Old-Age Asszstance Recipzents: Reasons for Nonentitlement to Old-Age and Survivors

by CHARLES E. HAWKINS*

Even under the 1950 amendments to the Social Security Act, known to have had no employment there are many aged persons in this country who are not able of any kind after 1936. So that these to qualify for benefits under the old-age and survivors insurance interviews could be conducted with a program. Some of them, as their opportunities for employ- minimum expenditure of time and ment and ability to work decline, are forced to apply for old- travel, it was desirable that the recip- age assistance. Before the amendments, of course, the number ients chosen be those whom the of such persons tvas greater. The reasons that needy aged assistance agency personnel would be persons who were added to the old-age assistance rolls in April seeing for other reasons. In most 1949 were not getting insurance benefits are examined in the States, eligibility for old-age assist- following pages. ance is reviewed at 12-month inter- vals. Cases added to the rolls in April 1949, and not subsequently removed,. I’VE out of every 6 aged persons benefits were accordingly of great con- were accordingly generally due for added to the public assistance cern to public assistance agencies review in March or April 1950, and F rolls in April 1949 were not en- during this period. that time was selected for the inter- titled to old-age and survivors insur- Current factual data on the subject views. A sample was selected from ance benefits. The insurance provi- were needed both for immediate use the group who had been added in sions of the Social Security Act had in conjunction with the amendments April 1949. been in effect more than 12 years, but that were under consideration and The schedule was inevitably some- for one reason or another these per- for long-time planning. Accordingly, what detailed as it had to account for sons had not qualified for benefits. the Bureau of Public Assistance, the the recipient’s employment status in During 1949 an average of more than Bureau of Old-Age ,and Survivors In- each of the 49 calendar quarters that 45,000 persons a month were approved surance, and the State agencies had elapsed from the beginning of for old-age assistance. The old-age responsible for the old-age assistance 1937 until April 1, 1949. For this and survivors insurance beneficiaries programs jointly undertook a sample reason a sample of sufficient size to among them were receiving an aver- study in March 1950 of the status of provide statistically reliable detail for age monthly benefit of about $20. old-age assistance recipients with re- individual States was not used. The This amount with their other income, spect to old-age and survivors insur- sample chosen (6,711 cases-one-sixth if any, was insufficient to meet their ance. The study was limited to recip- of the 40,266 cases added to the rolls minimum needs, with the result that ients recently added to the rolls, since in April 1949 and remaining on the they required supplementary assist- this group had had the greatest oppor- rolls through March 1950) was large ance payments. tunity to engage in covered employ- enough to permit desired cross classi- Basic amendments to the coverage ment. Most of these recipients had fications of national data and a sub- provisions and to the benefit formula not been receiving public aid during stantial amount of detail by socio- in the old-age and survivors insurance all or part of the period during which economic regions. program established by the Social the old-age and survivors insurance The study was a joint undertaking Security Act were under consideration program had been in operation. of the Bureau of Public Assistance, during 1949 and 1950 and were enacted Among all old-age assistance recip- the Bureau of Old-Age and Survivors into law in August 1950 (Public Law ients, in contrast, there were many Insurance, and State and local public 734, Eighty-first Congress, second ses- who had been unable to engage in assistance agencies. The Bureau of sion) . One major purpose of the any employment in the years after Old-Age and Survivors Insurance amendments was to establish old-age 1936, when jobs were first covered by assisted in the initial planning of the and survivors insurance in its in- the insurance program. study’s content and of the schedules tended position as the major income- To obtain information for the and tabulations to be used, and it maintenance program for aged per- study, personal interviews were held tabulated the data after the schedules sons. The reasons that needy aged *with most of the recipients in the were completed. The sample cases persons were not getting insurance sample, excluding those who were in were selected by the State agency or *Division of Program Statistics and receipt of old-age and survivors in- local agencies in accordance with a Analysis, Bureau of Public Assistance. surance benefits and those who were uniform plan. Identifying informa-

4 Social Security tion, including data on whether old- tially identified as receiving old-age employment before January 1951 ex- age and survivors insurance benefits and survivors insurance benefits, the cluded agricultural employment- were being received, was then recorded study schedules were sent directly to whether as an operator or for wages- on the ‘schedules. the field offices of the Bureau of Old- domestic service in a private home, For recipients who were not insur- Age and Survivors Insurance, where nonfarm self-employmznt. railroad ance beneficiaries, the schedules were detail on benefits was entered. employment, and emplo.yment for routed through the State agencies and At the time of the study, in order to’ government agencies or nonprofit or- the central office of the Bureau of have insured status, an individual gani2ations.l Public Assistance to the Bureau of aged 65 or over had to have earned at Of the 40,266 recipients who were Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, least $50 in covered employment in at placed on old-age assistance rolls in where quarters of covered employ- least half the number of quarters April 1919 and who continued through ment were identified and entered on elapsed after 1936 and before the quar- March to receive assistance payments, the schedules. These entries not only ter in which his sixty-fifth birthday -~ showed accurately the periods of occurred, with a minimum of 6 quar- IThe 1950 amendments made it possible covered employment but provided val- ters. This requirement meant that for anyone who was then aged 65 or who would attain age 65 by the middle of 1954 uable benchmarks to which non- old-age assistance recipients who had to qualify for &d-age and survivors in- covered employment could be related attained age 65 just before their surance benefits at any time after the in the subsequent personal interviews. approval for assistance in April 1949 attainment of age 65, on the basis of 6 During the interview the recipient’s needed 24 quarters of coverage to quarters of covered employment acquired at any time after 1936. The definition of employment history-as complete as qualify for old-age and survivors in- covered employment was extended to in- possible-was reconstructed for the surance benefits. Those recipients clude, for 1951 and subsequent years, most years from 1937 to 1949. State and who were over age 65 needed fewer self-employment other than that on farms, local assistance agency personnel con- quarters of coverage, since the G-quar- certain farm workers and domestic work- ers. certain Federal Government employ- ducted the interviews and filled in ter minimum was applicable for per- ees, and, under special agreements, State schedule items. For those old-age sons whose sixty-fifth birthday and local government employees and em- assistance recipients who were ini- occurred before July 1940. Covered ployees of nonprofit organizations.

