CUBA'S CHILDREN IN EXILE

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~-:' : -v r::;.-:-:- FOREWORD The Cuban Refugee Program—the most comprehensive program ever devised in this country to meet the needs of incoming IN NOVEMBER 1960, a Cuban mother refugees—was the first to entail the distribu­ brought her two children to Key West. She tion of Federal financial assistance for main­ feared that they would be sent to Russia be­ tenance outside of a refugee center. Provi­ cause she and her husband were actively op­ sions for the unaccompanied children were posed to the Castro regime. She asked the made part of the overall plan. judge of the juvenile court to find homes for The Children's Bureau, through delega­ them. The judge assumed jurisdiction and tion, was made responsible for child welfare placed her children in foster care. The mother services, including the care and protection of returned to Cuba to be with her husband and these unaccompanied Cuban children. The to continue her work in the counterrevolu­ Florida State Department of Public Welfare tionary movement. acted as agent for the U.S. Department of This incident marked the beginning of a Health, Education, and Welfare in planning rapid influx of Cuban children, many of for these children and in the use of Federal whom would be unaccompanied by their par­ funds for their care. The Florida State De­ ents and with no relatives here to care for partment of Public Welfare, in turn, con­ them. The children came from all classes of tracted with HIAS and the Miami voluntary Cuban society, although the majority were children's agencies—the Catholic Welfare from well-to-do, middle-class families. Most Bureau of the Diocese of Miami, the Chil­ of them were in their early teens, and nearly dren's Service Bureau, and the Jewish Family two-thirds were boys. and Children's Service—for arranging for Voluntary agencies did what they could the placement of the children. to provide care and shelter for these children, By April 30, 1967, the Federal Govern­ but it soon became apparent that they could ment had been responsible for the foster care not carry on without the help of the Federal of over 8,300 children. Government. Practical problems that would have dis­ In January 1961, President John F. couraged those less convinced of the impor­ Kennedy asked the Secretary of Health, Edu­ tance of what they were doing beset the agen­ cation, and Welfare, Abraham Ribicoff, to cies and organizations at ev^ry turn. But they plan and administer a Federal program to persisted—and difficulties were finally over­ deal with the needs of Cuban refugees while come. It is this story that is told in CUBA'S in the United States and to expedite their CHILDREN IN EXILE: The Story of the return to their homeland when conditions Unaccompanied Cuban Refugee Children's made it possible. Program.

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KATHERINE B. OETTINGER Chief, Children's Bureau SOCIAL and REHABILITATION SERVICE

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JOHN F. THOMAS Director, Cuban Refugee Program SOCIAL and REHABILITATION SERVICE CUBA'S CHILDREN IN EXILE

D the story of the Unaccompanied Cuban Refugee D Children's Program

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE SOCIAL and REHABILITATION SERVICE • Children's Bureau • 1967 CUBA'S CHILDREN IN EXILE

the story of the D Unaccompanied Cuban Refugee D Children's Program

EARLY IN 1960, many Cuban parents began tative of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. to fear the influence of communism on their Among the resolutions adopted by the Wel­ children and to make arrangements to send fare Planning Council was one recommend­ their children to relatives and friends in the ing that the Federal Government participate United States. As the year wore on, more and in developing a plan for the care of unac­ more children were sent to the United States, companied Cuban refugee children. some with little or no guarantee that the rel­ When Mr. James Baker, Principal of the atives or friends would care for them. Home­ Ruston Academy, an American school in less teenage boys were noticed in Miami. Havana, and several members of the Ameri­ The dramatic case of the two children can Chamber of Commerce in Havana heard brought to the Key West Juvenile Court was about Father Walsh's interest in unaccom­ symptomatic of the problem that was to panied children from Cuba, they asked his mushroom into immense proportions within aid for some Cuban parents who wanted to a very short time. send their children to the United States but who had no one to look after them here. Early arrivals Father Walsh agreed to help, and plans were worked out for the children. Most of the unaccompanied Cuban chil­ The basic idea was that these children dren who arrived in this country during 1960 would come to the United States on student were Catholic. As their numbers increased, visas. Because of many delays, only 25 of the Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Miami these student visas had been issued when became concerned about these children and diplomatic relations between the United charged Father (later Monsignor) Bryan 0. States and Cuba were broken on January 3, Walsh, Executive Director of the Catholic 1961. However, children who had tourist Welfare Bureau, Miami, with responsibility visas began arriving in Miami on December for them. The Catholic Welfare Bureau was a 26, 1960, with the request that they be cared small, licensed child caring and adoption for by the Catholic Welfare Bureau. agency, then caring for about 80 children. When diplomatic relations were broken, Father Walsh brought the problem to the the number of children in Havana for whom Welfare Planning Council of Dade County, Mr. Baker and his staff were seeking care Florida. The Welfare Planning Council from the Catholic Welfare Bureau had grown called a meeting of local public and voluntary to 510. Mr. Baker returned to the United agencies in the fall of 1960, and a Cuban States on January 4, and he and Father Refugee Committee was established to work Walsh began direct discussions with the U.S. with Mr. Tracy Voorhees, Special Represen­ Department of State and the Immigration

