Protector of Children

by Mike Wilson

Jane Addams had a strong interest in the welfare of children. She and her staff at Hull-House especially were concerned about children who worked, who lacked the basic necessities of life (such as food and medical care), and who got in trouble with the police.

During the late 1800s and early 1900s, many young children were employed, mostly in factory work. In her autobiography, Twenty Years at Hull-House, Addams told how she heard about child labor - children being forced to work as long as fourteen hours a day - directly from those who visited Hull-House.

After learning of the problem, Addams and Florence Kelley, a coworker at Hull-House, urged the Illinois Bureau of Labor to investigate Chicago's sweatshops. As a result, Illinois passed the first factory law in that state. It required better working conditions for adults and children. And another state law was instituted that set fourteen as the youngest age at which a child might be hired to work.

Such laws were novel ideas in Addams's time. Today, government agencies, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), create and enforce rules to make workplaces safe. And workers' compensation laws require employers to pay for the medical care and lost wages of people who are injured while on the job. There also are laws that specify the number of hours and types of work children can perform and restrict the age at which they can begin to work. All these protective measures result from the concerns of Addams and her fellow workers at Hull-House around the turn of the century.

Another way Addams worked for the rights of children was by calling for the establishment of juvenile courts. In the late 1800s, children who committed crimes were tried in the same courts as adults. Addams believed this was unjust and harmful to the children. She felt that young people who broke the law should be treated less harshly than adults. In 1899, at the urging of Addams and others at Hull-House, Chicago set up the first juvenile court in the United States. Addams popularized the idea of a juvenile justice system. By 1920, all but three states had courts specifically for young people.

Today, children who break the law continue to be treated differently from adults. In juvenile court, the focus is less on punishing and more on helping the child. The current system tries to steer children away from a life of crime by offering counseling and other services to enable them to change their ways while they are young. If children must be held in jail or a reform home, they are kept in separate quarters from adult criminals so they are not bullied or harmed.

Children living in poverty especially troubled Addams. She saw that many of the children in the Hull-House neighborhood lacked adequate nutrition and healthy living conditions. Addams, along with Julia Lathrop, Florence Kelley, and others at Hull-House, publicized the problems of childhood poverty.

In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Addams to a conference in Washington, D.C., to discuss the best way to care for the nation's children. This event was important because it brought nationwide attention to the plight of poor children. The conference passed a resolution asking the U.S. government to create a Children's Bureau. This organization was founded in 1912 to investigate and report on child welfare. Hull-House worker Lathrop was appointed head of the organization. Over the decades, the U.S. government has adopted various programs that address the problems of young people as identified by the Children's Bureau.

Many of today's programs are based on the idea that it is society's duty to make sure children have adequate food, shelter, and health care. Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) sends monthly checks to single parents without jobs so they can support their children until employment is found. The Social Security Administration gives disabled parents monthly checks to assist them in caring for their children.

Children of parents with little or no income can receive a special card to cover medical care. Some schools provide free lunches for children whose parents cannot afford to pay. Head Start programs provide free breakfasts for younger children. Parents with low income may qualify for government housing where the rent is affordable. These programs all help address the problems of childhood poverty made public by Addams's work.

Addams worked hard to bring attention to the needs of children. We still feel the benefits of her work today. Truly, Jane Addams was a protector of children.

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