Analysis of data drawn from admission/discharge records on children (N = 12,254) in 14 institutional care homes in a 7-county area of south central Pennsylvania from 1910-1965 reveals that average length of stay (LOS) increased up to the mid-1930s, despite decreasing admissions. A crisis in orphanage care was clearly brought on by the Great Depression: free foster home care declined and younger children were discharged less frequently, raising LOS rates.
