Citation

Neff C. J. Fam. Hist. 2009; 34(1): 48-88.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, National Council On Family Relations, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0363199008327641

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Children's Protection Act of 1893 introduced Ontario's first full-fledged child protection scheme. However, for half a century, children's homes had been helping disadvantaged children, and they played a key role in the evolution of an empathetic child-protection system. During the course of the nineteenth century, the provincial government had increasingly accepted responsibility for disadvantaged children and had developed legislative definitions of a child in need of protection and of neglect that were incorporated into the 1893 Act. The work of the children's homes went hand in hand with these developments, as they not only helped needy children but also helped develop these concepts of neglect and provided models for the home placements promoted by J. J. Kelso and mandated by the Act.