Broken Homes: A Study of Family Desertion and its Social Treatment

er who had not deserted be included in its pages. In so far as non-support is a pre-desertion symptom and the non-supporter a pote

t being the chief ground of its interest.[40] Indeed, in Massachusetts, the law under whic

eaves home and the one who does not. Miss Breed, in making the point that the true analogy of the deserted family is with the non-

ne between desertion and non-support cases, either in the kind of problem they present, or in the treatment of them. Do we know enough about non-supporter

all felt that the out-and-out deserter, if he can be got hold of, is more promising material to work with than the man who sits about the home and lets others maintain it. The

ften the married vagabond, as he has been called, is a "home-loving man who simply shirks responsibility and dislikes effort." He may "sometimes feel parental responsibility even though he does not support," and he is likely to have less physical and mental stamina than the deserter. That phrase in

non-supporters before coming to our attention. Among the men convicted of abandonment, however, is a

ith which to work is not far to seek. With the deserter as described, the problem is chiefly to alter his point of view;

rters seem to agree that the latter have the weaker characters and are less competent and successful workers. A comment made upon one such study points out the impossibility of sound conclusions, if both chron

the manufacture of non-supporting h

y two kitchen utensils, a teakettle and a "frypan," and actually did not know the names of any others, undertook to give her lessons in home management. She proved teachable, and her husband stopped drinking and braced up.

direction when his wife became a wage-earner in some domestic crisis. "There's only one rule for women who want to have decent homes for their children and themselv

acit acceptance on his that he is not expected to be the provider. "Sort of a landlady's husband" was the apt description of one such man, the speaker having in mind the "sile

Mrs. Laflin fell ill with tuberculosis. Her relatives described her husband as "that little nonentity of a man." He had no bad habits and was pathetically eager to work, but though only a little over fifty he was prematurely aged and incapable. The solution had finally to be institutional care for the e

monest of these complications; and, as has been pointed out in the previous chapter, is probably a primary cause as well. It will be a matter of great interest to social workers whether the "non-support rate" is re

son as does the inebriate, and it is therefore hard to detect. It undoubtedly does not appear in social case records as frequently as it should. Case workers

and physically, so handicapped that there is nothing to be gained by constantly pursuing and arresting them, although some wives extract the sweets of revenge from doing just this. Few courts of domestic relation

d deny the possession of families. Mrs. Solenberger[43] has noted, however, that if they are asked, not "Are you married?" but a less direct question such as "Where is your wife now?" a story of unfortunate married life wil

possible to deal so suddenly and effectively that the man

of a society engaged in family case work, she put the furniture in storage and went to a shelter where she could leave her children in the daytime, while she was at work, and have them with her at night. The man was told to shift for himself until he could get together sufficient money to re-establish the home. The arrangement continued for nearly two months, during which the man lived in lodging houses, had an attack of stomach trouble

as a man less sincerely attached to his home might

-supporter is a "chronic," his path must not be allowed to be too easy. "Sometimes you just have to keep pestering him" was the way one social worker put

said, "I see you'r

coal company promis

y. You've waited on it for three months now. If I had the offer o

aid, "I thi

nts a man now at his garage, to clean automobiles. The ho

jaw dropped, and he just looked at me. Then he t

I'll keep the job open till seven o'clock tonight and y

e to say he'd t

ctors he presents, and either treating the family as if he did not exist or expending no further effort on him than to see that he "puts in" six months of every year in jail if possible (since the law usually secures to him the privilege of loafing the other six). It is not safe, however, to regard even the most leisurely of non-supporters as beyond the possibility of awakening. One district secretary who had thus gi

He seemed incapable of taking directions or working with other people. In all that time the agent felt that he was getting no nearer the root of Aleck's trouble, though he came back after each dismissal and doggedly took whatever was offered. Finally, the agent's patience wore thin, and when Aleck had been more than usually dour and aggravating it went entirely to pieces. Aleck listened to his outburst apparently unmoved; then said, "Very well, if you want to know what would make me stop drinking, I'll tell you. If I could see any ray of hope that I was on the wa

n Aleck's skill came back. Six years later, during which time the agent heard from them once or twice a year, Aleck was still keeping

TNO

five-year-old boy in an eastern city eloped with another woman to a city in the Middle West. The couple kidnapped the boy and took him with them;

rk State Conference of Chariti

en's Poor, p. 102. Lond

e Thousand Homeless Men, p. 22. New

upporter and his family, the reader is referred to Chapter VII, where

mphlet ARC 211, American Red Cro