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which Ohio has been doing since 1913 through its Board of State Charities, as that is the department with which I am connected.

We will consider first the administrative functions of the children's department as it is worked out through what we term the Child Caring Division of this department. Dependent children may be committed to the Ohio Board of State Charities by the juvenile court or transferred from county children's homes. In ten counties the entire placing out program of the county children's homes is being handled by the state department. At present this division is caring for 1,500 children, the majority of whom are in foster homes. Some are in boarding homes and some in hospitals. In the latter group are included crippled children who are committed for medical treatment only. These crippled children are cared for in the various hospitals of the state which do orthopedic work and, when released, are returned to their own homes. The expense incurred in orthopedic cases is paid for by the state from a fund appropriated for that purpose. A nurse with special training in the treatment of orthopedic cases makes the contacts with the hospitals and does the follow-up work after the children go back to their families.

The standards of procedure followed by the Child Caring Division in case work, social history, physical examination, correction of defects, etc., are those of recognized social agencies and need not be discussed further at this time.

In Ohio we have the county home plan. There are sixty counties out of a total of eighty-eight which maintain county institutions for the care of dependent children. In addition, there are about 125 private institutions and agencies. The state institutions which receive children are also under the supervision of the Board of State Charities and are licensed by this board. Since the new boarding home law was passed in 1919 the Board of State Charities has been licensing every private home which boards any child not related by blood or marriage for hire, gain, or reward.

We shall consider first the inspection and licensing of institutions. Ohio's conception of efficient institutional inspection is not superimposing upon the agency the standards which the Board of State Charities believes are proper minimums, but rather helping the agency to set for itself proper standards for its activities. The spirit of our Ohio law is not the police method spirit. It is true we are provided with badges, but we carry them in hidden places for use in emergencies only. The spirit in which the board has attempted to function is that of constructive service.

In making a study of an institution the problem is approached from these angles: first, intake; second, physical plant; third, administration; fourth, institutional regime, including education, recreation, religious training, physical and medical care. In a word, the entire life of the child within the institution; fifth, outgo.

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be agreed upon. There was some further explanation concerning the need for work of this sort and it was also assumed in the letter that the institution would be desirous of availing itself of this opportunity to have the assistance of the state. Since last June children in 48 county homes and 15 private institutions have been examined, and it has been one of the best pieces of demonstration work we have ever done. To have the local physician discover that Johnny Jones, who had never been confined to his bed a day since he came to the institution, had diseased tonsils, was 15 per cent under weight, had almost no vision in one eye, and was running a slight temperature, was a revelation. A careful and detailed report was sent back to the institution of the physician's findings, the treatment recommended, and suggestions given for the care of children who were underweight.

Just before coming to Milwaukee we mailed the necessary blanks for routine re-examination to the homes where the survey was made in June and July, 1920, asking that the same thing be done this year. We offered our assistance if it was considered necessary, but suggested that it be done without us if possible. On the day I left Columbus we received a notice from one of our poorest counties that their doctor had completed the work. It meant a great deal more to the board to have this response from such a county than from some of those in our more prosperous regions.

The standardization of records is also the responsibility of the board, and we have finally learned that in many instances the lack of records does not indicate an adverse spirit but a lack of understanding. Therefore, we have gone to the institution and done the actual work involved in the installation of a record system.

The statute under which the Board of State Charities operates provides that an institution which is refused a license because of poor standards may not receive children or solicit money. After every constructive means we know has been employed to get an institution on its feet and we are convinced that it is not trying to pull itself up, then, and then only, does the board refuse a license. Whether the institution be county, state, or private, makes no difference. The same law covers all classes of child-caring institutions.

The boarding home law has been in operation for about two years. As stated before it provides that any individual who boards a child not related to him by blood or marriage must be licensed if he accepts money or other remuneration for his services. This law has made it possible to control some exceedingly bad situations which hitherto could not be corrected because there was no law covering the case. In eight of the largest cities in Ohio local.social organizations serve as unpaid representatives of the Ohio Board of State Charities and recommend boarding homes for license or refusal. The board sets the standards for the investigation of these homes and then accepts the recommendations of the local bureau. This plan has been devised because at present the machinery of the Board is so limited that it is a physical impossibility to have all of the investigations made by the official staff of the Children's Welfare Department.

The final function of the Ohio Board of State Charities is the investigation of requests for incorporation. Whenever the Secretary of State receives an application for incorporation of a society which proposes to do anything which sounds like social work it is referred to the Ohio Board of State Charities for investigation. It then becomes the duty of the Board to diagnose local conditions, to determine the need for such an activity, whether it can be met by an existing agency, and whether the incorporators are reliable. This makes it possible for the state to direct into proper channels the fine, altruistic impulses of society, without which the world would be decidedly hard-boiled, and to weed out the irresponsible organizations that are looking only for some means to raise funds, ofttimes for some purpose other than that stated in the incorporation.

No state supervisory body that is worth while ever seeks to snuff out private enterprises, which we shall always need. But certainly it is entirely proper that there be in every state a public department which will make it possible to direct private agencies to the end that they will give the community what it needs most. Perhaps the following illustrations will indicate how this works out in Ohio.

