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Responsibility

One factor in a child's development which should be given some consideration here, since it has great bearing on ultimate parole eligibility, is spiritual and moral training. Even though it is a State institution, the Church should be awakened to its responsibilities to these children. Mass is said at Rosewood once a month: beyond that the only religious guidance provided for the Catholic children is a Sunday school program conducted by seminarians. (It required the initiative of two of our men to train some of the Rosewood boys as Mass-servers). How can we expect these children to return to a normal life, regular in the practice of their religion, if the Church is so lax in making the Sacraments available to them in the formative years of their training? Other institutions are able to have weekly Sunday Masses for their patients; certainly the clergy of Maryland should make every effort to do the same. If it is the Catholic's obligation to attend weekly Mass, it is certainly the clergy's duty to bring that weekly Mass to those institutionalized Catholics who are not free to meet their obligations. Surely there would be immeasurable value to the spiritual and moral development of the Rosewood patients in the regular, and much more frequent, practice of their Catholic faith.

The Burden

Individualized education, recreational outlets, character moulding, etc., would be to little avail without a well-planned and efficiently handled program of social guidance. Therefore, the main responsibility for successful paroles (or for the lack of them) lies with the job done by the social worker.

No Effort Made

For quite some time Rosewood had no social worker -- and when one was finally added to the staff, there was no great indication of competence or of the slightest understanding of the true scope of the duties associated with the position. Absolutely no effort was made by this individual to learn to know the patients on a friendly, personal basis. Instead full emphasis was placed on the prominence of her status in the institution's professional clique.

The social worker of an institution such as Rosewood has a great opportunity. By making it a point to meet and know each patient, his background, the events leading to his committment -sic- and so on such an official could -- in cooperation with the staff psychologist -- map out the training program for each patient on an individual basis. Then, by establishing and maintaining a friendly rapport with the patient, the social worker could assist him by guiding him through his problems at the school. And, finally, when the patient advances to parole, the social worker must continue that personal friendship and maintain an occasional but regular follow-up -- again as a personal friend, not as a policeman checking up -- to help the "graduate" through problems outside, lest failure and disillusionment drive him back to the social habits that originally caused his rejection by Society.

Big Job

This is a mighty task -- almost too great perhaps for any one person. But it is one which certainly cannot be accomplished by sitting at a desk or conferring endlessly with other staff members, compiling social summaries that could be put together by an ordinary stenographer. Nor can there be any hope for success if the individual holding the job treats the patients as "untouchables" or hopeless reprobates.

Dissension

Rosewood fails on all three scores -- education, recreation, social guidance -- primarily because it does not have the personnel big enough for these jobs. The best of facilities would be worthless in an institution in which the professional staff -- doctors, nurses, teachers, social workers, and on down the line -- are torn by factional jealousies agitated by vicious gossip and rumormongering. Educated professional people who cannot adjust themselves to each other within their sheltered environment are obviously not qualified to assume responsibility for the adjustment of these unfortunate children to an unfamiliar and unfriendly Society.

Remedy

In three articles we have tried to reveal some of the shortcomings at Rosewood. Such criticism carries with it the obligation to suggest remedial action.

They Should Resign

The first -- and most obvious -- step is to eradicate incompetence wherever it may be found. Until this is done, no corrective effort at improvement can succeed. And this is not to be limited to the institution personnel. If the present members of the Board of Visitors are unwilling or find themselves unable to do a reasonably effective job of protecting the patients and the public against the excesses of an otherwise all-powerful administration, they should resign and turn the job over to others who would take a sincere interest in so important a task.

A Moral Crime

Then, once Rosewood's house is in order, full publicity must be given to the needs of the institution and its patients. Instead of "sitting tight" on a disgusting situation, the administrative staff and Dr. Preston's Board of Mental Hygiene should expose and advertise the handicaps placed upon them by a niggardly and penny-pinching legislature. We who have listened long and often to their complaints cannot reconcile them with an officially-stated policy of "no bombshells." These people are sitting on a bombshell potent enough to shake action out of the most miserly legislature. For the "bombshell" is the fact that the State of Maryland is responsible for a grave moral crime, the neglect and maltreatment of helpless children. Once the electorate of Maryland is made aware of the crime that has been perpetrated in its name, it will react against those who are guilty of the raw deal these children have been getting and are still getting!