Mary Ellen Wilson
One of the more depressing aspects of my day job comes from the times when I am confronted, in the course of offering technical assistance, by awful things that are happening just a few degrees from my own life, or those that fundamentally inform the field in which the school's students are studying.
At the moment, I am editing audio for an online course in social work. Today, I am concentrating on the module dedicated to the history of child welfare, a field that contains concepts that stretch back to "Babylonia in 1750 BCE." I am about halfway through this module, up to the mid 19th century, and I have just begun editing the audio for a section on Mary Ellen Wilson.
This child's treatment was so severe that her case became "a turning point in American responses to child maltreatment." Mary Ellen was placed in a foster home by the NY Department of Charities after being abandoned by her mother, following her father's death. The family she was placed with neglected her, and the only attention she got was regular beatings, which raised the attentions of neighbors, who eventually called a church mission worker to check up on the kid.
At the time, there were few legal strategies that could be employed to assist children, so the mission worker, Etta Wheeler, found herself turning to Henry Bergh, the president of the ASPCA, who was able to use his influence to get some help for the child. Yes, there were more protections for animals than there were for human children.
There is more information on Mary Ellen Wilson to be found on the American Humane Society's website, The Real Story of Mary Ellen Wilson.
Comments