[Ads-l] "forever home"

Fri Oct 22 14:20:30 UTC 2021

The phrase was used by the "Children's Home Society" in June 1959.

Date: June 19, 1959
Newspaper: The Whittier News
Newspaper Location: Whittier, California
Article: Children's Home Auxiliary Future Forecast At Installation Luncheon
Quote Page 6, Column 6
Database: Newspapers.com

https://www.newspapers.com/image/683989970/

[Begin excerpt – check for typos]
"Older children can be more readily helped in such a setting; and even
tiny babies reflect the personal love and care of their foster
family," she said, adding that all of the children are regularly
checked at the society's clinic. When the child goes to his new
"forever" home, he is well adjusted both physically and emotionally,
according to the direction.
[End excerpt]

The last word might be a mistake in the newspaper article. The word
"director" makes more sense, I think.

Garson

On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 9:52 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
<adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Thanks to Stephen and Dave. It looks like "forever home" with the
> pertinent sense was in use by December 1962. I only looked in
> newapapers.com, and my search was impeded by the irrelevant matches
> generated by simple queries. Hence, this should be antedatable.
>
> Date: December 16, 1962
> Newspaper: The News and Observer
> Newspaper Location: Raleigh, North Carolina
> Article: Children Want 'Forever Homes'
> Section 4, Quote Page 15
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> Children Want 'Forever Homes'
>
> Some children want shiny electric trains for Christmas. Some want
> dolls that talk and cry. Four children, now in the care of the
> Children's Home Society, only want "forever homes."
>
> A "forever home" is a place of one's own with one's own mother and
> father, not a foster home or a temporary home but one for always—like
> other children have.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
> On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 9:18 AM dave at wilton.net <dave at wilton.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > It appears that the phrase started to gain currency around 1971, at least that's when the hits in ProQuest Historical Newspapers start. Here's the earliest I've found in a quick search (searching for "forever home" and "adopt"):
> >
> > “Custody Battles Mar the Joys of Adoption.” Philadelphia Daily News, 12 October 1971, 39. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
> >
> > “In any case, the child now legally belongs to its new parents, to a ‘forever’ home. ‘No one can get that child away from you,’ says Mrs. Noyes."
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: "Stephen Goranson" <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> > Sent: Friday, October 22, 2021 8:17am
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: [ADS-L] "forever home"
> >
> >
> >
> > Not sure if this fits your request, but Christian Register [Boston MA] July 4, 1846, p. 108 [4]/1 has a poem, “From the Orphan’s Advocate,” “Mary and Jesus” By Mrs. M. E. Robbins, [Readex Am. Hist. Newsp.] about child Jesus wearing clothes Mary made and ends:
> > The garments which her dear child wore
> >  Would more and more become
> > Like to the heaven which beamed on him
> >  His own forever home.
> > The Orphan’s Advocate and Social Monitor [1845-1852] apparently was also published in Boston.
> > Also reprinted in Godey’s Lady’s Book Aug. 1, 1845 [Ebsco]
> > Stephen
> > ________________________________
> > From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Nancy Friedman <wordworking at GMAIL.COM>
> > Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2021 6:41 PM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Subject: "forever home"
> >
> > I'm looking for the origins of this phrase in the secular sense: a
> > permanent home for a foster child or a pet. OED has only "Heaven, his
> > forever home" (1910).
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> >
> > Nancy Friedman
> > Chief Wordworker
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.wordworking.com__;!!OToaGQ!4a8r4-7SDODf0LsswRE_MfgdYRBKHZioWOfb-WXnIUG5gUha4dxkg9ulb-aRd1Sm$
> > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://nancyfriedman.typepad.com__;!!OToaGQ!4a8r4-7SDODf0LsswRE_MfgdYRBKHZioWOfb-WXnIUG5gUha4dxkg9ulb_g2Zty8$
> > Medium <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://medium.com/@wordworking__;!!OToaGQ!4a8r4-7SDODf0LsswRE_MfgdYRBKHZioWOfb-WXnIUG5gUha4dxkg9ulb2YWTUiM$ >
> >
> > tel 510 652-4159
> > cel 510 304-3953
> > twitter/instagram Fritinancy
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.americandialect.org__;!!OToaGQ!4a8r4-7SDODf0LsswRE_MfgdYRBKHZioWOfb-WXnIUG5gUha4dxkg9ulb6qnlgbZ$
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org