[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 32 (Tuesday, March 21, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E367]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   CHILDREN'S HOME SOCIETY OF VIRGINIA CELEBRATING 100TH ANNIVERSARY

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                            HON. TOM BLILEY

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 21, 2000

  Mr. BLILEY. Mr. Speaker, the Children's Home Society of Virginia was 
chartered in 1900 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly and is 
celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. When Children's Home 
Society of Virginia began its work, orphaned children were numerous. 
The society's founders believed that the dependent and neglected 
children of the Commonwealth would be better off in a family situation 
than in alms houses or orphanages. The stated purpose was for ``finding 
homes for homeless, indigent, or dependent poor children in the State 
of Virginia, and other purposes incident thereto.'' This belief 
continues to inspire the work of Children's Home Society of Virginia 
today.
  In the society's early days, children came to us through court 
commitment or direct parental release. The first head of the society, 
the Reverend William J. Maybee, described its work as being ``on behalf 
of the most dependent, the most unfortunate, and the most deserving 
children, including orphans, half orphans, abandoned and grossly 
abused.'' And he stated furthermore that, ``civilization may be quite 
correctly measured by their treatment of childhood.''
  By the 1940's the programs had changed from primarily boarding care 
for dependent and neglected children to a specialized adoption program 
for children under 2 years of age. The staff, initially comprised of 
untrained ``family visitors'' had become a staff of trained social 
workers.
  During the 1970's the society began to see its major initiatives as 
adoption services, pregnancy counseling, and foster care. There was 
also a movement to a new policy of accepting infants over the age of 6 
months as well as the placing of children of minority or mixed racial 
background into adoptive homes. In the 1980's and 1990's Children Home 
Society began to work on behalf of many special medical-needs children, 
and was successful in placing them into new homes.
  Children's Home Society of Virginia will celebrate 100 years of 
service to the children of Virginia this year. As the needs of children 
have changed since 1900, the services of Children's Home Society have 
changed to meet those needs. The agency is devoting more and more of 
its resources to the care and adoptive placement of children with 
special needs--babies with medical problems, older children, sibling 
groups, and infants and youngsters of mixed race. I am pleased to 
report the Children's Home Society is working in a collaborative effort 
with Chesterfield County Department of Social Services to place older 
children and teenagers into loving homes.
  One of the most successful stories Children's Home Society of 
Virginia can share is a 100 percent success rate--every child that has 
come into their care has been placed into a permanent home. If a child 
needed to be placed in foster care, the average duration has been 85 
days--far below the national average. Children's Home Society of 
Virginia looks forward to meeting the special needs of children in the 
21st century and I commend them for their 100 years of hard work.

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