“You Can’t Tie and Untie Love That Fast”: Family Preservation and Reunification in Midcentury Philadelphia

This article traces the advancement of modern family preservation theory and practice over years 1946–63 through an analysis of published social work literature and case records from two Philadelphia foster care agencies. It argues that, well before the policy reforms of the 1970s, developments in social scientific theory and in the social work literature combined with the experiences of foster care workers to produce a recommitment to and revisions in the family preservation paradigm. The article also explores the internal tensions generated by family preservation practices and the experiences of so‐called natural and foster parents under the midcentury family preservation model.