Christmas at St Joseph's Orphanage, Lewiston, 1946
Item 67731 info
Franco-American Collection, University of Southern Maine Libraries
However, the small staff at the orphanages was faced with large numbers of children and very limited resources (a ratio of up to 100 children to every sister); deprivations and the use of corporal punishment were commonplace.
These difficulties increased as the 20th century continued, and funding for church institutions was harder to come by.
Several factors contributed to the decline of both the parish schools and institutions like the orphanages: state and federal services began to replace the church-provided safety net for families, parents were keener to integrate their children into English-speaking environments, and the use of family planning methods greatly reduced the size of Franco families.
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