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Child Abuse, Policy Communities, and Frame Contestation During the Progressive Era
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 April 2019
Abstract:
Why did child abuse become a less significant problem after 1910? This article focuses on frame contestation, and how child-protection organizations gradually lost control of the narrative about fragile families to a competing set of groups—those that emphasized “family saving.” Like many interest groups, the SPCCs developed an “issue frame” in their efforts to publicize their mission, which sought to define a problem (child abuse), attribute blame for that situation (inadequate parents), propose a solution (the removal of children from parents), and encourage others to support their cause. After 1900, however, “family saving” groups identified a problem related to child abuse (fragile families), portrayed poverty as a cause of family instability, and supported policies that sought to preserve families. While advocating for policies that strengthened families, however, they undercut child protectors’ most crucial weapon against child abuse, namely, the removal of affected children from inadequate parents.
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- Copyright © Donald Critchlow and Cambridge University Press 2019
References
NOTES
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2. Figures 1 and 2 reflect the number of new complaints per year recorded by the Illinois Humane Society (1884–1936), the Philadelphia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (1878–1924), the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (1876–1935), and the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (1881–1930). Some data are missing because of the organizations’ idiosyncratic recordkeeping. (For example, in its early years, the Illinois Humane Society combined its reports on children and animals.) To determine per capita complaints, the author used the U.S. Census Reports for Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston. In 1898, the City of Greater New York was created, consolidating the existing City of New York (Manhattan) with the eastern Bronx, Brooklyn, most of Queens County, and Staten Island. For the purposes of consistency and historical accuracy (the NYPCC was a Manhattan institution), the per capita data for New York was based on the population of Manhattan.
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