Public Document No. 17 QJlje QjDtnmnnuiealtlj of MussmifrntttB ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF Public Welfare FOR THE Year ending November 30, 1930 Publication of this Document approved by the Commission on Administration and Finance 2800 6-*31 Order 2709 €t)e Commtmtoeatti) of ffia$$act>n$ttt$ DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE. Richard K. Conant, Commissioner, Representatives: To the Honorable Senate and House of Public Welfare covering the The Eleventh Annual Report of the Department of 30, 1930, is herewith respectfully year from December 1, 1929, to November presented. Department of Public Welfare. Members of the Advisory Board of the Date of 1 Expiration ^PPoiSint Name Residence Boston December 10, 1931 December 10, 1919 AC. Ratshesky . December 10, 1931 R. Brackett December 10, 1919 Jeffrey December 1, 1933 George Crompton Worcester' December 10, 1919 SoSnafteS September 19, 1929 December 10, 1919 *GeorgeHMcClean December 10, 1932 Eliot Sheffield .... ^mCambridgebridge December 10, 1919 Mrs. Ada December 10, 1932 Brooklme . Mrs. Mary P. H. Sherburne . December 10, 1919 Holyoke December 1, 1933 October 9, 1929 John J. O'Connor . Divisions of the Department of Public Welfare. Boston House Division of Aid and Relief: Room 30, State Frank W. Goodhue, Director Miss Flora E. Burton, Supervisor of Social beryice Mothers Aid Mrs. Elizabeth F. Moloney, Supervisor of Edward F. Morgan, Supervisor of Settlements House Division of Child Guardianship: Room 43, State Miss Winifred A. Keneran, Director Division of Juvenile Training: 41 Mt. Vernon Street Charles M. Davenport, Director Executive Secretary Robert J. Watson, , , . ^ , Branch Miss Almeda F. Cree, Superintendent, Girls' Parole Parole Branch John J. Smith, Superintendent, Boys' Room 37, State House Subdivision of Private Incorporated Charities: Incorporated Charities Miss Caroline J. Cook, Supervisor of Charities Miss Florence G. Dickson, Supervisor of Incorporated Charities Miss Alice M. Mclntire, Supervisor of Incorporated State House Subdivision of Housing and Town Planning: Room 37, Planning Boards Edward T. Hartman, Visitor to City and Town Infirmaries: Room 37, Supervision of Boarding Homes for the Aged and State House Infirmaries Francis Bardwell, Supervising Inspector of of Public Welfare. Institutions under the Supervision of the Department Superintendent State Infirmarv Tewksbury. John H. Nichols, M.D., ftaSKiMtal ScLol, Canton. John E Fish M.D M^t A. Keeler bupenntendent Lyman School for Boys, Westborough. Charles Campbell, Supenntendent Industrial School for Boys, Shirley. George P Catharine M. Campbell, bupenn- Industrial School for Girls, Lancaster. Miss tendent *Deceased. 2 P. D. 17 Part L REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC WELFARE. The solution of the question of old age assistance, which was arrived at this year, places Massachusetts in the front rank in care and protection for its aged citizens. Unlike the laws of most of the states which had gone into effect pre- viously, the Massachusetts law is state-wide and compulsory. It requires local boards of public welfare to give adequate assistance to deserving citizens seventy years of age or over who are in need. This new law opens the way for a develop- ment of social service for aged persons which should become as widespread and as generally effective as has been the development of social service for children. It is as noteworthy an advance in our relief laws as was the Mothers' Aid Law. The administration of this law upon good social service principles, with medical social service and careful case work, will be of far greater importance than the admittedly great benefit which the money and assistance will provide. We must provide the necessary social service for an estimated number of 8,000 persons over seventy years of age at an estimated cost of about $2,500,000 a year, in addition to what the cities and towns are already spending for the care of aged persons. Unlike the laws of some other states, this statute does not fix a maximum of $7.00 a week. It has the important advantage of elasticity. We expect that this elasticity, the new standards of adequacy, and the good case work which will result for persons over seventjr }^ears of age will, in a few years, so affect the method of assisting all aged applicants of whatever age that the same principles will be applied to their care. The assistance is to be given by city or town boards of public welfare under the supervision of the State Department. The State will reimburse one-third of the cost in settled cases and the whole cost in unsettled cases. The law goes into effect July 1, 1931. The underlying principles of the measure are adequate assist- ance at home, individualized treatment of each case, and local administration with state supervision. On December 1, 1930, the Department presented a preliminary report of its survey of crippled children and asked for further time in