1 and Naturalization Service about the possi­ Welfare Department. A group of 40 children bility of bringing in these children without brought en masse from a Cuban institution visas. Within a few days, permission was were sent to a religious order in New Jersey. given to bring in 225 children on waivers of A few were sent to a Philadelphia agency. the student visas with the understanding Father Walsh was then confronted with that more waivers would be granted if the problem of caring for 500 children be­ needed. By the time the Federal Government tween the ages of 5 and 18 who were expected took over the program, visa waivers were be­ to arrive in Miami within 3 weeks. Fortu­ ing granted in blocks of 500. nately, he was able to work out plans with Jewish and Protestant children in Cuba directors of six Catholic charities in various were also being helped through arrangements parts of the country to provide care in in­ made for their care by the appropriate volun­ stitutions for these Cuban children. Although tary child welfare agencies. The public child foster care in large institutions was undesir­ welfare agencies in Miami were asked to help able for many children, the necessity of find­ but lacked funds to participate. ing beds became an overriding consideration. By February 1, 1961, 174 children had come to the United States. Fifty-three of these children were being cared for by rela­ The Federal program begins tives and friends, 119 by the Catholic Wel­ fare Bureau, and 2 by the Jewish Family and While planning was going on at the na­ Children's Service. In addition, the Catholic tional level for the overall Cuban Refugee Welfare Bureau was caring for 15 children Program, the Children's Bureau was working who had arrived earlier and had been living with the Florida State Department of Public alone in Miami. Welfare to assess the problem of unaccom­ At this point, the Catholic Welfare panied Cuban refugee children and to deter­ Bureau was caring for as many children as it mine a workable plan. could. Most of them were boys over 14. They On February 3, 1961, President Kennedy were placed in existing institutions, in a new directed the Secretary of Health, Education, institution able to house 26 boys, and in a and Welfare, Abraham Ribicoff, to "provide facility borrowed from the Dade County financial aid for the care and protection of

