Customer Reviews

Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(2)

 

 

You'll wear out your yellow highlighter reading Dr. McKenzie's book, Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century. Many coworkers in my own placement unit and our social worker counterparts agree with Dr. McKenzie and other orphan alumni that a well-run orphanage could play a major role in rescuing children from the often damaging foster-care system that we are currently forced to rely upon. Children who are removed from abusive or negligent homes pay a double price once they enter the system of marginal foster care, or group homes and their renegade staff. This book is straight forward and easy to read; but if you need statistics, those are there, also. I salute Dr. McKenzie and the other contributors to this vital book --essential reading for or anyone in the Probation or Social Services industry, or for those who simply care for America's abused and neglected children.

The review by Roger Kiser is pretty clearly an attack on Professor McKenzie and not an honest review of the book, Rethinking Orphanages for the 21st Century. It is clear from the first line of Mr. Kiser's review that he has not read the Rethinking Orphanages and may not have ever seen, much less held, a copy of the book. As a case in point, Mr. Kiser's first sentence in his review reads, "I found this book to be based on one man's opinion rather than on fact(s)." If Mr. Kiser had even casually looked at the cover of the book, much less the table of contents, he would have discovered that Professor McKenzie EDITED the volume, he did not WRITE it. This book contains the writings of 18 scholars from at least a half dozen different credible academic disciplines: economics, law, child welfare, journalism, psychology, and political science. The book even has a contribution by a state judge. Accordingly, Mr. Kiser's review should be disregarded as the machinations of a crank who has a personal bone to pick with Professor McKenzie. Mr. Kiser has clearly abused and misused the Amazon's review process to push his own favorite book.

I work supporting orphanages in third world countries. I also work with children in the US who are in dysfunctional families who receive government aid. This book supports the idea of orphanages as one of the tools in caring for children in need of support. I strongly recommend this book to anyone truly looking for ways to help children in need. It's ideas should be considered based on their merit and not on a political basis.

I am always amazed by the outpouring of negative opinions by some who do not have the slightest clue of the subject they are talking about. This book clearly hit a nerve with one of the reviewers and I can't understand why. First let me offer my humble opinion about the subject matter presented in this book. I believe it is a clear, concise and factual accounting of why we need to reexamine the concept of orphanages today. I do not believe the current system of welfare (generational it seems) and foster care are working. I am biased in favor of it because I am a product of it. So were my 7 other brothers and sisters. All of us benefited immeasurably from living in an orphanage. We received a quality education with a no fail policy by the way, a religious background, an understanding of other cultures and races (because we lived together) an independent spirit and a great work ethic from learning how. Every one of us turned out to be productive, upstanding citizens responsible for ourselves and our families. We are veterans, business owners, nurses, artists and airline mechanics. I have no doubt that our tax contribution alone has exceeded whatever was expended all those years ago and then some. I do believe that this book is a must read for anyone who wants to be open minded enough to look at a better solution to a growing problem with our kids, the future of our country. Why not.

Dr Richard B. McKenzie has produced an excellent collection of academic essays essentially stating the case that orphanages have a role in modern foster care. Dr. McKenzie is in a unique situation to produce this insight. He currently works in the child care arena with foster children. Additionally, he grew up in an orphanage. While this book is slightly biased in favor of an orphanage oriented solution, it is a striking argument that our current system is not producing the best results. One wonders if there are any PhDs that are products of the foster care system that are advocating its supremacy to the orphanage approach.

