physical habits noted and any tendency to disease or nervousness should be noted. Laboratory tests should be made according to the nature of the case; moreover, the doctor should have ample time for the examination. If he is ready for his next case in ten minutes, you may be reasonably sure that his examination has been superficial. Let us not follow the example of one agency which gave up making complete physical examinations because they disclosed so many things wrong with the children that the placing work was hampered.

The mental test should be equally thorough and should be made by a properly qualified psychologist. Experience has shown that scientific tests used to estimate a child's mental abilities are of distinct practical value in determining the kind of special care a child will need. Agencies which have had a psychologist to give each child as a matter of routine the intelligence tests when he first comes under care, and subsequent tests as needed, will agree I venture to say that the tests are not merely a device for academic classification of children, but they are a valuable aid in getting to know a child's mental capacity.

We should not think, when we have studied his history, his physical condition, and found out his rating according to his intelligence tests, that we know the child. There remains still the study of his personality, his tastes, his way of thinking, his habits, his feeling about his own home and about being placed in a foster home. To learn these most significant facts about the child we must have a chance to observe him and a trained and sympathetic person to do it. Lacking this intimate personal knowledge of the child we may make disastrous mistakes in placing him.

Our investigation of the circumstances of foster parents must also be searching. A home investigation can be made only by sending out an agent to see the family, their home, and to consult references and to become acquainted with them in their own environment. The ground work of our investigation should be the material circumstances of the family; their health, how many rooms there are in the house or the apartment and whether the neighborhood is foreign, open, rural, good, or bad; how much the man makes and how they are insured, and what kind of housekeeper the wife is. Equally obvious is it that we must know their standing and general reputation. But this is merely the beginning of our knowledge. We must add to it the same kind of intimate personal knowledge that we have about the child, the special traits of personality which are our real criteria. What kind of people are they, what do they like to do, what do they read, how do husband and wife get on, how well adapted are they to the rearing of a child, why do they want one, what ambitions and standards have they for him? All this is the basis of our future supervision and unless we know it we cannot expect to do successful work.

When we feel that we really know the child in our care and the homes available, we must then use this knowledge in choosing for him the home in which he will have the greatest chance for successful development. Perhaps the family may say, "Send us any nice little girl about eight, with blue eyes." The agency will not be so unsophisticated as to take them at their word; it will select the child with great care.

An agency may be criticized for not using the home with the greatest material advantages, but it must be remembered that there is real hardship for the child in that sense of strain and failure involved in the attempt to live up to standards above his capacity. Likewise there is strain and disappointment for the family and ensuing friction. There is quite as much danger in placing a dull child in a home where the

standards intellectually are too high for him as in placing a promising child in a home where he will have only limited advantages.

Ususally it lies in the power of the agency to direct the course of placements and there is no part of its work more significant and crucial. It has the advantage of the foster family in foresight and experience and it should exercise these qualities in helping them to make as wise a choice as possible, determining it to a large extent beforehand by the type of the child whom it offers. We cannot relax our efforts when the child is placed. Following up the child in the foster home is a very large part of our work. Perhaps we might say that it has two aspects: observation and constructive help. We must see as much as possible of the child's life in the household and in the community and keep track of his health, his recreation, his school work, his religious training, his friends, what work he does and how well adapted it is to his mental and physical capacity, and with the older children, how they are being prepared for self-support. More important even than these factors are the less tangible factors of the interrelation of child and foster family; what he thinks of his foster parents and his new life, what they think of him and how nearly he comes up to their expectations. To learn all this, we must talk with the child by himself, see the foster father as well as the foster mother, and consult the teacher and the doctor. When it comes to practical help the agent may have to straighten out a difficulty with the school, to advise the family what specialist to take the child to or to what school to send him. Where the family's resources are limited the agency will have to help; for instance, in supplying training for handicapped children or advanced education for promising children whose families are unable to send them farther in school.

Children should be visited as often as their needs require from once a day perhaps to once in six months. So far as possible, children should be successively visited by the same agent, particularly the older or difficult children. Two things in particular the visitor should keep in mind: first, that supervision and everything which is done for the child should be as unobtrusive as possible, remembering that the child belongs in spirit to the family and not to an agency; second, she should keep in mind the child's whole case. That means having in her mind when she calls upon the child his family history, the reports of the dotcor and psychologist, and all that is known of his personality. She should keep especially clear the effect of the child's background upon his attitude toward his own family and his foster family. It is never safe to let one's attention become focused upon special problems to the exclusion of a vision of the situation as a whole. The visitor should have the same complete awareness of the foster family, keeping in view any characteristics which were marked out for special attention.