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. unaccompanied children—the most defense­ .. less and troubled group among the refugee population." The Children's Bureau was assigned responsibility to "negotiate and subsequently supervise a contract or agreement with the ciNWff«ENCy CENTER State of Florida to provide through voluntary or public agencies a program for the care of unaccompanied Cuban children." The Florida State Department of Public Welfare on February 21, 1961, signed an agreement to develop an emergency program to provide temporary aid for Cuban refugees, including care and protection of unaccom­ panied children. The agreement provided for the use of Federal funds in carrying out the plan. The Florida State Department of Public Welfare, acting as an agent of the U.S. De­ partment of Health, Education, and Welfare, awarded contracts effective March 1, 1961, to three voluntary agencies in Miami and an international agency headquartered in New York City to provide foster care for unaccom­ panied Cuban refugee children. These agen­ cies were: clothing,. and other essentials. In addition, the voluntary agencies were reimbursed for The Catholic Welfare Bureau, Inc. actual transportation costs and expenditures Miami, Florida incidental to travel incurred in relocating children outside the Miami area and for the The Children's Service Bureau of Dade County, actual cost of special services, such as psy­ Inc. chiatric treatment or for serious illnesses re­ Miami, Florida quiring extensive treatment. The Jewish Family and Children's Service, Inc. The Catholic Welfare Bureau and the Miami, Florida Children's Service Bureau, responsible re­ spectively for Catholic and Protestant Cuban The United HIAS Service children, not only received and placed chil­ New York, New York dren in Miami but also found child caring agencies elsewhere to take Cuban children. The Florida State Department of Public HIAS arranged for the out-of-Miami place­ Welfare contract with the voluntary agencies ments of Jewish Cuban children, and the provided for reimbursement with Federal Jewish Family and Children's Service pro­ funds for the cost of providing foster care vided for those who were to be placed in for these Cuban refugee children. Reimburse­ Miami. The voluntary agencies were respon­ ment rates of $6.50 per day for each child in sible for the care of unaccompanied Cuban group care and $5.50 per day for each child in children from the time they stepped off the foster family care were established to cover plane in Miami until foster care was no the agencies' direct care costs and adminis­ longer needed. trative expenses. The Florida State Department of Public Direct care costs were for food, shelter, Welfare instigated and maintained up-to-date official registration of each child accepted by month: 4,100 children were receiving foster the contracting agencies. Information in­ care. Only a few children were able to leave cluded the whereabouts of each child and the Cuba after commercial flights were sus­ type of care provided until final discharge pended. from the program. The result of this situation was that the An unaccompanied Cuban refugee child only commercial routes to the United States was defined in the contract as "a child in the left open were through Mexico and Spain. Miami impact area at the time service is Cuban refugees who escaped to these coun­ initiated, whose parent or relative cannot tries had to wait to be admitted to the United provide care and supervision for him, who is States on visas. Because they arrived in in need of foster care, and who meets the Mexico and Spain without funds and were definition of a refugee as defined by the Fed­ not allowed to seek employment while waiting eral Government." for action on their visas, many suffered severe Child care facilities in States other than social and economic hardships. Florida were needed. Since the Federal Gov­ In 1964, the Cuban Refugee Program, ernment had assumed responsibility for the in cooperation with the U.S. Departments of care and protection of these Cuban children, State and Justice, devised a system that the usual guarantees against public depend­ brought Cuban parents of unaccompanied ency covered in State regulations regarding children to the United States from Spain and the importation of children were not neces­ Mexico on a priority basis. As these parents sary. It was essential for the protection of arrived, the main objective of the Cuban Ref­ the children, however, that the agencies re­ ugee Program and the resettlement agencies ceiving them would provide an acceptable was to send the parents to the children rather quality of care. Therefore, only agencies than to have the children return to Miami licensed or approved by the appropriate State for reunion. agency were used. Escape by sea Legal custody and guardianship On September 28, 1965, Premier Castro Questions concerning the legal custody unexpectedly announced that any Cuban with and guardianship of Cuban children arose relatives in the United States who wished to early in the unaccompanied children's pro­ leave Cuba could do so after October 10. gram. Because the separation from parents When President Lyndon B. Johnson signed was expected to be of very short duration the new immigration bill at the Statue of and because none of the children were ex­ Liberty on October 3, 1965, he stated that pected to be placed for adoption, custody and "those who seek refuge here in America guardianship continued to reside with the will find it." parents in Cuba. In early October, the Cuban government designated Camarioca on the northern coast of Matanzas province as an embarkation port Cuban missile crisis from which boats from the United States could pick up refugees. Great loss of life was The children continued to pour into the averted through the tremendous effort of the United States until all commercial flights U.S. Coast Guard, which set up a line of from Cuba to the United States were sus­ picket-ships covering the entire approach and pended by the Castro government following departure of the hundreds of unseaworthy President Kennedy's public statement on boats making the mad dash in rough seas to missiles in Cuba. This was in October 1962. and from Camarioca. Premier Castro closed The peak of the Unaccompanied Cuban Ref­ the port when the United States suggested an ugee Children's Program was reached that orderly airlift.

4 Many stories of heroism came out of the small boat operation. One 16-year-old boy made this trip from Miami to Cuba and re­ turned with his mother and younger brother. He proudly brought them to the Florida State Department of Public Welfare office to meet his former social worker who had placed him in a foster home until arrangements were made for him to live with an uncle. Other equally valiant efforts of teenagers to rescue their families ended in tragedy. About this time, a group of Cuban boys tried to swim from Cuban soil to safety at Guantanamo. Eighteen made it and were flown to the United States; the unsuccessful were ma- chinegunned in the water. As a result of negotiations carried on by the Swiss Embassy in Havana, a Memoran­ dum of Understanding between Cuba and the United States was released by the White House on November 6, 1965. It provided for first priority for "immediate relatives," who were defined as "parents of unmarried chil­ dren under the age of 21, spouses, unmarried children under the age of 21, and brothers and sisters under the age of 21." The United States chartered three boats and brought 4,598 refugees to this country during November 13-22 in "Operation Sea- lift."

