The Austrian Child Protection Movement

The study will be divided in three main parts: 1. History, activities, national and international cooperations of voluntary child protection associations from mid 19th century until 1914 with special focus the gender dimension. 2. The practical work of child protection associations with special emphasis on the perception of violence against children within the family and their measures against it. 3. The influence of voluntary associations for child protection on the development of civil society and the emerging welfare state with special focus on the activities of women. The first part will focus on the two biggest child protection associations in Vienna and the two most important nationwide organisations. I want to analyse gender relations and the influence of women as well as the ideological, political and religious differences between the organisations and the influence of these attitudes on their practical work. Within the associations I want to look at their origins, the self-concept, their members and activities, the practical work and their strategies with public institutions, financiers, and other organisations and also at their activities in formulating legal amendments and in awareness raising for the problem of child abuse within society. In the second part of the research want to analyse the practical work of the organisations and to find out how violence against children within families was perceived both on the individual case and as phenomenon in society. The perception of violence against children is strongly connected to images of family, gender roles and childhood within society. A change in these images in turn had far reaching social and political consequences for all members of the family. To find out what the activists "saw" when they encountered an abused child in the individual case I want to explore in detail some of the published case descriptions. The third part of my study I want to embed my research in a bigger context and deal with the democratic potential of voluntary social organisations for the development of "civil society", the interplay between public institutions and voluntary associations within the developing of the Austrian welfare state and with special consideration on female agency within this process. Furthermore I want to and find out if and how concepts of "mixed welfare economy" or "welfare pluralism" are applicable to the Habsburg Monarchy in the case of child welfare and how women and the women`s movements were involved in this process.

This research project explored the foundation and development of the first child protection associations in the Habsburg monarchy beginning from the 1830-ies and 1840-ies until the beginning of World War I. The first part of the research is dedicated to a profound analysis of the social, political, economic and cultural discourse of the time on violence against children in the fields of pedagogy, medicine and justice. The foundation of so called Rettungshaeuser by the associations was defined in contemporary discussions not only as saving and protection houses for the proletarian youth but also as institutions for the protection of society and the state. Under these preconditions it comes as no surprise that the first child protection associations in the Habsburg monarchy developed out of prisoners associations. Since there didnt exist any public institutions for children in difficult social situations unless they were orphans, in the following decades child protection associations were founded by voluntary organizations of various political, religious or secular convictions. These associations not only built childrens homes on a private basis but they also sensitized the public view with publications, the organization of public events and exhibitions, and the promotion of legislative reforms. But there was also critics since the child protection activities of these private and voluntary organizations had no legal basis. The third part of the study is dedicated to the development of a national network of child protection associations beginning around 1900. As I am showing, this networking was not established in a uniform way but it depended very much on the initiative of active personalities who not only had the knowledge but also the political power to take influence on local institutions. Therefore early Landesvereine für Kinderschutz und Jugendfürsorge existed very often in a combination of private and public initiatives and institutions. As two examples for this networking I am researched the foundation of the pioneer network organization Zentralstelle für Kinderschutz und Jugendfürsorge founded as a voluntary association and the Kaiserjubiläumsaktion Fuer das Kind , both developed after the first conference on child protection that took place in Vienna in 1907.