Padric Mcduffie

Spud, Yesterday's Child Padric Mcduffie

During the nineteen thirties our country was going through a serious depression, and jobs were at a premium, and were very hard to find. Many families could not afford to feed their children let alone pay rent or other necessary costs. As result, foster homes and orphanages began to spring up to provide housing and care for these children. Religious and non-religion oriented homes were in the forefront of this movement in the U. S. Many parents left their children in these homes, while they made many efforts to find jobs and survive themselves. The Second World War came along by the nineteen forties, the war effort needed many workers to build the war machine that was needed to send our troops into battle. Women became the strong workforce needed. Again, this left many children stranded at a home with no parent. The foster homes and orphanages continued their efforts to hold or house these children. This story is the true story of one such child that ended up spending his first seventeen years in foster homes or orphanages. It gives some insight as to what it may have been like for our children of the depression and war years.