In order to do this work well an adequate staff is essential; adequate not only in number but in quality. There must be expereinced supervisors, capable of co-ordinating and checking up the work of the visitors and keeping it uniform throughout all departments. The agency must have the services part or full time of doctor, nurse, and psychologist. A large child-placing agency will probably need a publicity worker. The staff should include sufficient clerical workers to keep the records up to date and accessible. This means stenographers and file clerks. Information should be fully dictated and promptly recorded and filed where it is serviceable. Perhaps most important of all the staff are the field workers who in a sense are the pivotal point. It is they who are personally in touch with the children and the foster families and it is their judgment upon which most decisions are based. It is not enough that the visitor should love

children. She must be able to understand them and grown-ups as well. She must be unprejudiced and have human sympathy, capable of deciding wisely in an emergency, and not too single-tracked or inflexible mentally.

Obviously child-placing is expensive work. Expert work comes high but it is safe to say that it pays and that superficial and inferior work does not pay. Child-placing cannot be done cheaply because there is no part of it which can safely be skimped. It is true that haphazard placing may bring a fair proportion of individual successes, but the smaller proportion of cases in which slack work results disastrously makes me say that it does not pay to fall below the minimum standard. No child-placing agency doing wholly good work so long as any of its children is inadequately cared for. is

An equally urgent reason for doing intensive individual work is the knowledge that it gives which can be formulated into principles. Good case work is good laboratory and good research work; and the goal of these is knowledge which can be turned to practice. In other words, good work done for one child is good work done for all children. This means not only foster children, but all dependent children—we may even say all children. Any advance which we make in knowledge, any improvement which we can make in the care of the foster child is likely to result in a more intelligent treatment of children as a whole.

Let me sum up briefly the main qualifications of a good agency: first, an understanding of the child, secured through a field investigation of his family history, through competent and thorough mental and medical examinations and through close observation of the child himself; second, knowing the foster home, by means of a visit at the home, interviews with members of the family and consultations with references, and the most discriminating scrutiny possible, both of these inquiries being made by a worker with sound judgment, an impartial mind and the ability to observe and understand people, and with experience to check up her findings; third, fitting the child and the home to each other, by interpreting and making use of all the reports, sizing up the possibilities of child and family and making as shrewd a prognosis as possible of the results of combining them; fourth, furthering the child's development in his foster home by constructive supervision, that is, by keeping in close touch, by giving the family the benefit of the agency's experience, by explaining the child's point of view to them, and by supplying, if necessary, special medical and mental examinations, advanced education or trade training; fifth, formulating general principles from special cases. This means keeping one's mind open and critical, constantly checking up methods by their results and by revising policies in the light of fresh knowledge and experience.

PROGRESS IN LEGAL PROTECTION FOR CHILDREN
BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK

Emma O. Lundberg, Director of Social Service Division, Children's Bureau,
United States Department of Labor, Washington

During the past two legislative sessions more than a fourth of the states have added more or less important amendments to their illegitimacy laws. The most striking of these, the amendment passed by Arizona in 1921, is practically a copy of the earlier North Dakota law declaring "every child to be the legitimate child of its natural parents," but unfortunately this state also failed to make adequate provision for the

establishment of paternity which is essential if the child shall derive any material benefit from the principle stated. There has been some advance in several states in the methods of securing support and in the amounts of the payments required. During the present year New Jersey and New York were added to the District of Columbia, Illinois, and Hawaii, giving the juvenile court exclusive or concurrent jurisdiction over cases for determining paternity or securing maintenance for children born out of wedlock.

Undoubtedly the most significant work that has been done in the interest of legal protection for these children handicapped by the circumstances of their birth, is that undertaken by the committee of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. It will be remembered that the action of the Commissioners in creating such a committee followed the request of Miss Lathrop, then Chief of the Federal Children's Bureau, that they consider the possibility of uniform legislation on the subject. The Committee on Status and Protection of Illegitimate Children was appointed in 1920, and under the leadership of its chairman, Professor Ernst Freund, has prepared two reports. The first of these was presented to the conference at its annual meeting in 1921. The conference considered the report of the committee and the bill drafted by it, and the general discussion that resulted brought out various criticisms and suggestions which have been taken under consideration by the committee in connection with its second report, to be presented at the 1922 meeting.'