However, regardless of the pros or cons of the various arguments in this anthology of academic papers, it seems likely that orphanages are destined to the back burner of American foster care. First, there is a vast amount of bias that perceives orphanages as little better then prisons or slave labor camps. These ideas are wrong headed. While it is true that orphanages are probably more regimented than foster care or a more "normal" family environment, it is doubtful that the children in foster care or in dysfunctional families are exactly experiencing the best of American society. Likewise, the rules regarding child labor do not apply to parents and those serving as parents, so it is likely that family business and household chores are demanding more unsafe labor from children than an orphanage would or could. Second, and this is honestly explored in the book, orphanages cost a lot of money compared to foster care. Essentially, an orphanage is a boarding school and has tremendous overhead. This is especially true if the orphanage provides its own school system. While some expenses can be offset by using the children's "chores" to provide goods and services, it still is phenomenally more expense than foster care. This will no doubt prevent orphanages from ever having a major role in American foster care in the near future.

If you have ever met anyone who has experienced the current system of foster care and child placement, you might wonder what could possibly be worse than the current system? Therefore, it seems reasonable to postulate that at least some effort should go to experimenting with orphanages to see which approach yields the best results. However, due to the cost that is unlikely to happen. We would rather provide bad care cheaply, than moderate care expensively. Only time will tell if this choice is a wise investment for our society.

I thoroughly enjoyed Rethinking Orphanages for the 21th Century. Until I read this book, I never gave thought to the institution where I spent time as an orphanage. I loved that institution/orphanage and it was great for me.
What I loved about this book was the realistic look into the past and the current foster care system. When people hear the word Orphanages it brings up negative connotations. I wish that people would visit our contemporary foster/group homes and talk to the kids. We have done more damage with our current concept of child welfare than all the orphanages combined. Whether you can/cannot visit kids in our foster care system, either way I invite you to read Rethinking Orphanages for the 21th Century, it is a wonderful book.

If I could I would put a negative star on this one. I have been surprised at alot of the things I have read in my life and I will have to say that the fact that this was even allowed to be published is appalling. The fact that it has political (i.e. a judge) references negates the entire book. This book is followed too by a new initiative into the school systems, where parents are about to lose the control of whether thier kids take drugs for mental problems or not. If you refuse, you apparently are not a good parent and they remove your child from the home. Now to think, they will not only remove your child, but also they now want to put them in an orphanage too. With the knowledge that this book brings forth along with the new government initiative, this books primarily promotes institionalizing every child that has mental problem. Please pray or light a candle to whatever diety you follow, for our children in America, they are going to need it.

I found this book to be based on one man's opinion rather than based on fact(s). "Orphan, A True Story of Abandonment, Abuse and Redemption" (ISBN 1-58062-448-0) tells the true horrors that take place in many of America's orphanages. Common sense should tell everyone, including professors, that children cannot be raised in an institutional, prison type setting; then be expected to know how to raise a normal family once they are released into society. This book is based on "wishful thinking" and gives no consideration to the fact that children need love and compassion during their childhood (informative) years. This book tends to unknowingly suggest that orphan children, once they growup, can have a "normal life" by using ONLY their "brain" to survive, rather than their "emotional abilities".

It is true that some children do survive this type of institutional life. However, most of the children are not as strong as was Professor McKenzie. Most orphan children have their spirits broken just after a few years of living in an orphanage. The facts show that most do not have a normal life once released into society.

Many of these children end up on the streets or in prison. Many are very withdrawn and cannot stay in a personal relationship for very long. For years they travel from relationship to relationship not having the slightest idea that something is wrong. That that "something" lives within them.

Even the best orphanage is nothing more than a good prison for kids.

Added Note: Many who contributed to this book have never spent one night in an orphanage and most have never been slapped for spilling their milk at the dinner table. They have not suffered nor were they ever physically abused or sexually molested. It amazes me that people, not Doctor McKinzie, can write about things of which they know very little. They are dreamers who think things can be "just wonderful" only by thought or by what they consider to be a "good suggestion" or a better alternative. Of the 64 children raised at the Children's Home Society in Jacksonville, Florida, only one became an assistant principal. The remainder of the children became drug addicts, alcoholics, prostitutes and three committed suicide. That is not very good odds. I suppose BB (the school principal) would stand with the good doctor but not the remaining 63.