach out and look for playmates. We have children who are afraid to ride a bicycle because they don’t want anybody to see them fall or make a mistake. One little loner has now reached the stage that she wants to be a blonde, because ‘blondes have more fun.’ This, of course, is a real improvement.

Another type of child whom we have is the youngster who is so starved for affection that he must constantly pick up things that are not his, to feel that something belongs to him. All of us want “some one” to belong to us, but when we don’t find this person we want “something” to belong to us. These children will again pick up anything without realizing that this is not the way one wins love.