Childcare Dilemmas: Religious Discourse and Services among Jewish and Christian 'Orphanages'.

This paper explores the goals of Jewish and Christian sponsored orphanages in late nineteenth and early twentieth century England and identifies ways that religious institutions served the needy, constructed their self-identify, and that of their 'inmates'. Christian charities, especially evangelical institutions such as Barnardo's and the National Children's Homes (NCH), focused not only on the rescue of children, but their salvation. Policy at Norwood, the Jewish orphanage, reflected a combination of Jewish charitable tradition, alongside a self- consciousness about reputation and anxiety over anti-Semitism, and anti-alienism. In response, Norwood developed an extensive programme designed to raise respectable, anglicised Jews who would remain members of Britain's Jewish community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]