Case Shined First Light on Abuse of Children

HOWARD MARKEL, M.D. Published: December 14, 2009

“Mamma has been in the habit of whipping and beating me almost every day,” the little girl testified. “She used to whip me with a twisted whip — a rawhide.

“I have now on my head two black-and-blue marks which were made by Mamma with the whip, and a cut on the left side of my forehead which was made by a pair of scissors in Mamma’s hand; she struck me with the scissors and cut me. ... I never dared speak to anybody, because if I did I would get whipped.”

If the words sound depressingly familiar, it is because they could have come from any number of recent news accounts — or, for that matter, popular entertainment, like the recently opened movie “Precious,” which depicts the emotional and sexual abuse of a Harlem girl.

In fact, though, the quotation is from the 1874 case of Mary Ellen McCormack, below, a self-possessed 10-year-old who lived on West 41st Street, in the Hell’s Kitchen section of Manhattan. It was Mary Ellen who finally put a human face on child abuse — and prompted a reformers’ crusade to prevent it and to protect its victims, an effort that continues to this day.

Tellingly, the case was brought by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. In 1874, there were no laws protecting children from physical abuse from their parents. It was an era of “spare the rod and spoil the child,” and parents routinely meted out painful and damaging punishment without comment or penalty.

Mary Ellen had been orphaned as a baby. Her father, Thomas Wilson, was a Union soldier who died in the Second Battle of Cold Harbor, in Virginia. Her mother, Frances, boarded the baby with a woman living on Mulberry Bend, on the Lower East Side, while working double shifts as a laundress at the St. Nicholas Hotel.

This arrangement cost $2 a week, consuming her entire widow’s pension. When she lost her job, she could no longer afford to care for her daughter and was forced to send her to the city orphanage on Blackwells Island.

A few years later, Mary Ellen was adopted by a Manhattan couple, Thomas and Mary McCormack. But Thomas died soon after the adoption, and his widow married Francis Connolly. Unhappy and overburdened, the adoptive mother took to physically abusing Mary Ellen.

Sometime in late 1873, the severely battered and neglected child attracted the attention of her neighbors. They complained to the Department of Public Charities and Correction, which administered the city’s almshouse, workhouse, insane asylums, orphanages, jails and public hospitals. Even the hard-boiled investigator assigned to Mary Ellen’s case, Etta Angell Wheeler, was shocked and became inspired to do something.

Frustrated by the lack of child-protection laws, Wheeler approached the A.S.P.C.A. It proved to be a shrewd move. Mary Ellen’s plight captured the imagination of the society’s founder, Henry Bergh, who saw the girl — like the horses he routinely saved from violent stable owners — as a vulnerable member of the animal kingdom needing the protection of the state.

Bergh recruited a prominent lawyer, Elbridge Gerry (grandson of the politician who gave his name to gerrymandering), who took the case to the New York State Supreme Court. Applying a novel use of habeas corpus, Gerry argued there was good reason to believe that Mary Ellen would be subjected to irreparable harm unless she was removed from her home.

Judge Abraham R. Lawrence ordered the child brought into the courtroom. Her heart-wrenching testimony was featured in The New York Times the next day, April 10, 1874, under the subheading “Inhuman Treatment of a Little Waif.”

“She is a bright little girl,” the article said, “with features indicating unusual mental capacity, but with a careworn, stunted and prematurely old look. Her apparent condition of health, as well as her scanty wardrobe, indicated that no change of custody or condition could be much for the worse.”

Ms. Connolly was charged and found guilty of several counts of assault and battery. Mary Ellen never returned to her adoptive home, but her temporary placement in a home for delinquent teenagers was not much of an improvement. In a lifesaving act of kindness, Etta Wheeler, her mother and her sister volunteered to raise Mary Ellen in bucolic North Chili, N.Y., outside Rochester.

At 24, Mary Ellen married Louis Schutt. The couple had two children of their own, along with three children of Schutt’s from a previous marriage, and Mary Ellen passed on her good fortune by adopting an orphan girl. By all accounts, she was a superb and caring mother. She died in 1956, at 92.

Mary Ellen’s case led Bergh, Gerry and the philanthropist John D. Wright to found the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children in December 1874. It was believed to be the first child protective agency in the world.

In the years since, the society has helped rescue thousands of battered children, created shelters to care for them and, working with similar groups and agencies in cities across the nation, instituted laws that punish abusive parents.

