I have spent the last few years researching the history of MacLaren Hall in archives and I will be posting information I uncover about its creation and evolution here as I find it...
| The History of MacLaren Hall | ||
| Copyright © 2009 Kirsten Anderberg. All Rights Reserved. | ||
| Years | Uses | Sources |
|---|---|---|
| 1940's - 1950's | 1940's-1950's: Sister Kenny Home for polio; July 2, 1949: Abused child, aged 7, placed in MacLaren Hall; July 10, 1949: MacHall used as overflow for juvenile hall; Oct. 20, 1951: Neglected 3 year old taken to MacLaren Hall; Apr. 26, 1959: 14 foot security fences put up for new home for juvenile girls at MacLaren Hall | Los Angeles Times |
| 1960's - 1970's | Jun. 12, 1960: Construction to start on home for juveniles | Los Angeles Times |
| 1980's - 1990's | MacLaren Hall | Law suits by A.C.L.U., Los Angeles Times |
| 2000 - 2003 | MacLaren Hall is closed June 2003 amidst abuse law suits | A.C.L.U. law suits, Los Angeles Times |
| Current (2009) | MacLaren Hall compound not used for residential use but still used by county | County records |
How to get MacLaren Hall Records
If you were in MacLaren Hall and are looking for your records, good luck! Everyone I have talked to that has tried to retrieve their Mac Hall records hit a brick wall with the County. But here is a map of how I tried to get my records, and failed, thus far.
I contacted the Los Angeles County Council for the Children's Services Division at 201 Centre Plaza Drive, Suite 1, Monterey Park, Ca. 91754. I was sent a letter signed by a paralegal named Thomas P. Bray, that said I needed to sign a "Declaration in support of access to juvenile dependency records (WIC 827/828)." This "declaration: form asked only for my name and address, my mother's maiden name, her birthdate, and what my relationship to the minor, me, was. I filled out the form (aka the "declaration") and sent it back. That was in January 2006.
In a letter dated March 20, 2006, I received a letter from paralegal for the County of Los Angeles Council, Thomas P. Bray. This is the entire text of the letter: "The DCFS juvenile dependency records you seek could not be located. Unfortunately, all efforts to locate the physical files have been unsuccessful; the file has been misplaced. Should you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me at your earliest convenience."
There are long, long trails of records for most of us that went through Mac Hall. My trip to and through Mac Hall involved records from the police, the social workers involved, health records, school records from school I attended on the Mac Hall grounds, the judges who were at trials, the foster care system I was released into, etc. But now they say that there are no records of the time that Los Angeles County was my custodial parent.
I am angered at the glib treatment of my request for my own records from Mac Hall and my trip through the "child protection" system in Los Angeles during the 1960-1970's. If any other survivors of Mac Hall have tried to get their records, I would be interested in what routes you took and if you were successful. Maybe *one of us* can find out where they have stashed all of our records, if we put all our information together!
You can reach Thomas Bray at 323-526-6236, or you can write him at County Counsel, L.A. County, Children's Services Division, 201 Centre Plaza Drive, Suite 1, Monterey Park, Ca. 91754.
MacLaren Hall Survivor Email List
You can join the MacLaren Hall Survivors Email List/Community by going to http://lists.riseup.net/www/info/machallsurvivors.
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