Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 20 April 1952 — Page 2
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‘Borrowed
‘By DONNA MIKELS A YOUNG-LOOKING grayhaired woman stepped over. a hobby horse and
around a youthful Hopalong
Cassidy as she did some quick mental calculating:
“Let me see now many chil dren have I had? Well, I think it's 77 in the last 14 years.”
Mrs. Ora Kirby, like some 500 other “mothers” around Indian< apolis raises “borrowed babies.” These are the unsung foster mothers who open their homes and hearts to children tossed to the mercy of the community.
Maybe you didn’t know bables can he “borrowed.” But one of the greatest “loan” transactions—the “borrowing” of children and the “lending” of family ties—is carried on daily through the foster home placemént plan of Marion County Welfare Department,
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~ ~ ” IT WAS 14 years ago that Mr. and Mrs, Kirby decided .thelr home was lonesome with three of their four children grown.
Today the house at 1525 Saulcey Bt is anything but lonesome, Bikes on the porch, a circle of little rockers and a hobby horses around the TV, a Mother Goosedecorated nursery—all these attest to the presence of six little visitors who never let any home get. lonesome. Who are these ‘‘borrowed i babies”? Well, they're part of the 1000 plus orphaned, abandoned or temporarily dependent children who|not sever legal ties, making them a woman who's cared for 75 other are wards of the welfare depart-|adoptable. : equally forsaken little ones. ment, Some need homes during| There are Mary and Betty, two | family f{liness or|little sisters. Welfare workers distress. Some are taken (00k them, along with several . .. . any real “mother”
brothers and sisters, several homes where they were mis-| © C0 ago after there were com. but Mrs. Kirby. The “other moth-
plaints of neglect, ier" who made visits ordered by Nine-month-old Mary who had the court stopped coming last
a , of
. . » FOUR-YEAR-OLD Anne has
is rounding out under Mrs, Kir-/ised Anne a load of toys for by’'s care. Five-year-old Betty is Christmas, tting her first pretty, clean) On Christmas Santa brought |dresses. Bhe already has a ward- the walking doll, the bike, the robe that includes a cowgirl out- blackboard, But they came not fit, a rustling taffeta party dress from the real mother but from that is every little girl's dream, Mrs, Kirby who “couldn’t bear to Their ultimate fate rests in the see her disappointed.” ‘ but meantime they're blos-| Incidents like this demonstrated soming under the love and care of that the small sum paid weekly
Motor Chief Will Talk at IU
BLOOMINGTON, Apr. 19-—Har- will drive the . Studebaker Pace | old 8. Vance, board chairman and/Car to lead the “Little 500.” a bi- ; \ president of the Studebaker Corp., cycle race patterned after the In. These are the three “adoptables” Will be the top speaker at the dianapolis Memorial Day classic, ho will be housed at Mrs, Kir- sixth annual alumni school of In-|
physical | diana
om
U; i J niversity to open here Thieves Can Read
be in homes from the de-| P, Stuart Holmquest un-| | VANCOUVER, B. C, Apr. 19 Parimonts big waiting lst of|kirk, Ind, president of “the 1, (UP)—Lioyd Shalman, a store ta, business alumni, sajd the owner, lamented today that some other three—well, for them gram will include & panel dis-|People took him literally when he life isn't so simple. They Fpe- Sussion of “The Business Out- Shiiounced a close-out sale with e " by faculty members and a sign, saying, “Everything Must children whose parents cannot or Indiana businessmen, Go,” Thieves carried off $4000 During the afternoon Mr, Vance worth of his stock.
Model shown above $299.95 plus $3 for 5 year guarantee:
$45 DELIVERS Take 18 months to pay.’
77 CHILDREN IN 14 YEARS—Mrs, Ora Kirby and part of her "borrowed" family.
never received anything but milk October, right after she'd prom-|
{ {
|
by welfare department isn't the] chief inducement for raising “borrowed” children. The depart-| ment cites homes like these, where the sum goes for the child and not as an economic boost for the household, as an ideal foster home. Mrs. Kirby ia also praised as having a “knack” for training pre-school age children for eventual placement in permanent homes. Too many foster mothers get too attached and “cling”
making the break hard for the child.
it,” says Mrs. Kirby. “But I don't know any one who could know
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1500 Baptist Youths Attend Convention
Nearly 1500 Baptist Youth Fellowship members attended the eighth annual convention banquet last night at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. Featured speaker was the Rev. C. B. Boone, missionary to Belglan Congo, Africa. Music was given by the Techni cal High School brass choir and
Anderson High School choral club.
