Orphans In Kentucky
In July, 1961, at Paducah, Kentucky, Mr. Richard J. Clendenen, State commissioner of child welfare, made a speech in which he stated that there was a "tragic number" of children available for adoption in Kentucky and not enough homes in which to place them. The Courier Journal, a Louisville newspaper, carried the story of the speech. The article appeared in the newspaper during the course of the Grider-Woods debate in Louisville.
Unable to find any scripture to support the benevolent institutions he was defending, brother Woods carried the article into the stand with him and made a play upon it. Woods started calling for a show of hands of those who would "take one of these children." During the course of taking the vote, Woods became involved in an argument with people in the audience and had to be called to order.
Smarting under the spanking he was taking, Woods couldn't wait until the debate was over to "start reporting." He dashed off an article and had it run in the Childhaven news. The Childhaven news is a publication of the Benevolent Society known as Childhaven, Inc., of Cullman, Ala. The children at Childhaven were led to believe that there were literally hundreds of children in Kentucky whom we might adopt but whom we refused to adopt. This is one of my main objections to the orphan homes operated by my brethren. The minds of the children in these homes are so warped by the propaganda and falsehoods told them that they will have a difficult time ever adjusting themselves to society. In all probability many of these children will lose their souls because of the hatred instilled in them by the men who pretend to love them so dearly.
The TRUTH about the "tragic number" orphans Kentucky came out three or four days after the article from which Woods made his play. The same Courier Journal carried ANOTHER article in which the Director of the Family and Children's Agency, Inc., declared that "many telephone calls" came to his office from people "who thought that many infants were available for adoption." The Director declared that the children referred to by Mr. Clendenen were older, handicapped, and minority-race (negro) children. The Director went on to declare that "adoptive agencies have the continuing problem of more applications to adopt white infants than the number of such children available." (Emphasis mine, ACG)
So we have this situation. Guy N. Woods and Barney Brock, without investigation and without understanding the facts, misinformed the children at Childhaven and all others who read the Childhaven news. But so far they have failed to see the TRUTH about the matter. They have not, as yet, corrected the slander they spread upon the pages of Childhaven News. It is true, no doubt, that they were ignorant of the facts when they printed the misinformation. But they are not ignorant now!! The only question is, will they correct their misrepresentation of the Christian families in Kentucky?
Several other false statements characterized the article by Woods in the Childhaven News. But we wanted to correct the most flagrant one; the one concerning the children in Kentucky who were available for adoption. Most of the children mentioned in the Courier Journal article and "used by Woods" to further his false doctrine are NEGROES whom the orphan homes Woods was defending will not take!