Longing to "belong": Foster children in mid-century Philadelphia (1946-1963)

This essay discusses the experience of foster children in mid-century Philadelphia within the larger context of shifting expert narratives on foster care and changing casework practices. Based on an analysis of case records and administrative documents from the Philadelphia Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (PSPCC) for the years 1946-1963 and the expert literature on foster care for the aforementioned period, this paper explores how foster children and PSPCC caseworkers simultaneously embraced and resisted elements of a dominant psychodynamically-influenced family preservation discourse. Ultimately, expert narratives and foster children's experiences reflected larger tensions around the meaning of family in mid-century America.