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THE INDIANAPOLIS TIMES
ay Their Own
; {day they came until the day they “People ask me how I can do Married or went into the world
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there were children going unloved, and uncared for and not do it. | I think my greatest happiness has come from raising ‘borrowed’ children.” » os ”.
HER SENTIMENT Is echoed by other ‘foster mothers,” like Mrs. Lena Floyd, 1515 Yandes St.|
Mrs. Floyd is just the opposite of Mrs. Kirby. In some 25 to 30 years as a “foster home” she's had less than a dozen children, She's had no “turnover” because) she's kept every one, from the
on their own. “I haven't had so many because they've stayed so long,” says Mrs. Floyd. “They're all like they were my own and they are mine, I guess, even after they're gone.” Mrs. Floyd is proud of her reecord “never a “child gone wrong.” Some of the youngsters turned! over to her were problems, “runaways” from other homes. But at Mrs. Floyds they became one of the family-—and children don’t run away from homes they are a part of. “Every one of my boys had jobs, carried papers or did some chore. When they had $3 saved I took them to the bank and opened savings accounts in their
MRS. THELMA BECKTEL—"If people knew what fun | have with my borrowed babies, there'd be no shortage of homes."
. SUNDAY, APR. 20, 1962
Happiness:
"WE'RE JUST ONE FAMILY'—Mrs. Lena Floyd kept each of her
“borrowed babies” until they were grown.
pendent, gave them. something|Mrs. Floyd pretty much tbo her child demands, are a crying need that belonged to them.” {rocker these days. But she still with the welfare department. 8 » a» {has her four boys. | They have 500. They could use ONE OF Mrs. Floyd's “boys” is|
now studying at Ball State, with lots to eat and lots of love,” she A greater supply would mean money he saved. Another boy! formula.
writes from the front at Korea. for the A girl proudly brings her family | they
‘“There’s no one place crowded, children could be placed Presi hat we enjoy, more selectively, But somehow, enjoy. e're just one famto the only “mother” she ever ily.” y RO or ey oo ae => knew. | Homes like these, semi-perma-, “It's too bad, too,” says an“I guess I have fosterrgrand- nent or permanent homes for other foster mother, Mrs. James Sh laughs Mrs. Floyd. {children whose own families can|Becktel, 423 N. Arnolda Ave. ritis keeps the widowed never give them the security a “The other day the welfare de-
‘Middleweight’ Downs Officer, Trolley Driver TT Tu
It wasn't that the man who, Patrolman Charles Stringer ' : i ® he thrills I've had the flattened a 230-pound trackless came to his partnerssaid. Thelles row days. watching Bobby trolley driver and a husky police-|Pair eventually subdued and merge from his shell, become a man was so big. He weighed only handcuffed Willle Cowherd, 21, parson couldn't resist becoming 150 to 160 pounds. |of 2516 Columbia Ave. la foster mother, “But he sure was mighty,” the Mr. Jordan, 25 N. Kealing Ave.,,| “I've got two little boys, 4 and Indianapolis Railways driver, Al-| 53d De Bad hajjed the afficers |9 in : Boll a fred Jordan, 45, told The Timea.|3TU24 tar because Cowher d adopted and aay ho “My jaw’'s still sore this morn- .cusse im and held a knife. suppose will go to his family ing." {The trolley operator didn't see some day, But when they 80 5 whether it was opened or closed. won't have lost them — they've Patrolman Eimer Howard also| «Mjgnty Willie” was charged given me a daily thrill that ne was knocked down as the mighty with assault and battery, dis-|one can take away. middleweight made a prizefight orderly conduct and resisting] “We have a boy that we're ring of the intersection at 1Tthiarrest. The referee, Judge Scott/adopting. But that won't stop St. and Martindale Ave. during!McDonald, Municipal Court 4, willlus from taking in others. We
{year-old boy. He'd been in the hospital and when it was time to {release him his parents had dislappeared. He was just left, with ‘no one,
own names. It made them inde-
the rush hour late yesterday. announce his decision Apr. 30. like raising borrowed babies.”
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