Gone are the days when beasts of burden enjoyed more legal protection than children. In recent years, a broad spectrum of programs, diagnostic and reporting protocols, safe houses and legal protections have been developed to protect physically or sexually abused children.

But every day, at least three children die in the United States as a result of parental mistreatment. Many more remain out of sight and in harm’s way. Mary Ellen’s story reminds us of a simple equation: How much our society values its children can be measured by how well they are treated and protected.

Dr. Howard Markel is a professor of pediatrics, psychiatry and the history of medicine at the University of Michigan.

 

Readers' Forum: California lawmakers need to restore child welfare funding

By Joe Valentine
Guest Commentary Posted: 04/24/2010 12:01:00 AM PDT

WHEN I stand before a meeting of our Board of Supervisors, it's my job to assure them and the people of Contra Costa County that we are doing everything humanly possible to keep kids safe and help families overcome challenges that too often lead to children being removed from their homes. Our future generation deserves a safe home to grow up in and a fair shot at a bright future.

So when decisions made in Sacramento force our county to cut back on child welfare services, it's also my job to let our community know that we need to fight for the funding that is essential to protecting our children and investing in our future. We must hold Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger accountable for going back on the commitment he made to California's most vulnerable children.

Unconscionable cuts that harm children who have already suffered from abuse and neglect are putting our children at greater risk, thanks to the governor's decision to veto $80 million in funding for child welfare services. The governor's action caused the state to lose another $53 million in federal funding to protect kids. That's a $133 million loss for children who are already dealing with loss on so many levels.

Across California, funding was eliminated for more than 529 child welfare workers. Here in Contra Costa County, state reductions have resulted in 119 reduced staff. As a result, we have been unable to adequately staff child-abuse hot lines,

Contra Costa County foster youth, who are transitioning to self-sufficiency without the normal support systems most of us have, are not receiving necessary housing and education assistance. Before the reductions, our county was able to assist these foster youth with housing deposits and to pay for additional education needs, such as tuition and books. Without stable housing, the youth find it difficult to focus on the steps of education or vocation that will allow them to become self-sufficient in the future.

As a result, children in Contra Costa County are staying in foster care longer because staff are unable to provide the needed supports which would allow families to reunify sooner or get children placed in permanent homes. This delay has resulted in increased financial costs to Contra Costa County and additional emotional stress to these children.

The governor is again proposing these cuts, and our community will continue to pay the price for his decision. The erosion of this safety net will continue, and we will have even fewer social workers to help families mend their homes and find children permanent, loving homes.

Children will continue to remain in limbo, staying in the foster care system longer. Families won't receive counseling and therapy to enable kids to safely return home. Foster families won't receive assistance to provide basic care, such as beds and clothing, to foster youth. And we may see the elimination of transitional services that help foster kids find jobs and housing when they "age out" of the system upon turning 18 as mentioned above.

Pulling the plug on services children and families need doesn't mean their needs will go away. Those needs simply get pushed to a later date and come at a higher cost. Abused and neglected children who do not receive help often become adults who struggle with alcoholism, depression and disease, including obesity, cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

Failing to address child abuse early on costs taxpayers an estimated $104 billion annually in the form of greater demand for services, according to Prevent Child Abuse America.

California can and must do better for its abused and neglected children. Not only because it's the right thing to do but also because caring for them means investing in the safety and security of our communities.

We all share in the responsibility to ensure the well-being of abused and neglected children, and our county won't abandon our most vulnerable children. We need the governor and Legislature to make the same commitment.

Joe Valentine is director of Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services.

 

 

Take a Minute To Make a Difference
In The Life of a Child

Welcome to the Child Abuse Prevention Council (CAPC)
of Contra Costa County.

We invite you to use this website and to be a part of our mission to:

• Promote the safety of our children

• Raise community awareness

• Influence public policy

• Educate our community and families

• Provide resources and support families

This website contains valuable information every family needs for support and resources. As a parent, teacher, caregiver, or any role that includes the care and responsibility of children, the programs and resources included at www.capc-coco.org will be of interest to you.  Parenting is the most difficult and most important work we do. Remember, if kids came with instructions, parenting would be a lot easier. But they don’t.  Parents need supportive partners in their childrearing efforts.  The Child Abuse Prevention Council can be that important partner for families, neighborhoods and all communities of Contra Costa County. We welcome all who wish to join us in building healthy families and protecting children. Our children’s poster project slogan says it all:
“It shouldn’t hurt to be a child”

Wishing you peace,
Carol Carrillo, MSW
Executive Director