Mooseheart in the Child City

This episode of "It's Your Life", produced by the Chicago Industrial Health Association, focuses on juvenile delinquency, this time focusing on its prevention. We visit a 4-year-old boy at Mooseheart, a facility that works with young, at-risk boys.



This episode is due in part to interest on a previous show on juvenile delinquency.
Ben Park takes to a time where young boys are set on the path for the straight and narrow, instead of potential life of crime.
Herbert interviews a 14-year-old at the St. Charles Institution** who had been found guilty of theft. They next interview a 9-year-old boy who was thought to be on the path to delinquency.

From here, we are taken to Mooseheart, which has a population of mainly children, and is known for catching children before they become delinquents. Here we are to meet a 4-year-old boy. First, however, we meet his nursery school teacher, who describes some of the young boy's anti-social behavior.

Park takes us to a staff meeting of child guidance experts discussing the boy. We hear from a psychologist who tells us about the child's need for consistent love and affection, which he has not received.

Park tells us that up to a point, the two paths - normalcy and delinquency - are one, but at some point there is a fork in the road and children must find their way back. One way back they attempt at Mooseheart is through play therapy.
Herbert takes us to the boy in the midst of a play therapy session. Herbert is behind a two-way glass, observing. He discusses his treatment with one of the boy's therapists.

Commercial break

Herbert gives a description of the boy's session from behind the two-way glass. We can hear the boy and his therapist as well. The boy is allowed to undertake activities common to children younger than himself, such as drinking from a baby bottle rather than a cup or a pitcher. Park tells us this lets him go back to a time when he was loved more deeply.

Herbert asks the therapist how the opportunity to pretend will help the young boy act in more socially accepted ways. She tells him that by pretending, he will be released from the tension he is under. Once he learns the role of the adult and is accepted for what he is, he can be more easily socialized and grow up naturally.

Park recaps the program.

Commercial break.

Park teases the next week's program, where Herbert visits an emergency room.

Audio courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives WNYC Collection

WNYC archives id: 150116
Municipal archives id: LT1954