Airlift gram was reduced from 1,448 children on December 31, 1965, to 375 on April 30, 1967. The official airlift began on December 1, The number of minors receiving public as­ 1965, from Varadero Airport near Havana to sistance in Miami "guardian" homes was re­ Miami's International Airport. During the duced from 894 to 419. first month, a few parents of children living Planning for the unaccompanied child's in the United States arrived. There were com­ reunion with his parents began as soon as the plaints that priorities were not being ob­ parents arrived in the United States. The served. During the next months, the parents Cuban Refugee Program and the resettle­ of unaccompanied children began arriving in ment agencies developed detailed procedures greater numbers. for family reunions, and these agencies con­ By April 30,1967, 62,861 Cuban refugees tinued their policy of trying to resettle the had arrived by the airlift. Among these were family in the town where the child was al­ 2,141 cases of one or both parents of 2,436 ready living. unaccompanied children under 21 years of There are moving examples of such re­ age. Of these children, 1,498 (from 1,203 unions. A 17-year-old boy in foster care in families) were receiving either foster care Miami had a part-time job after school. He or financial assistance. The number of chil­ carefully saved his money. When his mother, dren in foster care under the Federal pro­ father, and little sister arrived from Cuba, off to join his parents whom he may not have seen for several years.

Numbers of Cuban children cared for In addition to the four voluntary agen­ cies and the Florida State Department of Public Welfare, at least 137 children's agen­ cies participated in the Unaccompanied Cuban Refugee Children's Program. These agencies were located in 110 cities in 40 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. As of April 30, 1967, Federal funds had provided foster care for 8,331 unaccompanied Cuban refugee children through services of the following:

percent- number age of agency served total Catholic Welfare Bureau. _ 7,041 __ 84.5 they found waiting for them an apartment which the boy had rented and completely Children's Service Bureau _ 365 __ 4.4 furnished. He even had linens and cooking Jewish Family and Chil­ utensils. An 18-year-old girl was in her last dren's Service 117 __ 1.4 year of high school when her parents arrived. Because her father was incurably ill and un­ United HIAS Service 28 __ 0.3 able to work, she got a part-time job with the neighborhood youth corps to supplement her Florida State Department parents' assistance from the Cuban Refugee of Public Welfare 780 __ 9.4 Program. When she finished high school, she went to work full-time and became the sole Of the 117 children registered by the Jewish support of her mother and father. The Cuban Family and Children's Service, 91 were later children were excellent ambassadors. A town transferred to United HIAS Service for care. in Washington was so impressed by the 35 The total cost of the program from the children being cared for in that city that it beginning through April 30, 1967, was as fol­ wired it would take all the parents of those lows: children. When a minor unaccompanied child Amount paid for foster care_ $27,108,131.75 arrived in Miami with the expectation of In foster family joining a parent or relative elsewhere in the country, the Florida State Department of homes ___ $ 9,248,479.68 Public Welfare made the necessary clearances In institutions or group with public welfare departments in other homes ___ $17,859,652.07 States to assure that the child was expected Amount paid for special serv­ and would be cared for. After a night in a ices and transportation of foster home in Miami, the unaccompanied children $ 1,423,357.33 child was taken to the airport by a case­ worker, turned over to a stewardess, and was Total expenditures $28,531,489.08 Accurate figures are not available on the few—and most of them worked out satisfac­ total number of unaccompanied Cuban ref­ torily. ugee children who have come to the United Relatively few of the children exhibited States. Estimates range from 13,000 to 15,- signs of emotional stress. Most of them took 000 children. Some of them were never in foster care in their stride. Workers antici­ agency care; a large, but unknown, number pated all kinds of problems. For the most who lived in the homes of relatives or friends part, they just did not happen. received financial assistance from the overall There were, of course, some minor diffi­ Cuban Refugee Program. culties with the children. Many of these were There are Cuban children still in foster due to cultural differences. Diet was one of care even though their parents have come to the most common points of conflict arising I) the United States. Some of these parents have from the Cuban child's apparent dislike of separated from each other; some have ob­ everything except meat, black beans, and tained divorces. There are also the children sugar. The foster parents' expecting them to who did not wish to rejoin their parents after eat vegetables was the cause of many com­ such a long absence from them. And there plaints to parents. One mother in Cuba wrote are still over 300 children in the United anxiously to an institution for an explana­ States whose parents, from all indications, tion of her daughter's charge: "here they may never leave Cuba. feed us only spinaches." On the other hand, Unaccompanied children are still arriv­ ing on the airlift. The Castro government will not let any youth of military age (15-26 years) leave. Because some parents feel the airlift will not enable their 14-year-old sons to leave Cuba in time, they resort to moving the children on commercial flights through Spain. There are now about 150 children in Spain for whom the voluntary agencies are working to have them admitted to the United States on visas. For all of these children, the need for care may stretch over a long period of time.

