The child welfare encompasses wide range of subjects such that these subjects are all interrelated to each other. Among these issues and area of interest, I have chosen the foster children and the orphan children, which in reality, we could not deny the fact that this issue has been going wider.
A lot of literature expert and other artists are very fond of creating something child-like piece that could be considered as product of their imagination. There are short stories like “Daddy Long Legs” written by an American novelist in the name of Jean Webster. It is about a girl who grew up in an old orphanage, with all other children there depending their future on the charity of those well-off member of social strata.
Many paintings have also been displayed that show the magnificence of a child. Further, there are also art through writing of poems about children, more specifically infant. Most often, infants have been described as blessings and angels. This has been the trend of poets in writing poems that tackle about the life of a child or an infant. But one poem written by James Whitcomb Riley entitled “Little Orphan Annie” gave another approach to another life of a child who has been abandoned and no where to go. The poem stated the daily life and routine of an orphan boy or girl. In the poem, it was also shown how every orphan child differed from each other based on their past experiences and attitude.
Basically, the poem shows that the life of a normal child is very different from the lives of those children who are staying in an orphanage. Those house chores that should not be a task for a young child are the daily works of the orphans. The love and the care of a real mother and father, those things could not be felt or at least experience by the orphans. They are just living in a compound where they should abide in strict rules of administrator. They should work for every food that they would be eating. Come to think of the life of a child who used to be with her or his parents in her younger years. The development in terms of cognitive, emotional and other aspects of life are very different than those who grow up in an orphanage. The people whom they are living with in the orphan are the same people who used to be their teachers and mentors when it comes to academics. They are less socialized with other people since they have this very limiting boundary of life. There are so much to learn from the poem by looking it from a very depth perspective and not just by textual representation.
There had been a lot of government and non government organizations who are lending their help to promote child welfare in any part of the world. And since I have been staying in Missouri, I have chosen one private organization that takes good care of those foster children. This organization is the Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center.
Annie Malone’s organization comes from the ancestral organization named St. Louis Colored Orphans’ Home that was established during the years 1888 to have a hand on those abandoned and orphaned children. It was Annie M. Malone who initiated the rebuilt of a private organization who would continue to take care of the less fortunate children in St. Louis. Eventually, after more than a century of service to people, most especially to children, the Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center was born.
The mission of this very generous and pro-child welfare organization is to improve the life or rather the quality of life the children and their families, not just in family unit but also in the community level. Also, their mission is to have an education for every child and in the community, avail the social and human services; as a result, there would be more productive and positive young individuals.
Moreover, this organization is very accessible in the public since it is located in 2612 Annie Malone Drive at St. Louis, Missouri. It is mainly expanding its mission within its domicile area to eradicate the cases of homeless children. Through a landline use, telephone means of communication, everyone could reach them by dialing 314-531-0120.
In any state, there would always be an office that is responsible of human welfare and development. And this office could still be deducted up to the most specific level of giving service to the people. For example, the Republic of the Philippines, there are particular departments that are taking care of different matters of the state like Department of Health wherein the health of the citizen is the main concern. And in terms of child welfare, there is the Department of Social Welfare Development by which it takes care of the cases of any human acts and situation.
In case of the state of Missouri, under the department of social services, there is Children’s Division and Family Support Division. In terms of civil service from public officials, there are two senators named Christopher S. (Kit) Bond and Claire McCaskill. However, both of them have their own priorities committee and focuses. Like for example, Senator Bond is the Vice Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee.
As for the representatives, all of them seems not so in focus of any issues in child welfare. Representaive od the first district William Clay Jr., fourth district representative, fifth district representative Emmanuel Cleaver, sixth district representative Sam Graves, eighth district representative Jo Ann Emerson, and ninth district representative Kenny Hulshof are all not directly connected to any program or organization advocating the right to live. They have not yet been initiated their actions toward social issues of children in the state. Although, we could not deny the fact that all of these public officials are handling mainly the overall district it self. Considering the fact that they have been opened to the public opinions and suggestions, there could be somewhat angle of possibility that in due time, they may be initiate one or more actions that could promote child’s welfare, hoping that it would not be much too late.
References
- Riley, J. W. (No Date). The Little Orphan Annie. Retrieved November 26, 2007 from Database Judyn.Trest. Retrieved November 26, 2007 from Database Annie Malone Children and Family Service Center.
