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| Butterbox Babies |
True story behind 400-600 kids who were starved to death by a couple who were running a maternity home.
The Ideal Maternity Home functioned as a maternity home from 1928 until 1947 by William Peach Young, a chiropractor and unordained minister of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, and his wife Lila Gladys Young, who was a midwife, and she advertised herself as an obstetrician. Their Maternity home was eventually shut down by government
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| The Ideal Maternity Home |
They have opened as The Life and Health Sanitarium
It was named Ideal Maternity Home (IMH) in the late 1920, This unlicensed maternity home promised both maternity care for local married couples, they also provided private birthing and placement (adoption?) of babies born out of wedlock.
The mothers were charged 500 USD for their services and the average wage was around $8 at the time.
Many of those babies were given to Jewish families for adoption.
When the mothers couldn't afford to pay $500 to the Youngs they had to work 18 months in the Maternity home to pay off their debts
They have also sold babies in the black market, illegally adopted the babies out ($10,000 per baby). They have only housed 80 to 125 babies and they were the largest in Eastern Canada With 80-125 babies housed.
Later on it was discovered that the Youngs would purposely starve unmarketable babies to death by feeding them only molasses and water.
The babies who died were buried in small wood boxes used to store dairy products on the property adjourning to a local graveyard, cemetery, sometimes babies cremated, (burned, not actually cremated) or thrown out to sea etc.
They even told married couples that their babies died in birth but in real they have basically sold the babies to highest bidder.
Upon request or to meet the customers desires separated the siblings, it was estimated that at least 600 babies died either because of the poor conditions, lack of sanitation , hygiene or died at the hand of The Youngs.
In 1934 government (local, gathered evidence against the Youngs, despite their admirers, government did not have the evidence, probably not enough evidence to shut the Maternity home, or they didn't have the skills, the power to shut the Maternity home.
It was ofcourse a failure for government not being able to close the maternity home. and ofcourse it was also a failure for government not being able provide social policy at least a modern one on those areas.
In 1935, The Youngs were convicted of fraud, and in 1936 they were charged with manslaughter in relation to the death of a baby and mother.
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