The Cuban children The feeling of closeness that the Cuban children seemed to have for their families served them in good stead during their stay in foster care. Though many miles separated them from their parents, they still remained a part of a closely knit family. The absent parents, in most instances, kept close to their children by phone and mail. In some cases, parents continued their supervision of their children from afar. At times, foster parents found the children's dependence on their own parents' guidance trying, particularly when parents countermanded what the foster parents were trying to accomplish with the children. Fortunately, such incidents were another mother, reunited with her son in than American boys, appeared to accept Florida, wrote to his former foster mother, foster family care more readily than Ameri­ who had weaned him from "stomach pills" can boys of corresponding ages. The rate of to vegetables, for her "recipe for a balanced juvenile delinquency among Cuban youth diet." was negligible. Among the cultural factors identified The children were sometimes described early was the strong desire of these children as "their own best ambassadors." The Cuban to please their parents and supervisors. youngsters won friends easily. They were Frequent comments were made about their well-behaved in public, good natured, law politeness and conformity. One supervisor abiding, and often very bright. felt, however, that with the arrivals of the Children who were well adjusted in less privileged, "it was not so much a feeling Cuba adjusted well here. An exception was that they wanted to please, but that they had young children who were not adequately pre­ to." pared for separation from their parents. Most Adolescent Cubans, particularly boys, of the older children understood that they who seemed less mature and less aggressive were here to escape Communist indoctrina­ tion and were confident that their family would soon be reunited in the United States if not in Cuba. Many of the younger children did not understand why they had to be separated from their parents. Sometimes the parents failed to explain to younger children for fear of indiscreet disclosures by them to Cuban ;:i::ÍS¡Bll officials. Others thought their children were too young to understand. As the years passed and the children had not been reunited with their parents, some of the older children be­ came confused, resentful, and often hostile because of the prolonged separation. The older Cuban child had a strong feel­ ing of responsibility for younger brothers and sisters. Every effort was made to keep brothers and sisters together. In some few in­ stances, particularly in foster family homes, the older child's sense of responsibility for ' the younger ones had negative as well as

