Hospitals indicate that approximately fifty psychotic children are admitted each year to the state hospitals, it is therefore recommended that two more twelve-bed cottages should be added to the Study Home”—seemed to be a fallback decision. The report further states, “It was hoped that the three mental hospitals might establish in one of their institutions a children’s ward with proper personnel and a program to service the approximately twenty-five psychotic children now scattered among the three institutions. Since this proposal has not proved capable of accomplishment, and since the need to provide adequately for these children remains as pressing as ever, the committee has concluded and accordingly recommends … the inclusion of these children in the Study Home.”
The subcommittee also recommended that “a psychiatric study home should not be established on the grounds of any existing institution in the state” and voted unanimously in favor of the recommendation.
The final recommendation was that “the home be planned in terms of eight twelve-bed cottages, or a total bed capacity of ninety-six,” and an additional twenty-four beds for psychotic children. The subcommittee estimated that the cost of funding this venture would be $308,198, of which $198,198 represented expenditures for personnel and the remaining $110,000 for costs of operation.2
THE CHILDREN OF CONNECTICUT VALLEY HOSPITAL
On 1 October 1953, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health with John Blasko as commissioner replaced the Joint Committee of State Mental Hospitals. Elias J. Marsh, previously with the Department of Health, Division of Mental Hygiene, and an outspoken advocate for children, succeeded Blasko in July 1957. Marsh was instrumental in moving ahead with the development of appropriate services for children residing on adult wards. He therefore ordered a full assessment of all children sixteen and under in Connecticut psychiatric hospitals. This included Norwich Hospital, Norwich; Fairfield Hills Hospital, Newtown; and Connecticut Valley Hospital, Middletown (then known as Connecticut Hospital for the Insane). His assessment showed sixty children housed on the various adult wards—eating, sleeping, and mingling with adult psychiatric patients. This meant that, on any given day in 1957, you might run into a seven-year-old autistic girl sharing a room with a sixty-seven-year-old psychotic woman.
Finally, after years of discussions, modifications, site searching, and various other delays, the State of Connecticut appropriated $250,000 to build Connecticut’s first Child Study and Treatment Home for emotionally disturbed youngsters. The result of these discussions was the building of High Meadows in Hamden, Connecticut. Unfortunately, funding was sufficient to house only a limited number of beds, many fewer than had been requested.
After a lengthy search, the state appointed Charles Leonard as the first superintendent of the newly constructed High Meadows. In a personal interview conducted on 1 May 1990, Charles shares his account of what happened:
The original plan was to have beds for sixty children, but even though the money had been approved on paper, the General Assembly only released enough for one building serving twenty children: fourteen boys and six girls. When it opened, everybody thought we would be able to take all the troublesome kids and of course that wasn’t true…. So the big questions came up about two years after High Meadows was built (about 1959 or ’60): one, how come High Meadows wasn’t taking these kids, and two, if High Meadows isn’t going to be the answer … then what about these kids in the adult wards?3
Dorothy Inglis, newly appointed chief social worker at High Meadows, interviewed each child, read every record, and performed clinical evaluations. In an article published in the Journal of Orthopsychiatry and presented at the 1957 annual meeting of the unit’s board, she and coauthor Elias J. Marsh reported the results of their study. In their summation they conclude: “Mental hospital use for children points to the need for the community to review its resources and its problems, to bring programs inherited from the past in line with the present knowledge of human behavior. We may have many worthwhile individual programs. However, they must be coordinated in a community-wide effort to meet the full range of children’s needs. Until this is done those who are not provided for may continue to be found in places never meant to serve them, such as the state mental hospital.”4
This remarkable study—as well as increased pressure from the professional community, hospital superintendents, the acting commissioner, and the legislators—led to the consideration of bringing all children under sixteen years of age to a single hospital as a demonstration project.
Exactly why Connecticut Valley Hospital was chosen is not clear, but certainly its central location was a major factor. While superintendents from each of the three hospitals—Ronald Kettle of Norwich, William F. Green of Fairfield Hills, and Harry S. Whiting of CVH—were reluctant to admit children into their hospitals, Whiting apparently accepted the responsibility.
Unfortunately, the children were not housed together; they were placed “wherever feasible throughout the hospital.”5
In September 1958, Wilfred Bloomberg was appointed commissioner of the Department of Mental Health, and the intention was to establish nineteen new positions at the proposed children’s services at CVH. When hospital administrators were unable to find a psychiatrist interested in overseeing the CVH program, Max Doverman, the former superintendent of the Children’s Welfare Center in New Haven, stepped up as coordinator. His job was tough. He had responsibility for CVH’s children, but very little authority. Children were still housed on the adult wards. The psychiatric residents on the individual wards provided the “treatment,” and Doverman was responsible for education and recreation. In 1960 a full-time psychologist, Herbert Gewirtz, was hired. Although new personnel placement continued, change occurred slowly. In his July 1960 report, Whiting wrote, “The Children’s program did not make the progress during the year that we have hoped it would. Efforts consisted largely of trying to provide better care for the children we have with a very limited staff until recently as it was predominantly a volunteer service.” He also disclosed that the children continued to be housed on the adult wards and the coordinator’s responsibility was pretty much limited to education and recreation.6
To compound matters, once the decision had been made to admit more children to CVH and word spread that a children’s program existed (albeit in its infancy), a floodgate opened. More and more children arrived at CVH. Whiting and Doverman hired eight college students to oversee evening and weekend recreation activities. This was a significant step forward because it constituted the first sustained, structured program outside of school and gave hope to the care staff that things were going to improve. Mike Karwan, the recreation director, and Louise Johnson provided clinical support. Some of the college students eventually became full-time employees. Susan Reale returned as a social worker, and Carl Sundell can be found in this history filling many roles, including superintendent. Also at this time, Sal Allessi joined the staff as a part-time clinical psychologist who provided clinical supervision to the small staff. Sal quickly became an essential teacher and supervisor, particularly in the area of group psychotherapy. But for the moment, in 1961, progress was painfully slow. In a rather clear reflection of frustration, Whiting’s report for September 1961 contains the following:
The number of children under 16 is increasing rapidly. The admission rate has exceeded the rate of progress toward development of the children’s program. There has been much misunderstanding between the hospital, the central department and the State Budget Department. As a result, we are still struggling to get positions that were granted by the legislature. There has been an alarming increase in the number of disturbed young people. Almost none of these young people are psychotic but are behavior disordered. However, the other institutions claim they cannot handle them…. The boys are a very disturbing influence, with acting out and stimulating the adult patients to do the same.7
In mid-1962, Max Doverman resigned as coordinator, and Whiting asked Herbert Gewirtz, the psychologist assigned to children’s services, if he would like the coordinator position. He accepted,
