DEDHAM TEMPORARY HOME FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN, 1864-1986

The Temporary Asylum for Discharged Female Prisoners (TADFP) was incorporated on 30 April 1864, its object being "to provide shelter, instruction, and employment for such women as have been discharged from the Correction Institutions of the State, and who, with a desire to reform, have no home but the abode of vice and misery." Located in Dedham, Massachusetts, the asylum came into existence largely through the efforts of Hannah Balch Chickering. The youngest of seven children born to Jabez Chickering and Dorothy Deborah Alleyne Chickering, HBC, through her experience as a "self-appointed visitor, librarian, and chaplain" to women at the Dedham Jail, was convinced of the "imperative need" to prepare inmates for their return to society while they served their sentences. Instruction was given at the asylum in "all branches of domestic service and needlework" and in the basic elements of a "common school education," and arrangements were made to find employment for the inmates after leaving the asylum. Initially the asylum was supported by voluntary subscriptions, the earnings of the inmates, and a small appropriation by the state; legacies later created an endowment.

Extending her interest to the reform of penal institutions, HBC visited prisons across the state, and in 1870 served on an advisory board to investigate and suggest improvements in the management of state prisons. One recommendation was the establishment of separate jails for women, and in 1877 the Reformatory for Women was opened at Sherborn. Other reforms included a "ticket of leave," the forerunner of the present parole system, and an indenture law (1879) giving inmates the opportunity to live in private homes.

With prisons putting into practice many of the policies of the asylum, it was decided, in 1910, to amend the charter, changing the name to the Dedham Temporary Home for Women and Children, and the function to another form of social service: the convalescent care of women and children. About this time the home also became known as Chickering House, in memory of its founder; the DTHWC remained its legal name, however. In 1943 the Charter was further amended to include care for men. In 1946 funding from the Greater Boston Community Federation was suspended and Chickering House was therefore closed. Income on the endowment continues to provide convalescent aid through disbursements to established charitable agencies and social service departments of hospitals.