Kids in Crisis  

     Children in America living in unfavorable conditions is not news. This cause for concern is nearly 250 years and counting.

     In the 19th century, minister Charles Brace left the luxury of his New England childhood to live among the poor in the squalor of New York tenements. He watched children known as "street rats," going from one job to another, picking pockets and sleeping in corners.

     Some had parents who couldn't - or wouldn't - care for them. With help from reformers, Brace founded Children's Aid Society in 1853. He could only do so much in the city. 

     So he put them on trains and sent them to the Midwest where hundreds of thousands of kids began new lives. Naturally, some people called it reckless to send them away with limited follow-up.  

     Brace is considered the father of our foster-care movement, carrying out the biblical command to care for orphans. 

     By the mid-20th century, the government took the lead role, but Christian groups still support children in crisis, from adoption to foster care to family assistance. 

Source: WORLD magazine

     We have a new crisis, children coming across the border, without adults. Some connect with relatives already living here. Others end up in slavery of some sort, including prostitution, owing money to the cartels. 

     Are we as a nation worse in this matter than we were in the beginning, despite our care programs? 

           Jimmy