This is John Batcheler, conversation with the author Marilyn Brookwood of her book Orphans of Davenport,

Eugenics, the Great Depression, and the war over children's intelligence. I speak to Maryland about how it is that in a hundred

years we went from condemning children because of their parenting or because of their

circumstances when babies, one and a half one year old how we went from that

to where we are today understanding the depths of knowledge of all human beings and that

eugenics was a distortion of reality, an unacceptable distortion of reality. In 100 years, the Maryland describes how it is

that the researchers who revealed the fact that children were not condemned by their parenting

were not condemned by their parenting, were not condemned by their circumstances,

were all gifts.

Maryland describes how in the state of Iowa these two researchers traveled around and discovered the wonder of

intelligence wonder of intelligence in infants. Here's Maryland to describe. This is a

big battle. It's all behind us, but to appreciate the

depths of it you must understand going into a home of an adopted baby with the fear the parents have as you will take it away because it

flunks your test.

Here's Marilyn, much more later.

What they're doing, it's not a term in test. What they've done because they know some children of this age so well is put together some kinds of questions and things for children to do.

Can you, if I tell you to put the spoon in the cup

and stir it, can you do that?

If I tell you to draw a circle, can you do that? If I tell you to tell me what does this word mean? Can you do that? And so they have it, they have these tests they're giving to these children.

They're driving everywhere in Iowa

because the state of Iowa

won't approve the adoptions unless the children

...