which to file a complete study. This survey is not to be regarded as an attempt to enumerate all children with physical defects which ordinarily are classed as crippling; hence the figures are not to be compared with such as might be obtained by the routine examination of all children and the recording of every physical defect found. Surveys of crippled children have generally attempted to list every child with a defect of the bones or muscles, regardless of whether this was sufficient to be a real handicap, including, for example, children whose only defect was a slight case of rickets or the loss of a finger. In this survey, however, it was deemed better to make a more intensive study of those children who were so crippled as to interfere seriously with their education or work, and to assist as far as possible in providing proper care and education for those who were not already receiving it. This ought to give a picture of the children in the state who are really crippled. In order to have the decision as to whether or not the children should be included in the survey made uniformly by one investigator, it was necessary to extend the study over a longer period of time than would have been the case if we had been willing to rehr upon less careful and uniform standards of decision. Up to Novem- ber 1, 1930, it has been possible to cover approximately three-fourths of the children reported, and among these children 4,135 were found who were seriously enough handicapped to be included in this survey. In regard to these 4,135 children, a few of the significant facts were presented in the preliminary report (House Docu- ment No. 7). During the progress of the survey, the Legislature of 1930 enacted a law which will be of much use in perpetuating this work in behalf of crippled children. Chap- ter 368 of the Acts of 1930 requires cities and towns to make an annual census of crippled children, under the supervision of the Departments of Education and Public Welfare. This should in the future prevent crippled children from escaping unnoticed when they are in need of treatment or education. Merely to perpetuate this survey, as this act has done, is a great forward step. In addition, the law provides for home teaching of crippled children in towns where there are five or : Pt. I. 3 more so crippled as to make attendance at a public school not feasible and who are not otherwise provided for. The organization of these classes and the approval of the home instruction in each instance is to be approved by the Departments of Education and Public Welfare. This provision will give an opportunity for the two departments to develop a system of special education and social service to meet the needs of crippled children. For the sake of securing the necessary infor- mation to guide the departments in this supervision, the completion of the present survey is essential. The individual reports have already proved of the most definite value in providing the necessary information about the children who have been listed by the towns for home teaching, subject to the approval of the depart- ments. If the initial complete state-wide survey can be completed at this time, it will make much easier for the cities and towns the work of carrying on the required annual surveys. The legislation of 1930 seems to us sufficient for the present. In another year, if its operation points to necessary changes, they can be recommended by the supervising departments. The value of the present survey will lie in the complete discovery of the facts about crippled children, and in the establishment of a system of case work to provide for all those who need further care and treatment. For two years a special commission, upon which this Department was repre- sented by its Commissioner, has been studying the laws relative to dependent, delinquent and neglected children and children otherwise requiring special care. Its report to the Legislature (House Document No. 1200 of 1931) recommends many changes in our laws. After a painstaking study of the laws of this and other states, we have gone as far as it seemed practicable to go in each field of inquiry towards setting up an ideal system of child welfare laws and administration. The most important recommendations which affect the work of the Department of Public Welfare are as follows Dependent Children. 1. For the purpose of securing better protection for children between two and seven years of age who are placed in foster homes, away from their own families or blood relatives, supervision by the Department of Public Welfare should be extended to cover children so placed up to the age of seven years. 2. To secure protection for children brought into Massachusetts from other states for placement in foster homes, and to guard against their becoming public charges, the Department of Public Welfare should be authorized to regulate such importation of children and to require security for their proper care and support.