: positive results. But, in most instances, being '•^••• 'm lH|i together was a real help in building the chil­ dren's sense of security. r The matter of relationships between the sexes represented another marked cultural difference. The Cuban girl received the pro­ ^B^B^» tection not only of her parents but of the extended family; strict chaperonage until marriage was an accepted fact of social life. However, the Cuban girls made a good ad­ justment to the freedom of American dating patterns. Very few of them became pregnant out of wedlock. recognized from the beginning of the pro­ gram. The children were protected from physical pain; for example, some from affluent families had not received proper dental care because of the pain involved, and some were accustomed to taking a great deal of medicine to avoid any kind of minor dis­ comfort. It was not unusual for young Cuban boys to take hormones, and their mothers in Cuba would inquire as to whether the boys were getting their medication. Many of the youngsters came from families with servants and had been waited on all their lives. Some children were genu­ inely shocked when asked to take out the gar­ bage or even to pick up their clothes. The Cuban male had an exalted role in the house­ hold; helping with housework or child care was considered unmanly. The idea of a foster family was unknown in Cuba. The Cuban family traditionally pro­ vided care for even distant relatives. The rel­ atively small number of children who had to look to strangers for care in Cuba were provided for in institutions, usually under religious auspices. Many of the parents of Some Americans were critical of the the early arrivals had attended boarding Cubans' gregariousness, noisiness, and volu­ schools in the United States, and some of the bility. Some foster parents found these quali­ children, assuming they would be going to ties difficult to accept and disruptive to the something similar, found themselves in an household. Gradually the children took on overcrowded shelter in Miami or later in a American ways and became more relaxed in congregate type children's institution else­ their new mode of life, and, in turn, the foster where in the country. parents learned to appreciate the spontaneity Some teenagers at first resented living in and charm of the Cuban children. an American family. Although accustomed to While there is said to be less racial dis­ obeying adults in authority, they were slow crimination in Cuba than in this country, the in recognizing the authority of their foster Cubans had sharper distinctions between parents. Often difficulties in communicating social classes. Children from "privileged" because of language differences complicated families tended to ostracize the laborers', the matters. farmers', and the fishermen's sons and daugh­ But children are quick to learn. In a sur­ ters. In the first days of the Unaccompanied prisingly short time, the children were ad­ Cuban Refugee Children's Program, many justing to the new way of life, learning to Cuban youth refused to perform manual communicate in English, taking part in labor, especially in sight of other Cubans. neighborhood, school, and community activ­ Gradually this attitude changed, particularly ities—and enjoying them. after placement in other sections of the coun­ The younger children, for the most part, try. seemed to settle quickly in their foster par­ The almost universal tendency of Cuban ents' homes after the first few frightening mothers to overprotect their children was days. Many families reported that they deeply been reunited with their parents. enjoyed the experience of being foster par­ When our program for these unaccom­ ents to these children. Foster mothers often panied children will end, no one can predict. corresponded with the child's family. In some One thing is certain. It will continue as long instances, when the parents were finally able as there are Cuban children who need it. Its to come to the United States, they were in­ influence will last far beyond its ending. vited to stay with the foster family for a time. Through these children, new links of under­ Parents who followed their children to standing have been forged which will last far this country usually resumed their care al­ into the future. This venture in good human most immediately. The vast majority of the relationships has proved very human indeed. children cared for under the program have

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APPENDIX

The Cuban refugee program for the establishment and maintenance of a refugee center in Miami as the hub of reset­ SOON after Fidel Castro assumed power in tlement efforts. Cuba on January 1, 1959, the population of Recognizing that the problem was one Miami began to swell with the daily influx of affecting not only Florida but the entire Na­ hundreds of Cubans, arriving as "visitors" or tion, President John F. Kennedy in January "students" but remaining as refugees. Some 1961 directed Secretary of Health, Education, of the earliest refugees managed to bring and Welfare, Abraham Ribicoff, to undertake some resources with them. a study of the situation and to develop a pro­ As time passed, controls in Cuba tight­ gram of assistance. President Kennedy speci­ ened, and soon the emigres came with only fied that Secretary Ribicoff was "to make use the clothes on their backs, a few changes of of private services to the refugees to the undergarments, and no money. Still they greatest extent possible" and "coordinate ac­ came—by commercial airlines when they tivities in this field with the Secretaries of could obtain permission to leave, illegally by State, Defense, Labor, and Agriculture and small boats when they could not. And for the with the heads of other relevant agencies." first time in its history, the United States The program as it was developed pro­ found itself a country of first asylum. vided: By late 1960, it was clear that many of 1. Financial assistance, supplemented the more than 30,000 refugees who were in by surplus commodities, to provide the Miami area were in desperate economic food, clothing, and shelter to needy straits. State and local officials, the public refugees registered at the Miami schools, churches, and voluntary organiza­ Cuban Refugee Center and who lived tions had done a splendid job of welcoming in Florida or who resettled outside and aiding the refugees, but the growing Florida with the help of voluntary numbers had exceeded their capacity for agencies. effective help. The Welfare Planning Coun­ cil of Dade County, Florida, called a meeting 2. Financial assistance in relocating ref­ of local public and voluntary agencies in the ugees to homes and jobs elsewhere in fall of 1960, and a Cuban Refugee Committee the United States. was established to work with Mr. Tracy 3. Health services and long-term hos­ Voorhees, Special Representative of Presi­ pitalization. dent Dwight D. Eisenhower. The resolutions adopted by the Welfare Planning Council 4. Assistance to the public schools of recommended that the Federal Government Dade County, Florida, in providing develop a plan to provide services for Cubap. instruction to the refugee children as refugees. well as English instruction and voca­ In November 1960, President Eisen­ tional training to adults. hower allocated $1 million out of the contin­ 5. Loans to refugee students in college gency fund of the mutual security program and funds for English and refresher

