The orphan train was a supervised welfare program that transported abandoned and orphaned children from cities in the United States, such as New York, to foster homes located in the less populated, rural areas in the midwest. Starting around the 1850s, there was a great increase in urbanization. Large, newly industrialized cities became highly populated. The orphan train took children that were abandoned because of increasing urbanization and population and moved them out west. This gave the children new, stable families and increased the number of farm workers in the Midwest. Although most children were happily paired with a loving family, some children were adopted and treated as indentured by their families. The orphan train provided a way …show more content…
Mr. Brace saw what was happening in New York and decided to do something about it. To start off, Brace began writing newspaper articles about his opinions on these poorhouses and rough conditions for children. He was ready for a new program that helped poor and homeless children obtain happier and healthier lives. Brace agreed to run the Children’s Aid Society with a yearly salary of $1,000. The society started out with lodging houses, reading rooms, and schools where boys and girls could learn different trades, and find some type of employment opportunities suitable for their ages (Fry 16). The society stressed self help over charity handouts, and taught the kids to work to support themselves. Families were able to “adopt” a kid as their own, and have them perform tasks and work for jobs that needed filled. Around the cities, lots of factory jobs were available, however the kids were worked 10 to 12 hours a day. To make it worse, the wages were not sufficient, being only 25 cents a day (Fry 18). When children were adopted, they were often treated like indentured servants opposed to real family members. Although Brace supported being self-efficient and working hard, he wanted kids to be welcomed into families they could call their own and feel a part of. Overall, Brace decided he wanted to get these children far away from the conditions of big cities and bring them to good, heartfelt families in the midwest who could use help on the farm (Fry 19). He believed taking kids to these farms was a good idea because farmers didn’t want servants, they just wanted somebody who could be a part of the family. Fry started off by placing orphan children in farm homes around the city, or just places where they could earn an honest living and feel like part of a family. With increasing number of children coming in, Brace made the decision that he would need to