Answer: Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania

When the Philadelphia Home for Infants merged with a group called the Children's Bureau in 1942, it had been in operation for nearly seventy years. During that time, the home provided services from several locations in West Philadelphia, until it finally built a new home in 1880 at the corner of Westminster Avenue and Markoe Street. In the early 1900s, funds were raised for a new home, but plans were abandoned in 1916 because of the World War, and the existing home was renovated instead.  The Home also struggled with the issue of institutional care versus family care, as professional opinions of the time increasingly favored placing children in family situations.

The Children's Bureau had been formed in the early 1900s by the Children's Aid Society of Pennsylvania (CAS) and the Seybert Institution, originally incorporated in 1906 as The Adam and Maria Sarah Seybert Institution for Poor Boys and Girls of Philadelphia. There were then more than 60 agencies in Philadelphia that received destitute children. The Children’s Bureau ran a joint shelter, serving as a receiving and investigating department for both CAS and Seybert’s Children’s Village.  It was also a center for information, education, and cooperation among the various agencies with interests in caring for children.  The Children’s Bureau merged with CAS in 1944.

The Children's Aid Society of Philadelphia records (Collection 3026) contains includes its own materials, as well as records of the Union Temporary Home, Philadelphia Home for Infants, and the Children’s Bureau. It is comprised of annual reports, board minutes, case histories, financial records, scrapbooks, articles, reports, publications relating to child welfare, and a few photographs.