Source: (2006) Paper from “The Next Step: Developing Restorative Communities, Part 2,” the IIRP’s 8th International Conference on Conferencing, Circles and other Restorative Practices, October 18-20, 2006, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
My paper arises out of an ongoing historical study of an institution, Bethany Childrens
Home, which was founded in 1863 in Southwark, Philadelphia but has been located in the
heartland of the Pennsylvania German peoples at Womelsdorf, since October 1867.[1]
Historically restorative practices were a part of the regime instituted at Bethany from the
beginning, though not in the forms which today dominate the literature of the restorative
justice movement; and today it is very much a community steeped in restorative
practices. Since the beginning, Bethany has been keenly aware of its role in the
(re)integration of children-orphans or others- into civil society and the importance of
preparing them for that eventuality. (excerpt)
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