Janie Porter Barrett and the Virginia Industrial School for Colored Girls: Community Response to the Needs of African American Children

作者：Wilma Peebles‐Wilkins · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.4324/9781351315920-8 · 被引用次数：15 · 研究领域：Homelessness and Social Issues、Child Welfare and Adoption、Social Work Education and Practice

This chapter describes the nature of internal child welfare developments and provides a historical example using the Virginia industrial school for colored girls. Virginia Cottage was used for the intake and admissions process. The chapter examines one historical response by the African American community to the exclusion of African American children from tum-of-the-century child welfare services. Using guiding principles from educational theory and from the child welfare department of the Russell Sage Foundation, the Virginia industrial school, under the leadership of Janie Porter Barrett, provided “convincing reform efforts” by means of a humanistic living and learning environment and preparation for transition to the community. Barrett’s encounter with the judge to get custody of the eight-year-old girl gives us a glimpse of differential perceptions and the handling of dependent African American girls by the Virginia juvenile justice system. Early on, Barrett began to see the need for a parole officer to do close follow-up supervision.