The Legacy of the Big Sisters Association
The Big Sisters Association in the 1950’s and 1960’s
After World War II, there was a significant rise with teenage troubles and homelessness. Despite not having enough funding, the Big Sisters Association worked tirelessly to make sure the girls are taken care mentally, physically, and emotionally. They wanted to make sure teenagers grew up to be mature happy adults. However, at this time this goal was ambitious as a lot of the time the Big Sisters Association had to deal with girls abandoned by their parents.
Iko-Images, Depositphotos – Young happy teenage girls having fun in summer park
The Goal of the Big Sisters Association
In February 14th of 1958, the Big Sisters officially stated their goal for teenage girls. Their goal was to have troubled teenagers transform and become mature happy adults (Big Sisters say, February 1958. Teenagers Same As Parents).
Big Sisters Say, February 1958 – Teenagers Same As Parents
The Big Sisters Association sponsored Big Sister Youth Services, which was one of only a few places where girls could get counselling services at the time. This legacy can be seen with YouthLink Youth Services seen with their what’s up walk in clinics.
YouthLink Youth Services – What’s Up Walk in Clinics
So at this time, they would be one of the most important counselling services girls could get in the 1950’s and 1960’s. They served girls from 12-21 (Youth Services Need Help to Expand).
December 1961 – Youth Services Need Help to Expand
The Big Sisters Association helped a lot of people in the 1950’s and 1960’s. This included a documented case of a girl being helped by the Big Sisters.
blogTO – This is what Toronto streets looked in the 1960’s
Documented Case of Big Sisters Helping
The Big Sisters task was full as they faced kids who had no direction, had no boss, and were torn between parents. These cases happened even with families with good incomes causing the youth to stay up all night and steal (Jo Carson, Family Counselling. Carefree Youth is Often Only Myth). There is one documented case where a kid was helped by the Big Sisters Association.
Picture of 1960 Carefree Youth is Often Only Myth Article
One was a conscientious teenager who took care of her family through washing, cleaning, and cooking. However, one day she suffered from lack of sleep, exhaustion, and proper nutrition. Desperate for more direction, she was told by another teenager to talk to the Big Sisters Association.
The Big Sisters Association dealt with the issue as they sent a “Visiting Homemaker” with good food and a proper rest. This eliminated the immediate pressures the girl faced and helped her face the situation at home again. Furthermore, this case was just one of many cases where the Big Sisters Association helped girls going through emotional, physical, and mental problems.
The Big Sisters helped a lot of girls in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In fact, one year they helped 1,065 girls. This was almost 300 cases more than the girls they helped the previous year. This included cases where girls were living alone with no family member and were suffering from their own moral, physical, or emotional danger (Now Big Sisters Need our Help).
Picture of the Article “Now Big Sisters Need Our Help”
Proposed Services by the Big Sisters
The Big Sisters Association as a recurring them in their history comes up with new, innovative ways to help troubled young girls (Problem for Big Sisters, Fear Publicity While Doing Good) between the ages of 12-21.
December 1961 – Youth Services Need Help to Expand
Their ideas were ahead of time. The Big Sisters Association took what they learned about the teenagers and their needs and two provided two proposed services that years later Big Sisters provide as YouthLink.
One of the proposed ideas telephone services was a 24-hour telephone answering service. Miss Lugsdin, a member of the Big Sisters said that many girls would not come to the agency for help, but would be more likely to approach a social worker via the telephone. This idea came up at a time when telephones just became part of mainstream society in Canada. This can be seen with CBC in 1945, where they felt that telephones had become a necessity, not a luxury. They cited that almost one out of every fifth person owned a telephone as a reason for this.
The second idea the Big Sisters Association came up with was a new residence that girls can stay in Cleveland. This residency was called “Magnolia House” (Big Sisters Dream House Will Help Girls ‘Grow Up’). The goal of this residency is to connect with girls living with emotional or physical distress from their personal lives. The company felt that girls living in a residency would reduce or eliminate the disconnect girls had at home. This idea was novel at the time, especially considering that the Big Sisters Association were one of only a few counselling services available for kids at that time. Ironically, YouthLink just did something similar creating a state of the art bed facility for homeless youth to sleep in.
