There was a rise in conflicting views in regards to the orphan train movement, indentureship, apprenticeship and placed out. The almshouses were constructed for the adults and the mentally ill since there was a need to house children separately from the adults. Growing awareness of the child welfare issues in these unsynchronized led to some governmental action to scrutinize and alter their strategies. Increased awareness and concern of the children’s well-being led to the state and government and federal involvement. The National Labour committee which was created lobbied for the formation of the federal children’s bureau that was to gather and distribute information regarding the children’s wellbeing (Wulczyn et al, pg. 280, …show more content…
They believed that the children should not labor all day, and miss out on healthy recreational activities that would improve their mental state. The National Labor committee was formed in the year 1904, to call for the need for child labor legislation that prohibits the employment of children under a specific age. Before the need for labor legislation, orphaned children, children with either disabled or widowed parents, and those who lived in farms were exempted from child labor. Some of the parents and farmers insisted that this practice would help them for the survival, and therefore were against its abolishment. The American labor laws stated that the minimum age did not apply for the minors that worked in their parents or guardians farm. Children that were between the ages of ten to thirteen were permitted to harvest crops after school hours. The 19th and 20th-century child labor movement laws protected the child’s workers, but were not able to protect the ones that worked in the farms. The orphan train movement emphasized the use of children as farm laborers, which up till now is hard to