Introduction
I have been supporting Dr Amanda Sheely on a project that focuses on the development of the state supervision of poor families in Los Angeles. In particular, we have focused on how probation, the criminal justice system and welfare institutions have affected poor families, namely mothers. The majority of my time working on this project consisted of focusing on archival research from the LA Public library. The documents included annual reports, records, meeting minutes, memos and other relevant documents.
The other part of the project was focused on preparing for the LSE Interdisciplinary Conference for student researchers. I was able to present a segment of the archival research, focusing on the Florence Crittenton Home and how maternity homes in the early 20th century speaks to a wider issue of reproductive rights and motherhood. In light of this research, it taught me that the use of language is essential in constructing certain narratives - e.g many documents listed these unwed mothers as ‘women’, when in reality, many were young teenagers. Furthermore, it wasn’t a positive maternity experience for many of these girls as many had to ‘surrender’ their children to adoption homes, without being informed of their legal rights.
Overall, the findings reveal that whilst gender, race and class are prevalent, it’s important to consider disability and immigration when understanding state provisions at this time.These findings trace how the categorisation of groups and the services seen to best match their needs have led to social policies that often penalise marginalised communities. This research contributes to the wider debates on social inequality, institutionalisation and how social policies are enacted as a form of social control, over women in particular.
Methodology
Since the project focused on the early 20th century, methodological reflection was crucial as I had to immerse myself in that specific time frame. I sifted through documents from the Council of Social Agencies of Los Angeles, the Carmen Combs papers, Los Angeles Florence Crittenton Home Records and reports from the Commission of Immigration and Housing of California. Due to the large volume of documents, organising and colour coding came in handy as I was able to label what documents were relevant or irrelevant to the research.
Learning Outcomes
As a Sociology student, I’m familiar with social policy but my knowledge was fairly limited until I became a research assistant for this project. I learned so much about how the criminal justice system and welfare policies affect institutionalisation today, namely with disabled people and how institutionalisation is undeniably racialised and classed. Although this research was mainly focused on historical documents, the content I learned can definitely be applied to our contemporary society. When I was presenting at the LSE Interdisciplinary Conference, I briefly commented on the specific link between forced adoptions, maternity homes and reproductive justice. Lastly, I have a better understanding of how nurses acted as agents of the state.
Personal Experience
I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to work as a research assistant. It was an enriching experience and I’d like to thank Amanda, Ade, Joss and the rest of the Centre for the support on this project. It taught me the importance of being organised due to the monthly check-ins with Amanda. Presenting at the conference enhanced my public speaking skills and it was a cool experience because I was able to engage in interesting discussions with other scholars. Not only that, it exposed me to the world of research and how exciting it can be. I’m interested in researching young women’s perception of motherhood and how contemporary digital movements might affect their opinions. As this research project touched on mothers, I believe some of the knowledge I gained through this scheme could be of use for my dissertation next year.