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"Save 100,000 Babies": The 1918 Children's Year and Its Legacy.
Cynthia A Connolly1, Janet Golden1
1Cynthia A. Connolly is with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia. Janet Golden is with the Department of History, Rutgers University-Camden, Camden, NJ.
Children's Year, a 1918 campaign, aimed to improve child welfare through data collection and health promotion. Compromises made during this era established a lasting, fragmented approach to child well-being in the U.S.
Area of Science:
- Public Health History
- Child Welfare Studies
- Social Policy Analysis
Background:
- In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson launched "Children's Year" to address high draftee rejection rates during World War I.
- The initiative aimed to "Save 100,000 Babies" through a comprehensive child welfare campaign.
Observation:
- Children's Year involved nationwide data gathering on maternal and child health, poverty's impact on health, school retention, and child safety.
- It addressed the needs of vulnerable groups, including orphans and delinquents.
- Thousands of communities participated, overseen by the Children's Bureau and the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense.
Findings:
- The 1919 White House Conference on Children's Health synthesized findings into recommendations.
- Stakeholders accepted compromises to avoid conflict with organized medicine and concerns about government overreach.
Implications:
- These compromises inadvertently cemented a means-tested, class-based, and fragmented child well-being system in the United States.
- This approach to child welfare persists in the U.S. to this day.
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