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This is the final in a series of articles on the problems we met, as C. O.'s, at Rosewood State Training School, Owings Mills, Md.

"All hope abandon, ye who enter here" is the inscription fashioned by Dante for the gates of Hell. It was in no burst of poetic fancy that the sign, "Rosewood -- No Thoroughfare," was placed at the foot of the lane leading to the "training school" for the mentally deficient of Maryland; yet, that inscription is every bit as fitting as Dante's. Escape or death are virtually the only ways out for the unfortunate child committed there. Rosewood, as we of CPS No. 102 witnessed for almost three full years, is strictly a one way, dead-end street.

Rosewood Fails

About 1/4 of the patient body at Rosewood consists of custodial cases. Most of these are individuals with mentality of infant level or lower. All any institution could do for them is to provide adequate care and reasonably pleasant surroundings. However, Rosewood fails even in this respect. Instead these unfortunates are herded together into huge basement "playrooms"; the total effect of the smell, sight and sounds of Rosewood's Hill Cottage can be guaranteed to produce revulsion and often nausea into anyone viewing it for the first time. Insofar as these patients are concerned, the entire fault for the state of affairs lies with the stinginess of the Maryland Legislature; even if the Rosewood administration wished to improve their lot, no funds would be available for this purpose.

The Real Tragedy

The real tragedy of Rosewood lies -- as was stated in a previous article -- in the inadequate provisions for the care and eventual return to Society of those boys and girls of the higher mental levels. In name, and in name only, Rosewood is a training school. This should imply that a child placed there would be given the benefits of an adequate program of education, recreation and social guidance: the first to develop his mental abilities to their maximum; the second to promote physical and mental health and build a sense of teamwork and sportsmanship; the last to assist him to re-adjust himself properly to a Society against which he had previously rebelled. On all counts Rosewood fails miserably -- and here the fault lies principally in the institution itself and in the individuals to which these responsibilities have been entrusted!

The Only Exit

The goal of every admission to Rosewood (except those which are obviously custodial in nature) should be parole. Yet in those three years the only paroles of Rosewood resulted from successful "escapes" or from actual court actions instituted by interested parties. Since the great majority of children there are not blessed with sufficiently interested parties, the latter cases were few indeed. Is it not a sad commentary on the merits of Rosewood as a training school that the only exit routes were to run away or to force a way out by legal procedure.

The System Fails

Wherein the failing? First, in a totally inadequate educational program. These children failed intellectually in all of their regular or special public school classes. Still we find the Rosewood program based on the same type of subjects with little or no attention given to individual interests or capabilities. Granting that these general subjects are a valuable foundation; is it not unwise to place full stress on them to the detriment or elimination of other training in which the child would find more value? Rosewood can be complimented on its efforts to gain an accurate survey of each patient by employing an extensive variety of psychological tests and measurements. But of what possible worth is an elaborate psychological study of a patient who shows mechanical abilities and interests if the "school" provides no facilities whatsoever for the development of such interests and abilities into worthwhile occupational training? It is futile to attempt the training of mentally limited patients on a group basis. Each of them must be accepted as an individual problem with the training and education planned to meet his individual needs and capabilities.

Unfit

Rosewood is utterly unfit to do such a job. In the first place, it again lacks the facilities. It is almost inconceivable that the State of Maryland would knowingly operate such an institution without providing equipment for shop work and other mechanical training. Unfortunately, however, even if this were not the case, the Rosewood teaching personnel lacks the imagination, the inspiration and the ability to adapt themselves to the needs of each individual pupil. The best measure of the value of any training school lies in the number of patients it succeeds in salvaging for Society; judged according to this standard the Rosewood educational program is a total failure.

Little Success

The lack of an adequate recreational program has already been discussed in detail. Suffice it to say, then, that so long as this great need is not met, Rosewood will have little success in its efforts to convert its patients -- especially those committed because of delinquent trends-- into citizens of promise.

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!

Right and Duty

The people of Maryland have the right and the Christian duty to demand full investigations to learn who is accountable for this situation. Only if they act can there be hope that Rosewood may yet become a thoroughfare of promise.