We should not expect the Juvenile Court, dealing as directly as it
does with problems resulting from the breakdown of family discipline,
to be itself a cause of breakdown. Nevertheless, interviews with court
officers show a certain lack of understanding and the use of methods
which, instead of relieving the situation, only aggravate it. When the
case of a delinquent girl, for instance, comes to court, the officers
believe that it has usually gone too far for the court to do anything
with the family. The child is often placed out in a family home,
always an American family; and the probation officer supervises the
child and the foster home, but pays no attention to the child's own
home, where younger children may be growing up in the same way and to
which, ultimately, the delinquent girl should be allowed and
encouraged to return.
The probation officers know very little of the old-country background
of the people with which they deal, and are often not clear as to the
differences in nationality. The foreign-born parent's ignorance of
laws and customs, and his inability to speak English, make him appear
stupid to the officer. As a result, he may be ignored as quite
hopeless.
In the absence of the court interpreter the child may be called upon
to interpret to the parent the whole proceedings in court. While this
is less common now than it was a few years ago, there is no reason to
believe that the child is less used as interpreter between the
probation officer and the parent at home.
From the records of the court proceedings it is often quite evident to
the reader that the foreign-born parent has little idea of the reasons
why he or his child should have been brought to court. In one Bohemian
family studied the eldest boy, aged sixteen, was in the State School
for Delinquent Boys. The parents seemed utterly unaware of the serious
nature of the boy's offenses and of the blot on his record. They
seemed to regard the school for delinquents somewhat as more
prosperous parents are wont to regard the boarding school. In fact,
they expressed regret that the boy was soon to be released. Yet this
boy had been in the Juvenile Court three times; the first time for
truancy, and the other two for stealing.
The attention of the community is usually called to the difficulties
of the foreign-born parents only when a complete breakdown occurs,
resulting in juvenile delinquency. This result is, however,
comparatively rare. Most families work their way through without
getting into a situation that calls public attention to their family
affairs. There is no question, however, that there is often a lack of
harmony in the home. Sometimes the child of working age leaves home,
to board perhaps in the same neighborhood or to contract a hasty
marriage.
Occasionally there are situations in which the ordinary relations of
parent and child have been completely reversed, and the children have
assumed responsibility for the management of the home and the family.
For instance, the Juvenile Court was asked by the neighbors to
investigate conditions in a Polish family, in which a six-year-old boy
was said to be neglected. The investigation showed no real neglect
from the point of view of the court, but a situation that needed
supervision.
The mother was a widow and had, besides the six-year-old boy, two
daughters aged seventeen and nineteen. Both girls were born in
Austria. The father had preceded his family to the United States, and
for five years the mother had worked and supported herself and the
children in the old country before he was able to send for them. He
seems not to have had a very good moral influence over the children,
but had been dead several years. The daughters were both supporting
the mother, who was doing one or two days' work a week. The daughters
turned over all their earnings to the mother, but said that she was a
poor manager and never had anything to show for it. They themselves
had managed to buy new furniture and clothes for themselves. They said
they were ashamed to go out with their mother, who remained
unprogressive, would not dress as they liked, and would not manage the
home as they wished. The girls told the officer that they did not take
her out with them, but gave her money to go to the "movies." Yet she
would do nothing but sit at home and cry.
At one time the boy was accused of stealing coal from a neighbor. The
oldest girl wanted her mother to investigate, but the mother would not
go near any of her American neighbors. The daughter herself found out
that the child had really taken the coal from a neighbor, and whipped
him. Gradually the daughters, especially the older one, have assumed
entire control of the family. The mother can no longer discipline even
the six-year-old boy. Since the daughter has undertaken to correct
him, he pays no attention at all to his mother. The probation officer
has tried to restore a more normal family relationship, and has tried
to help the girls to understand their mother's position. She still
speaks with pride of the five years in the old country when she
supported them alone, and when she was really of some use to them.
The older daughter threatened for some time to leave home if her
mother could not be more agreeable. When the court officer
remonstrated, she said that of course she would leave her furniture,
and could not be convinced that that would not entirely compensate.
Later she did leave home, and took some of her furniture. The family
are Catholics, but the mother no longer goes to church, and, though
the girls go, the priest seems to have had no influence over them.
Although the great majority of the foreign-born parents succeed in
bringing up their children without the children becoming delinquent,
the minority who are not successful is large enough to cause grave
concern. This has been shown in all figures in juvenile delinquency. A
study of delinquent children before the Cook County Juvenile Court
shows that 72.8 per cent of the 14,183 children brought to the court
between July 1, 1899, and June 30, 1909, had foreign-born parents.[48]
A special study of 584 of these, who were delinquent boys, showed 66.9
per cent with foreign-born parents.[49] A comparison of the nativity
of the parents of children in the Juvenile Court with the proportion
of each group in the married population of Chicago indicates that the
number of parents of delinquent children in the foreign-born group is
disproportionately large. That is, the foreign born form 57 per cent
of the married population of Chicago, while "at least 67 per cent of
the parents of delinquent boys of the court were foreign born, and
there is reason to believe that the true percentage is above 67."[50]
This preponderance of children from immigrant homes must not be taken
to mean that children of foreign-born parents are naturally worse than
the children of American parents. It confirms the fact that immigrant
parents have special difficulties in bringing up their children and
are in need of special assistance. It suggests very forcibly the
danger to the community in continuing to ignore their special needs.