11 courses for lawyers, doctors, and tion and now with the Social and Rehabili­ other professional persons. tation Service) handled the resettlement of Cubans in other parts of the country and 6. Care of children unaccompanied by overseas. These four agencies were the Na­ relatives. tional Catholic Welfare Conference, the International Rescue Committee, the Church Administration and coordination of the World Service, and the United HIAS Service. program was first assigned to the Commis­ The U.S. Employment Service in the De­ sioner of Social Security of the U.S. Depart­ partment of Labor handled job placements of ment of Health, Education, and Welfare. the refugees outside the Miami area. When the Department organized a Welfare The Immigration and Naturalization Administration in January 1963, these re­ Service of the U.S. Department of Justice sponsibilities were assigned to the Commis­ certified the status of the refugees. sioner of Welfare. Both the Children's As of April 30, 1967, 243,123 Cuban Bureau and the Cuban Refugee Program be­ refugees had registered at the Cuban Refugee came a part of the Welfare Administration. Center in Miami. Of these, 146,841 have been On August 15, 1967, the functions of the resettled in 2,200 communities in all 50 Welfare Administration were transferred to States, the District of Columbia, Guam, the newly established Social and Rehabilita­ Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. tion Service within the U.S. Department of From the beginning, the Cuban refugees Health, Education, and Welfare. were considered not as intruders but as The Cuban Refugee Program operated friends. Efforts in their behalf were regarded the Cuban Refugee Center in Miami, where not as burdens but as opportunities for serv­ refugees registered to become eligible for ice to fellow Americans, to be given with Federally supported aid and services. Other understanding and generosity. Every effort agencies of the Department of Health, Educa­ was made to leave the refugees free to choose tion, and Welfare which served the refugees their own destiny and the place in which to were: work it out.

The Public Health Service, which screened the refugees for contagious The Children's Bureau has diseases and gave consultation with re­ helped before spect to other health problems. The Children's Bureau has had previous The Office of Education, which assisted experience in finding homes for refugee chil­ in the development of the education dren. On several occasions in the past, the programs and administered the loan Bureau has faced the task of transplanting program for Cuban college students who uprooted children from other countries. would otherwise have had to interrupt their studies. The Bureau first became actively con­ cerned with refugee children's programs early in World War II. The Florida State Department of Public The Children's Bureau was a leader in Welfare, acting as an agent of the Federal the organization, shortly after the fall of Government, administered the distribution of France in May 1940, of the U.S. Committee surplus commodities and financial assistance for the Care of European Refugee Children, and welfare services for Cubans. a nonprofit corporation for the purpose of Four voluntary agencies (under contract coordinating all the resources in the United originally with the Social Security Admin­ States for the care of Europe's young victims istration, later with the Welfare Administra- of war. During the 13-year existence of this

12 Committee, 4,200 children were cared for 18 would be in proper custody, under the through the cooperative efforts of various supervision of an approved agency, and not international, national, and local govern­ permitted to become a public dependent. Chil­ mental and voluntary agencies. At the begin­ dren had to qualify for quota visas, but they ning of this program, the Children's Bureau received preferential treatment. had responsibility for setting standards for The Displaced Persons Act in 1948 per­ the care of these children and for approval mitted the U.S. Committee to bring in 1,462 of the 233 local voluntary children's agencies German, Austrian, Italian, and Greek chil­ in 37 States that offered to participate in the dren under blanket assurances. These chil­ program. dren were under 16 years of age and had From England alone came 861 boys and been orphaned by death or the disappearance girls, mostly between 5 and 16 years. They of both parents. were admitted to the United States in 1940 The U.S. Committee was released from on regular temporary immigration visas. The its responsibility when children were re­ U.S. Committee gave assurance that no child united with parents or adopted, boys joined would become a public charge, that the chil­ the Army, girls married, they reached 21, or dren would be under continuous supervision those 18 to 21 could prove self-support. of the child care agencies designated by the Having fulfilled its original purpose, the Children's Bureau, and that a bond of $50 U.S. Committee was dissolved in April 1953. would be posted as safeguard against future Responsibility for each child remaining under emergencies. Transportation costs were paid care was turned over to the cooperating na­ by the children's parents. Some children went tional sectarian agency in accordance with to the homes of friends or persons having procedures accepted by the U.S. Immigration some business or professional relationship and Naturalization Service. The master card with their parents; others were placed in file with pertinent information on each child homes selected by the designated agencies was turned over to the Children's Bureau for from among the many applicants who re­ preservation in the U.S. Archives. sponded to a public appeal. The work of the U.S. Committee for the The British children were, by statute, Care of European Refugee Children was orig­ under the guardianship of the Crown and inally financed through unsolicited contribu­ were to remain here only for the duration of tions, through public appeals for funds, and the war. Most returned to England when the through funds of various national organiza­ war ended. Evacuation to the United States tions. As the program developed, the national was halted by the British Government in Sep­ voluntary agencies, representing the leading tember 1940 after an ocean liner carrying religious groups, gradually assumed financial 77 children was torpedoed. responsibility for the children. The Federal The U.S. Committee received as quota Government had no financial responsibility immigrants 454 children who had lost or had for these groups of refugee children served become separated from their parents and by the U.S. Committee. relatives in the trek across Europe to escape The Refugee Relief Act of 1953, as the conquering armies in the 1940's. These amended, permitted 4,000 orphans to be ad­ children were placed with relatives in the mitted to this country on special nonquota United States or in foster family or adoptive immigrant visas. These children were or­ homes under the supervision of local child phans because of the death or disappearance care agencies. of both parents or if the only remaining par­ Under the President's Directive Pro­ ent was unable or unwilling to provide care gram of 1945, issued to facilitate the entry and irrevocably released the child for emigra­ of eligible displaced persons and refugees in tion and adoption. Europe, 1,387 children entered the United After the failure of the Hungarian revo­ States. The U.S. Committee submitted a blan­ lution in November 1956, the United States ket affidavit and assurance that a child under experienced the fastest mass immigration

