The Child Savers Movement was a movement in New York, Boston, and Chicago. This was a group of people that came together called Child Savers. These groups were formed to assist the better living of America's children. They created many different programs to help these needy children, and argued for separate legal status for children. These reforms were set up to help all of these troubled youths and to influence the government to create the Juvenile justice system. This movement basically came along to help the children and save them form the harsh treatment they were receiving at home, at school, and how they were treated by the law.
Between 1854 and 1930, an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 children were shipped from the eastern USA to western states and territories. These children were not necessarily orphans. There were also children of single parents, street children, runaways, prostitutes, etc. Efforts were made to get parental consent whenever possible, and the children were sent to individual foster and adoptive families, not to institutions. This was done in a good manner and was done to better the lives of these children, since they were not receiving the love, and care that was needed in their original homes. For seventy-six years thousands of homeless, neglected poor children from New York City were moved west to rural towns and farm communities. This was to take them away from their bad life in the city at this time. They traveled by means of railroad. Most families took them into their homes. Some became foster children or were adopted into a family. Others lived as boarders, apprentices, or live-in laborers. Some found good homes, some not so good, others found a new life of indentured service or even abuse. Some loved and were loved in their new homes. Others ran away or moved on to another family. It was very hard for some of these if not most of these children to move from place to place.