In a city in northwestern Ohio, having a population of 20,000, a group of women decided that a day nursery was an absolute necessity. One of our staff arranged that a definite piece of preliminary work be done to determine the need of the proposed nursery. In that town there was what was called a Finnish district, but which was now Italian. The organization with which we were dealing was sure that a great many of the Italian mothers were leaving their children while going out to work. At the end of a month, during which the preliminary work was done by local persons, a meeting was called and we were asked to be present. At the opening of the meeting the president of the club announced that the preliminary work had been completed and that it showed very definitely that their city did not need a day nursery. Five families were found that needed such service, but they were so widely scattered that a nursery located centrally could not serve them, and another solution was possible.

Ohio's conception of the state's relation to private agencies is that through the department which is responsible for the licensing and standardization of these agencies there may result a more complete realization of ideals.

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DIVISION V-THE FAMILY

MOTHERS' PENSIONS

A. PROBLEMS OF ADMINISTRATION

Joel D. Hunter, General Superintendent, United Charities, Chicago

The facts as to the departments of the government administering mothers' pensions are to be found in Bulletin No. 63 of the Children's Bureau.

It is the purpose of this paper to discuss some of the tendencies in administration under the judicial branch of the government and some under the executive, and then to guess which is tending toward the higher efficiency.

The judicial branch of the government has been the branch that has been most free from political corruption. Quite often when there has been a desire to place governmental responsibility where it will be free from undue political influence it has been placed with the courts. Recently in Cook County the independent voters were more aroused than they have been for many years because of an open attempt of the Lundin-Thompson politicians to elect their henchmen to the circuit court. For the first time these gangsters were beaten and badly beaten. The ordinary citizen winks at a good many things in other branches of the government which he objects to in the judiciary.

For those who are in favor of the administration of mothers' pensions by the judicial branch of the government the record of the judiciary, as compared with that of county supervisors of the poor and sinfilar officers, is a strong argument. It is safe to say that throughout the country a majority of county and township supervisors of the poor have been political appointees with no particular preparation for their responsibilities. Administration by courts is more likely to be free from politics than any other administration. Score 1 for the judicial branch of the government.

Most of the irregularities and inefficiencies in mothers' pension administration have been, not in the large cities, but rather in counties in which there is no large urban community. In at least half the counties of Illinois the pensions granted are inadequate or else the law is very poorly administered or both. To the question, "How can proper methods be introduced in each county?" the best answer seems to be, "By centralized supervision and control."

There are theoretical and practical objections to the state, through its e officers, supervising the activities of the judicial officers of the county. The cal objection is that in our system of government we have been committe policy of keeping the legislative, the executive, and the judicial branches of the ment distinct. It is argued that it would be a policy fraught with danger : the executive department of the state to supervise any judicial activities.

Again, there are practical objections to state supervision of courts officers. These are the jealousies of the judges and their consciousness of po

freedom. A few judges would welcome state supervision, feeling that it would result in the common good, but a majority would not be able to see that supervising from outside could possibly have any such result.

The most satisfactory law so far as state supervision of local executive officers is concerned is that of Massachusetts. The law reads:

SEC. 5. State board of charity to have supervision. The State board of charity shall hereafter supervise the work done and measures taken by the overseers of the poor of the several cities and towns in respect to families in which there is one child or more under the age of fourteen, whether or not such family or any member thereof has a settlement within the Commonwealth; and for this purpose may establish such rules relative to notice as they deem necessary and may visit and inspect any or all families aided under this act, and shall have access to any records and other data kept by the overseers of the poor or their representatives relating to such aid; and said board shall, in its annual report to the legislature, report upon the work done by its own agents and by the overseers of the poor in respect to such families, any of whose members are without legal settlement in the Commonwealth; and shall make a separate report on the work done by the overseers of the poor in respect to such families in which all the members have a legal settlement in the Commonwealth.

There is less jealousy and less theoretical objection to overcome if state supervision is applied to county executive officers than to officers appointed by the judges. Centralized supervision is necessary to obtain an efficient state-wide administration of the excellent laws which we are discussing. This satisfactory change in legislation and administration is occurring much more rapidly in states in which the administrative responsibility is placed elsewhere than the judiciary. Score I for executive county administration.

Something which should not be given without state supervision but which should invariably go with it is state aid. In ten out of the sixteen states which have some sort of state supervision state funds are used. There are at least three reasons for state aid:

First, it makes state supervision much more acceptable to local authorities That statement needs no elucidation. If a prize is to be given for good and efficient behavior, those who have any merit at all will welcome inspection.

Second, state aid makes state supervision more effective. When a considerable amount of the state's funds are involved, the officials of the state will be more inclined to select intelligent and experienced administrators of the law than they would otherwise, and these same administrators will be more careful in their investigations and more thorough in their reports when they know that state aid to county funds depends upon them and their reports. Also the power to effect changes in local administration is increased manifold by a financial leverage.

Third, state aid with state supervision will provide adequate relief in many counties where such relief is not being given. In Illinois and probably in many other states many local authorities in numerous counties do not grant all they can under the law, when even the maximum would be inadequate. State supervision alone would not be able to effect the amount of relief given nearly as quickly as would state supervision with state aid. The reasons given to show that state supervision is more likely to be obtained when mothers' pensions are administered by executive county officials apply also to state aid. Score 2 for executive county administration.

Fourth, when mothers' pension laws were originally passed it was felt that they would have an immediate effect on the population of children's institutions and the number of children placed in family homes. The effect was hardly noticeable. Why?

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