Big Sisters Dream House Will Help Girls ‘Grow Up’ Article
With all the help and proposed ideas Big Sisters provided, there were problems that Big Sisters faced including money concerns and unfortunately an increasing amount of girls who become depressed and had no self-esteem.
Problems Big Sisters Faced
Wilde, R., June 22. ThoughtCo. – When and How Did World War II End
After World War II ended, there were three problems Big Sisters faced. One problem was that girls were depressed and alone, with no self-esteem. This is because they were abandoned by their parents and felt abandoned by the world. Furthermore, in a historical context, jobs for women increased dramatically during World War II. According to Veterans Affairs Canada women jobs dramatically increased from 600,000 to 12,000,000 when men went off to work. Women took many of the men’s civilian jobs and even had some military jobs in World War II.
Canadian History Project – Women Working in a Propeller Factory
However, by the time World War II ended, men who went to war demanded their old jobs back before World War II began. According to Striking Women, Women at Work it caused a massive drop-off for women working in the workforce. The girls were growing up in this tumultuous time, which did not help things for the Big Sisters Association. They did not have enough funds and starting paying some of their staff through their funds.
However, despite that the Big Sisters Association accomplished a lot of achievements at time period. Their legacy will not be forgotten even to this day as the Big Sisters are now YouthLink.
Documented Case of Big Sisters Helping
The Big Sisters task was full as they faced kids who had no direction, had no boss, and were torn between parents. These cases happened even with families with good incomes causing the youth to stay up all night and steal (Jo Carson, Family Counselling. Carefree Youth is Often Only Myth). There is one documented case where a kid was helped by the youth.
One was a conscientious teenager who took care of her family through washing, cleaning, and cooking. However, one day she suffered from lack of sleep, exhaustion, and proper nutrition. Desperate for more direction, she was told by another teenager to talk to the Big Sisters Association.
The Big Sisters Association dealt with the issue as they sent a “Visiting Homemaker” with good food and a proper rest. This eliminated the immediate pressures the girl faced and helped her face the situation at home again.
The Big Sisters helped a lot of girls in the 1950’s and 1960’s. In fact, one year they helped 1,065 girls. This was almost 300 cases more than the girls they helped the previous year. This included cases where girls were living alone with no family member and were suffering from their own moral, physical, or emotional danger (Now Big Sisters Need our Help).
Campbell, S., 1971. Star Staff Writer – Big Sisters need help for counselling work
The Legacy of the Big Sisters Post-World War II
The Big Sisters Association dealt with a lot of financial troubles after World War II. This included the Big Sisters Association being forced to use some of their funds to pay their employees.
Air Museum – Women Advertised for the Canadian Red Cross During World War II
The Big Sisters Association also had to deal with women losing a lot of jobs in the 1950’s and 1960’s after they gained these jobs in World War II when the men went off to war. This would have likely led to disputes in the family and as a result made the child feel abandoned.
However, despite that the Big Sisters Association helped many girls in Toronto. One year they helped over 1,065 girls who were emotionally and physically damaged. This includes a documented case where the Big Sisters helped a girl suffering from exhaustion and lack of nutrients.
The Big Sisters Association also came up with some novel ideas, one being a new 24 hour answering telephone service. This idea came from the concept that girls did not want to talk directly to social workers about their troubles, but would not mind picking an answering machine and talking about their troubles via the telephone. This was innovative back in the day when telephones were just starting to be used at that time. The phones at the time were rotary telephones used from the mid 1950’s to the 1980’s an example of a rotary phone can be seen below.
A Globe Newspaper on the Problem for Big Sisters “Fear Publicity While Doing Good”
Yew, M. Business Reporter, Toronto Star, April 2012 – Rotary phone, Dial up the Memories
Furthermore, the Big Sisters Association also planned to create a girls’ residence. The hope of this residence was that it would eliminate the barriers of home between girls and social workers at Big Sisters.
Similarly, YouthLink is also creating something similar in Scarborough. They are creating a homeless shelter for youth living on the streets. This shelter will be the first homeless youth shelter for youth since 2015 in Scarborough.
The history of YouthLink is vast and their significance is being felt. That is why it is so important to remember the work their predecessors the Big Sisters Association did for Toronto. This is because without the work the Big Sisters Association or the Big Sisters of Metropolitan Toronto did there would be no YouthLink.
Staff, blogTO – This is how Toronto looked like in the 1960’s