13 since the passage of restrictive immigration were not aware that unaccompanied children laws in 1922. The first of the Hungarian were being sent into the States, nor did the escapees reached the Joyce Kilmer Reception sponsoring agencies seem to be aware of the Center in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on various States' requirements concerning the November 23. Over 30,000 of their fellow- importation of children. countrymen followed them in the next 5 months. Two-thirds of them were under 30, and nearly a third between the ages of 15 and 19. Of the latter, a large portion were Similarities and differences in the unaccompanied by an adult. This was espe­ characteristics of the European refugee cially true of the 19-year-olds, but it was also children and the Cuban refugee true of some 800 to 1,000 adolescents under children 18. Of the 5,300 children under 15, all but a scattered few 13- and 14-year-olds were with at least one parent. Like the English children, the Cubans Voluntary resettlement agencies working came to the United States for a temporary abroad were requested by the U.S. Govern­ period to escape hazards in their own coun­ ment to select and apportion among them­ try expecting to be reunited with their fam­ selves those who were to come to this country ilies in their homeland within a short time. and to resettle those admitted. Few of the The English children came from the econom­ refugees stayed within the Joyce Kilmer ically and educationally advantaged strata Reception Center more than 2 or 3 weeks; of society, as did the Cuban children in the most of them were on their way to commu­ beginning. The Cubans, the continental or­ nities for final resettlement within 10 days. phans, and the Hungarian refugees were While the President's Committee for alike in that they spoke different languages Hungarian Refugees offered coordinating and and came from different cultures. The con­ expediting services to the sponsoring reset­ tinental orphans and the Hungarians came tlement agencies, no standards of placement here to make permanent homes. A majority were required or recommended by the Fed­ of both Cuban and Hungarian refugee chil­ dren were teenage boys. eral Government for the foster home place­ ment of unaccompanied minors. This was in The English children were predomi­ nantly Protestant. The continental children marked contrast with the protections set up and the Hungarians represented the various by the earlier U.S. Committee for the Care faiths in substantial numbers. The great ma­ of European Refugee Children, which asked jority of Cubans (over 90 percent) were the Children's Bureau to set standards for Catholic. child care and to approve the child care The age range of the English children agencies participating in the program. Chil­ (mostly 5-16 years) and the Cuban children dren's Bureau staff, however, did provide (mostly 6-18 years) was roughly comparable. considerable consultation to the resettlement One marked difference was that the Eng­ agencies at the Joyce Kilmer Reception lish and continental children, whose expenses Center. Only one of the resettlement agencies were paid by the voluntary agencies, could made it a policy to inquire through a social remain in care until age 21. The Federal agency about the quality of care a rela­ reimbursement for the care of a Cuban ref­ tive could offer to an unaccompanied teen­ ugee child ceased automatically when the ager. In general, State welfare departments child became 19 years of age.

rt u. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1967—O 267-651

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