{"id":48491,"date":"2016-07-30T19:58:53","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T19:58:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=48491"},"modified":"2017-02-23T22:40:51","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T22:40:51","slug":"planning-for-german-children-of-mixed-racial-background1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=48491","title":{"rendered":"Planning for German Children of Mixed Racial Background"},"content":{"rendered":"

Planning for German Children of Mixed Racial Background<\/a>1<\/sup><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Social Service Review<\/a>
\nVolume 30, Number 1 (March 1956)<\/a>
\npages 33-37
\nDOI: 10.1086\/639959<\/a><\/p>\n

Hans Pfaffenberger<\/a> (1922-2012)<\/strong>, Professor of Psychology
\nUniversity of Trier, Trier, Germany<\/p>\n

Translated by Susanne Schulze<\/em><\/p>\n

On January\u00a01, 1955, there were\u00a0approximately four thousand\u00a0mischlingskinder<\/em><\/a>2<\/sup> in the West\u00a0German Republic<\/a>. This number is still\u00a0increasing by 250 to 350 a year. More\u00a0than 70 per cent of the children are living\u00a0with their mothers, and about 5 per cent\u00a0with other relatives\u2014grandparents,\u00a0aunts, etc. About 12 per cent are in institutions, about 10 per cent in foster\u00a0homes. The remaining children have\u00a0been adopted, either by American families or, in a few cases, by German families, or they have emigrated to the United States with their mothers, who have\u00a0married. According to the social agencies\u00a0responsible for them, 90 per cent of the\u00a0children remaining in Germany are well\u00a0cared for. In 10 per cent of the cases, special services have been found necessary,\u00a0but these have been general services\u2014better housing, convalescent care, etc.\u2014unrelated to the special situation of these\u00a0children as children of mixed racial background.<\/p>\n

The approximately four thousand children of mixed racial background pose\u00a0many problems for child welfare agencies, and it is good to know that many\u00a0attempts are being made to \ufb01nd solutions\u00a0and to suggest remedies. Not all of these\u00a0suggestions, of course, are equally acceptable, and it seems that the time is ripe to examine some of them in relation\u00a0to the situation of these children, as it is\u00a0known through reliable reports, and in\u00a0the light of some basic considerations.<\/p>\n

EMIGRATION OR\u00a0ADOPTION?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many people are suggesting general\u00a0solutions that would supposedly \u201cclean\u00a0up\u201d with one stroke all of the emerging\u00a0problems or at least would cover them\u00a0up; for example, it has been suggested\u00a0that the problem be solved through\u00a0adoption abroad, through emigration of\u00a0the mothers with their children, through\u00a0emigration of the mischlingskinder<\/em>, or\u00a0through segregation of all these children\u00a0in order to rear them together. Many\u00a0strong objections to these general solutions may be raised. Recently several\u00a0welfare organizations, as well as individuals with long years of experience, have\u00a0warned against adoption abroad, including in the United States, especially when\u00a0children of mixed racial background are\u00a0concerned. A most careful investigation\u00a0of the potential adoptive family seems\u00a0de\ufb01nitely indicated.3<\/sup> When we consider\u00a0the social and economic circumstances of\u00a0these children, as well as the attitudes of\u00a0the community toward them, transplanting them to America through adoption or through marriage of the mother…<\/p>\n

Read or purchase the article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

1<\/sup> From Newes Beginnen<\/em> (New Beginning<\/em> [periodical of the Workers\u2019 Welfare Association, published\u00a0by National Headquarters of the Organization,\u00a0Bonn<\/a>]), VIII (August, 1955).<\/p>\n

2<\/sup> Mishlingskinder<\/em> refers to children of mixed\u00a0racial background. The children considered in this\u00a0article are those born to German women and\u00a0nonwhite soldiers stationed in Germany.<\/p>\n

3<\/sup> See U. Mende, \u201cAdoption deutscher Kinder\u00a0durch amerikanische Staatsangeh\u00f6rige,\u201d\u00a0Unsere\u00a0<\/em>Jugend<\/em>, May, 1955, S. 207; E. Hochfeld and\u00a0M. A. Valk, \u201cExperience in Intercountry Adoptions” (New York: International Social Service,\u00a0American Branch, 1953).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On January 1, 1955, there were approximately four thousand mischlingskinder2 in the West German Republic. This number is still increasing by 250 to 350 a year. More than 70 per cent of the children are living with their mothers, and about 5 per cent with other relatives\u2014grandparents, aunts, etc. About 12 per cent are in institutions, about 10 per cent in foster homes. The remaining children have been adopted, either by American families or, in a few cases, by German families, or they have emigrated to the United States with their mothers, who have married.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,28,414,8,4481],"tags":[687,3228,2948,24644,24645,24643,7019],"class_list":["post-48491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-europe","category-family","category-media-archive","category-social-work","tag-adoption","tag-afro-germans","tag-germany","tag-hans-pfaffenberger","tag-social-service-review","tag-susanne-schulze","tag-west-germany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48491"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51822,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48491\/revisions\/51822"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}