Homes in the Country?

The author explores the history of "village homes" for children in England, created in the early 1900s to care for the children of the poor. It is explained that they were intended to separate children from their families and environment and break with the tradition of the workhouse. For many years, village homes were seen as a solution to many problems, primarily pauperism. Their role is explored through the 1960s, when they began to be viewed as a strange and old fashioned anomaly.