In commenting on the draft prepared by the committee, Professor Freund says: "The committee has endeavored to frame a measure which would have a prospect of being not only approved by this conference, but, also by the legislatures of the different states." He says further that the committee used as the basis for its work the recommendations of the regional conferences held in 1920 under the auspices of the Federal Children's Bureau and the Inter-city Conference on Illegitimacy, and the syllabus prepared by the committee subsequently appointed by the Children's Bureau. The bill deals almost entirely with the obligation of the parents for the child's support. The registration of illegitimate births has already been covered in the Model Birth Registration Law. In the first draft of the bill by the committee, there were included sections relating to legitimation, rights of inheritance, the mother's right to custody, judicial establishment of paternity, and other matters relating to status. These were later omitted because of the radical differences of opinion encountered. The chairman of the committee says, in explaining this limitation of the bill to support obligations, "The regulation of the status of the child does not present an urgent social problem, much as it is to be desired in the interest of better justice."

Professor Freund calls attention in particular to the following provisions of the proposed bill, which he says in most states constitute innovations: first, making the father's estate liable after his death; second, provision for payment to a trustee; third, provision for probation; fourth, placing restraints on compromise agreements; fifth, concurrent criminal liability; sixth, extra territorial operation of remedies; seventh, improved limitation provisions; eighth, enlarging the right to support, both in amount and duration; ninth, removing needless references to illegitimacy.

Under the proposed bill "the parents of a child born out of wedlock and not legitimated owe the child necessary maintenance, education, and support." The father is

This draft, after minor amendments, was approved by the National Commissioners on Uniform State Laws at their annual meeting Augus! 7029, and recommended to the States for adoption.

liable for the expenses of the mother's pregnancy and confinement. The obligations of the parents to support the child under the laws for the support of poor relatives apply to children born out of wedlock, and this obligation is not discharged by complying with the judicial decree for support or with the terms of a judicially approved settlement. The obligation of the father, where his paternity has been judicially established in his life-time or has been acknowledged by him, is enforceable against his estate-in such amount as the court may determine, having regard to various factors specified relative to the child, his mother, and the father's lawful family.

The proceeding to compel support may be brought by the mother, or if the child is likely to be a public charge, by the authorities charged with its support. After the death of the mother, or in case of her disability, it may also be brought by the child acting through his guardian or next friend. The proceedings may be instituted during the pregnancy of the mother or after the birth of the child. Proceedings for support shall not be brought after the lapse of more than two years from the birth of the child unless paternity has been judicially established or has been acknowledged by the father in writing or by the furnishing of support. The trial shall be by jury, if either party demands a jury, otherwise by the court, and shall be conducted as in other civil cases. Both the mother and the alleged father shall be competent, but not compellable, to give evidence. The trial, being civil, may be had without the personal appearance of the defendant, but in such case the trial shall proceed as if he were present. If the defendant fails to appear, the security for his appearance shall be forfeited and shall be applied on account of the payment of the judgment.

The judgment shall be for annual amounts, equal or varying, and payments may be required to be made at such periods as the court directs, until the child reaches the age of sixteen years. The court may require the payments made to the mother, or to some person or corporation designated as trustee. The payments shall be directed to be made to a trustee if the mother does not reside within the jurisdiction of the court, and the trustee shall report to the court annually or oftener the amounts received and paid over. The court shall require the father to give security for the payment of the judgment. In default of such security he may be committed to jail. After one year he may be discharged, in accordance with the law relating to the discharge of insolvent debtors, but his liability to pay the judgment shall not be affected thereby. Instead of committing the father to jail, or as a condition of his release from jail, the court may commit him to the custody of a probation officer upon specified terms regarding payments and personal reports. Upon violation of these terms the court may commit or recommit the father to jail. Where security is given and default is made in any payment, the court shall cite the parties bound by the security, requiring them to show cause why judgment should not be given against them. The court also has power to adjudge the father in contempt and to order him committed to jail. The commitment of the father shall not operate to stay execution upon the judgment of the bond.

An agreement or compromise made with the father concerning support, by the mother or child or by some authorized person on their behalf, shall be binding upon the mother and child only when adequate provision is fully secured by payment or otherwise and when approved by a court having jurisdiction to compel support of the child. The committee points out the necessity for providing that no compromise shall be permitted without the safeguard of judicial approval. The court has continuing jurisdiction over proceedings brought to compel support and to increase or decrease the amount