Wizard Orphanages (WAS Hagrid's Personality)

[annemehr]

No: HPFGUIDX 47869

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "shane dunphy" <dunphy_shane at h...> wrote:
 
> Sherry again:
> >Certainly the VoldeWars would have necessitated some kind of 
orphan-care 
> >arrangement if there had been none before, although that would have 
been 
> >after Hagrid's time. But something else occurred to me in reading 
this. Why 
> >would Tom Riddle have been sent back to the *Muggle* orphanage if 
Hogwarts 
> >were closed?
> 
> Me:
> This occurred to me too, and I've re-read the relevant passages in 
CoS and 
> GoF which deal with Tom Riddle's and Hagrid's situations and in GoF 
we also 
> hear of the Neville situation, another example which, in the MW, 
would be 
> dealt with by social workers if there was no family to step in.  In 
none of 
> these cases is there any mention of a wizarding social services or 
of any 
> formalised response to child-care or child protection needs.

Anne:

This discussion has caused me to wonder about a few things for the 
first time:

If TMRiddle's mother was a witch giving birth, then *how* in the world 
did he end up in a muggle orphanage?  My most logical guess is that 
his mother, who was from Little Hangleton, simply returned there after 
her husband abandoned her (read, "kicked her out").  Perhaps she was 
trying to have the baby on her own, as sometimes happens, when things 
began to go very wrong, and she just stumbled out to the muggle house 
next door for help.  This assumes she was the only magical person in 
the village.  Then, of course, baby Tom ended up in a muggle 
orphanage.

But now what happens?  Somewhere (at Hogwarts?), Tom's name appears in 
the book which records magical childrens' births (canon insofar as it 
came from a chat w/JKR).  Doesn't someone look at these until the 
child turns 11?  Wouldn't someone know that a wizard had been born?

Then, 11 years later, a Hogwarts letter needs to be sent.  We have 
discussed before on this list the idea of how the WW breaks it to 
muggle parents that they have a magical child, but now some wizard has 
to convince the head of an orphanage?

Seems to me it would have been much simpler if a witch came to claim a 
day-old Tom Marvolo Riddle from the muggles; she would have needed 
only a mild memory charm and everything would have been tidied up as 
far as the muggles were concerned.  Of course, this may have taken 
away TMR's reason to frame Hagrid, unless he was living with a very 
nasty magical family indeed...

> 
> (2)  I have, however, noticed that, despite the very obvious 
presence in the 
> canon of abuse issues, the *attitude* towards it seems to be very 
different 
> to ours.  The treatment of Harry by the Death-Eaters, and 
subsequently by 
> Dumbldore et al, at the end of GoF is a classic example: a child, 
after 
> witnessing the brutal murder of a friend, is tortured and almost 
killed for 
> the gratification of a group of adults (again, I know that there 
were larger 
> reasons in terms of the magical plot, but that aside, it still 
constitutes 
> child abuse).  Harry, after his escape has a few nice chats with 
Dumbledore, 
> is given the wizard equivalent of a sleeping pill,  has a bit of a 
cuddle 
> with Mrs Weasley and then is sent on his way back to a summer of (at 
best) 
> neglect with the Dursleys!  Is any counselling sought out for him?  
No!  
> This strikes me as incredibly cold and callous.  I know that there 
is the 
> whole  magic protection thing going on at Dursleys, but couldn't 
Dumbledore 
> have sent a message stating that Harry had been unavoidably detained 
at 
> Hogwarts, and arrange some form of more in-depth therapy?  Do 
wizards have a 
> different undertanding of the effects of trauma?


I suppose Harry must have been sent right to the Dursleys because the 
need for his protection is all the more urgent.  Ron did tell Harry 
that Mrs. Weasley had a discussion about this with Dumbledore, so 
perhaps we will find out early in book 5 that something more has been 
done for Harry.  I certainly hope so, but JKR does seem to skip over 
some stuff that I, for one, would certainly like to read about!

Anne