Rules and conditions for teens living in group homes in the 1950's (or today, failing that)

[oldandnewfirm]

I'm writing a story in which the protagonist is living in a New Jersey group home for "problem children" (not necessarily delinquents) in the early 1950's. I'm trying to find out what life would be like for the residents of a group home around this time: Would they be allowed to leave the premises on their own, where would they attend school, what

Comments

[caliban78]

I used to work in a group home, about 10 years ago, so I can only offer help on that end

[musiclily88]

You might consider reading Girlbomb by Janice Earlbomb-- it's set during the 80s in New York, but it might give you some ideas. Entertaining read, too.

[sushidog]

You'll get more hits if you search for "orphanage" rather than "group home"; the latter is a modern term which simply wouldn't have been used in the 50s.
The Cider House Rules is set in an orphanage in the first half of the 20th century; it might give you some pointers? Although orphanages will vary hugely according to where they are and who they're run by. A lot of them were run by religious groups, for example, who would have put lots of emphasis on prayer as part of the daily routine.

[chvickers]

As mentioned, in the 1950s it would not have been called or thought of as a "group home". It would have been an orphanage, and most orphanages were either run by large churches (especially the Roman Catholic Church) or by the state.

The orphanage might file a missing persons report with the police. This would have been useless, as the police would not spend any time or effort looking into a runaway teen. It might not even be easy for the warden to get the police to take a report, and the only way the kid would be found is if he was arrested in the same or a neighbouring jurisdiction. Otherwise nobody would be looking for him.

If the teen is sixteen or over, the orphanage would likely not report him because it wouldn't be worth it - sixteen was adult in many people's minds back then. (Even now I cannot personally wrap my head around the idea some Americans have that a healthy eighteen-year-old is not automatically and without question fully adult in every way, shape, and form, without exception or discussion.)

[zinnea]

You might also want to look up terms like "school for troubled boys", "home for troubled boys", "school for wayward boys", "home for wayward boys" and so on. Include "juvenile institution" and "state school" in your searches as well.This is assuming that you are specifically looking for an institution for children with behavioral issues both within and without the juvenile justice system