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

ether desertion and divorce will increase or decrease it is impossible to say, and the experience of Europe is beside the mark. The war will

ined. Years from now we may be able to strike the balance, but today this cannot be done. It is impossible also to say whether the growing irresponsibility that was generally recognized to be threatenin

ith modifications in the spirit of the time

o take place. Marriage laws and their enforcement form a whole subject in themselves which is now receiving careful study, the results of which should be available shortly.[52

that just as a community can, within limits, regulate its death rate by what it is willing to pay, so it can by repressive measures regulate its desertion rate. But measures that keep the would-be deserter in the home which constantly grows less of a home, simply through fear of consequences i

desertion." Another writes: "We have sometimes found it possible to recognize a 'pre-desertion state' in the intermittent deserter, where we know the conditions which previously led to desertion, but I doubt whether we have very often

n. Non-support itself is, indeed, one of the most common of such signals, though a man who has dealt with hundreds of desertion cases maint

pect an approaching desertion are set down in the order stated

ed in munition plants in a city a few hours away-said he would lik

an intermit

oor; employers said he wa

as he was easily capable of earning and was r

d for day nursery care, but visitor had pers

followed until reminded that many workmen who drank intermittently were at that time thinking enviously of munition factory

d about two years and with two children, the youngest less than a month

ekeeping again, although they are seriously overcr

er sleep on chairs so tha

f another woman, a friend of t

rsery care for both children

rriage, and that the first child was a month old wh

n married befor

ecreation are changed; the m

ed which tends toward complete family breakdown. This may be taken in time and prevented; or, if separation is inevitable it can be prepared for in advance, the neces

progressed farther than this. The real question is-not how to recognize pre-desertion s

t from the third to the fifth year after marriage. By this time there are usually one or two babies, the wife's girlish charm has gone, and the romance of the first attraction has vanished, while the steady force of conjugal affection which should smooth their path through the years ahead has not come to take its place. It is in this middle period that longi

y of 574 deserted families shows that in nearly 46 per cent of the families the first desertion took place before the fifth year of married life. Of course the jars that may come in the earlier months of

that the majority of first deserters are young men; but if certain danger periods in married life

ic Relations some years ago established a consultation bureau to which people might come or be sent for advice on difficult matrimonial situations, and without any court record being made.

t their depositors could be induced and helped to save more money if the banks opened a bureau for free advice to their patrons on household management. This bureau is still in the experimental stage but it has had an increasing clientele so far. One thing that has astonished its mana

economist, but incidentally it would appear that, in order to function successfully, such bureaus would need to have access to the services of agencies employing highly skilled social case workers. It is conceivable that, if there are developed in our l

s difficult of explanation. Such a consultation service as that suggested does, however, indicate a new point of departure in dealing with marital relations which would seem to fall distinctly within the field of the family case work agencies. It is time tha

title of association with problems of dependency? Dr. William Healy of Boston ascribes much of his success in getting the parents of defective and backward children to bring them volun

rs and psychiatrists as well. If it could be run as a joint-stock enterprise, in which courts and social agencies might be equally interested, so much the better. Its investigations should be searching enough to discourage applications from curiosity-mon

place; that the idea involves a presumptuous interference in the private lives of individuals. But neurologists know that people in increa

looked upon as unwarranted interference between the child and its mother, whose natural instincts could be depended upon to teach her how to nourish it. This point of view is no longer held; and the community's duty to take an interest in the upbringing of its children is never q

tion about sex psychology in marriage to be able to afford some help along these lines. Instruction in the ethics of married life and parenthood is of even more fundamental importance. The prevailing cynicism, the present low concepts of marriag

self or herself of them; but definite though tactful efforts could be made to reach all young couples (

chiatrists, and family case workers are all dissatisfied with our efforts to patch up the families which are already disintegrating. One of the three groups mentioned is likely before long to

TNO

s in their Social Aspects-a preliminary stud

nd their Families, p. 23. Charity Or

N

case story

on of diffe

harity Organizat

tion Bureau, 6

brew Char

methods, 72-7

methods of a

r Improving Conditi

and consultation

: statisti

ng effect

y of woma

able desert

to non-su

eir Social Aspects, study by

ertions: ill

Wm. H.,

A Study of Louis

see Forced

ce Flag, Red Cro

common law m

nt dese

uet, H

Louise

ey: case st

ilian, 26

Mary,

nization Society: no

l Desertion Bure

ultation

tic Relations,

ublic Charities

n's Bur

of educatio

lso A

, Margar

tion treaties s

ns, C.

ons: of apparen

deficie

on through e

y and the "oth

the man ess

relief p

ration, 69, 7

nt cas

hrough l

n after court

n" marri

desertion, 1

nism,

ences helpf

ids wife of chron

t impossi

a basis of reco

ion of a de

o return to man

and ill-kept

-supporters' homes,

court order

, see Soc

: analysis of

nd theori

tion discus

atistics, 21-

indednes

d self-cont

ality,

gion

e,

nment,

is of mar

aw marri

ranc

peten

rlust

ate inc

mismanag

conditi

tal differ

patibilit

disease

interferenc

studies

standard

ation

s, influe

responsib

ing cau

working ba

desertion in expe

reed o

interpretati

so Col

tic Relations, bureau

rotective Associat

ges by

n's Bur

extended treatme

J.C., 61,

s, C.F

infrequency

ries of,

National Deser

ve measu

ages: legal prot

of state

ideals, se

luence, and wan

ding deser

f agencies, 68

ds of finding d

officers,

t: legislative reco

aid in tracing de

cles,

arrant or s

treaties rec

ugh emigration,

tion la

Seybert Institution

juvenile delinque

rt of Cinc

ns court, 178, 1

officers

: policy of treatm

d laxity of

ency stat

resort,

of, 5

ent deserte

tion, 1

ion, 1

erved by

econciliati

courts effect re

eers,

of orders

e delinquen

elations,

ties, New York City, burea

and thei

Brand

in Family Case Work. Joann

ethods object

atistical a

ychiat

physical de

l disea

olism

Medical-S

lumbia: non-su

ation to des

nsider

of laws, and

licati

bureau fo

ntinued des

tion to prot

ght preven

ourts: to combine wi

rt of Cinc

wers for,

nt pend

ities

ourt and Divorce. C.

rick: case

ction, se

es: and self-c

29, 30, 46,

f desertions in "h

finan

e bure

l studies of fam

ing and del

for failu

tive fo

for case w

artment traces

inefficiency eli

ganda

Havel

and immigra

od standar

domestic relatio

k, E.

state probl

rous men,

port la

l, ratification p

tate l

e: family f

ucational Institution, Th

rt of Cinc

rtion. Lili

on, A Study of

permanence

values o

vice to solve pr

e. Helen B

rm from dangerous

ployment S

deserter

ertion Burea

finding t