Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/234

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

in which she had been living by purchases from an installment company. She had failed in her payments, and the company had removed every piece of furniture from her home. Hitherto she had always insisted that the furniture was her own.

Mrs. Quinn had expected that the social worker would come to the rescue as she had on many another occasion. The social worker, however, saw in the woman's predicament an opportunity to help her to make a change in her way of life. Instead of offering the financial assistance that would have removed the immediate difficulty she agreed to the plan that Mrs. Quinn had suggested. Obviously, a family of seven ought not to live in two furnished rooms and it would be necessary to make provision elsewhere—either in an institution or in a private home—for at least three of the children. Mrs. Quinn was heart-broken. To be separated from her children was more than she could bear. She was told that there was a way by which she could reunite her family. All she need do was to demonstrate that she was a fit mother for them. Let her prove her ability to take proper care of the remaining children. Let her endeavor to train them to be truthful instead of setting