Washington -- A revival of the 1960s musical "Oliver" is underway in London, and it may come to America.
To listen to some of the political rhetoric of recent days, one would think that the new Republican congressional majority is preparing to revive the worst of the orphanages that are depicted in the musical, which is based on a Charles Dickens novel, as a cure for what ails the increasingly dysfunctional American family.
In the Republican "Contract with America," the orphanage is simply one of many options, not requirements, that would be given to states considering which approaches work best to address the problems of illegitimacy, delinquency and other social ills.
In Part C of the contract ("Grants for Assistance to Children Born Out-of-Wedlock"), each qualified state receiving federal grant funds has several choices:
"To establish or expand programs to reduce out-of-wedlock pregnancies; to promote adoption; to establish and operate orphanages; to establish and operate supervised residential group homes for unwed mothers; or in any manner that the state deems appropriate to accomplish the purpose of this part."
The "or" is significant. Neither the contract nor House Speaker-to-be Newt Gingrich suggests mandatory orphanages or forcibly separating children from their parents.
The talk -- even scare tactics -- used by some who have often accused Republicans of caring only for the unborn and not children after birth should focus on how we have dealt with similar difficult circumstances in our past. There we might learn what could be effectively applied in our far-more-complex present and future.
In 1909, President Theodore Roosevelt convened a Conference on the Care of Dependent Children in response to a request from prominent child care leaders of the time. Central to the conference's 10-point platform was this:
"Children of worthy parents or deserving mothers should, as a rule, be kept with their parents at home," and "Homeless and neglected children, if normal, should be cared for in families, when practicable," and "The State should inspect the work of all agencies which care for dependent children." These remain worthy goals.
The 1909 conference came after a century of attempts to care for delinquent and neglected children in "reform schools," benevolent societies and orphanages. Most of these efforts were directed toward stopping problems before they began.
The annual report for 1865 of the Baltimore Home of the Friendless expressed a widely held philosophy: "Our enterprise
is a hopeful one. One of prevention, not cure. The children are brought to us before they are corrupted by their vicious surroundings."
Today, the corruption begins far earlier than the average age of ++ 13, at which most of the "orphans" (many of whom still had at least one living parent) entered orphanages in the last century.
Sheryl Brissett-Chapman is executive director of the Baptist Home for Children in Bethesda, founded in 1915. In the 19th Century, it was believed that a change in environment was an important element in reforming, even transforming, children.
But Dr. Brissett-Chapman says that in today's economy, it is no longer enough "to till the soil, to melt rubber or to put an auto part together. Today's economy looks for skills in literacy, abstraction, computing and managing data. These require good brain development and education."
Dr. Brissett-Chapman notes that the new economic realities are occurring at a time when children are reaching puberty at ever earlier stages. "Today's kids," she says, "are biologically ready to procreate at 10 or 11, long before they are socially ready."
Compounding these problems are poor prenatal care, alcohol and drug abuse, and a history of welfare dependency and dysfunctional family life.
Among the things that have changed since the 19th Century is how children are valued. Then, says Clinton Gortney, chief executive officer of the Youth for Tomorrow home in Bristow, Va., children were mostly welcomed and considered an actual, or potential, asset.
Now, he says, "they are often valued as a sign of adulthood. A 15-year-old boy thinks he needs a gun to prove he's a man. A 15-year-old girl thinks she needs a baby to prove she's a woman."
Perhaps what is needed today is another gathering of the type Theodore Roosevelt convened 85 years ago. It should be focused on children and rescuing the next generation.
This could be useful to President Clinton as he searches for ways to revive his presidency, and, more importantly, it could benefit children whose prospects for the future look dimmer than they ever did in the days of Oliver Twist.
5) Cal Thomas is a syndicated columnist.