Chart 1.-Old-age assistance recipients* not receiving old-age and survivors insurance benefits, by agricultural em- ployment and by other noncovered employment, 1937-49

_ .NORTHWEST AND SOUTHWEST

I-* Added to the old-age assistancerolls in April 1949and remaining on the rolls 1 Excludes recipients who were receiving old-age and survivors insurance through March 1950. Data derived from sample representing one-sixth of these benefits. recipients.

Bulletin, July 1952 5 7,050 were also old-age end-survivors were not old-age and survivors insur- ranked next in importance to agricul- insurance beneficiaries whose incomes ance beneficiaries and who had had ture in the work histories of recipients were insufficient to meet their needs. some employment after 1936, there who were not old-age and survivors The remaining 33,216 were not en- were 8,022 who had had part or all of insurance beneficiaries.’ Among the titled to insurance benefits, and all their employment either as farm oper- nonentitled recipients with any em- but a small group (1.2 percent of the ators or as farm laborers (see chart). ployment, 23.1 percent had some total), who apparently had enough This number substantially exceeded self-employment. More than half of covered employment to qualify, were the number of recipients (6,870) who this group had been self-employed established as ineligible for insurance had engaged in covered employment for 7 years or more after 1936, end benents at the time of the study. No of all types. almost 2 out of every 10 had been so effort was made to obtain an employ- Thirteen out of every 14 recipients employed for at least 10 years. Nine ment record for the deceased hus- in the study with employment in agri- out of every 10 of the recipients with bands of widowed recipients of assist- culture would have had enough quar- a record of self-employment would ance who were not insurance benefi- ters of coverage to have qualified for have been able to qualify for insurance ciaries. This article is primarily old-age and survivors insurance bene- benefits if all their self-employment concerned with the 33,216 old-age fits if this employment had been had been covered. Two-thirds of the assistance recipients who were not covered by the Social Security Act. recipients who had been self-em- insurance beneficiaries. Of those with some employment in ployed also had engaged in other types agriculture, 82.6 percent had spent of employment. Men receiving assist- Recipients With Employment more than half the period of their ance outnumbered women by more After 1936 employment in agriculture, and 53.3 than 4 to 1 in the group with self- percent had not engaged in any other employment, as compared with a Of the 33,216 recipients of old-age occupation. ratio of slightly more than 2 to 1 assistance who were not old-age and Some persons with employment in among the recipients with any type survivors insurance beneficiaries, agriculture had farmed for themselves of employment. 17,622 or 53.1 percent had some quar- and also worked for other farmers Domestic service. - Almost as ters of employment2 after 1936, 43.0 during the period of their employ- many old-age assistance recipients percent had no employment, and em- ment. Some of them shifted from studied had worked in domestic serv- ployment records were not available one type of farm employment to the ice in private homes as in nonfarm for 4.0 percent. About one-fourth of other, in turn farming for themselves self-employment. Among the 3,906 those with employment (12.6 percent and working for others, while some recipients with domestic employ- of the total) had some employment supplemented their own farm opera- ment, women outnumbered men by in the first quarter of 1949, just before tions by working for wages on a nearby about 6 to 1. The women who had their first assistance payment. Very farm. Of all the old-age assistance worked in domestic service consti- few of the recipients with employ- recipients studied who had had any tuted 58.1 percent of all of the female ment had worked entirely in covered employment in agriculture, a ma- recipients with an employment his- employment. For 60.9 percent, em- jority had spent the largest part of tory who were not old-age and sur- ployment had been entirely of the their tune farming for themselves. vivors insurance beneficiaries. More noncovered types 32.0 percent had However, the total number of persons than two-fifths of them had 7 years had some covered and some non- who had worked on farms for wages or more of this type of employment covered employment; and only 7.1 (4,668) at any time during the period after 1936, and about one-fifth had percent had been in covered employ- slightly exceeded the total with farm more than 10 years. Of the recipients ment exclusively. self-employment (4,374).3 who had spent part of their time in Agricultural employment.-One of The 11 States in the Southeast re- domestic service, 78.0 percent had the most~significant findings of the gion accounted for one-third of all re- worked sufhciently long after 1936 to study was the extent to which the re- cipients studied but included more have qualified for insurance benefits cently approved old-age assistance than half the recipients who were not if all their employment had resulted recipients had engaged in employ- insurance beneficiaries and had had in quarters of coverage. ments notzcovered by the Social Se- agricultural employment. The dis- Other noncovered employment. - curitygAct. ‘Numerically, the most tribution of these recipients between Work in agriculture, domestic service, important~typefof employment was farm self-employment and farm em- end nonfarm self-employment jointly agriculture. Of-17,622 recipients who ployment for wages was approxi- accounted for about 4 out of every 5 mately the same for the Southeast of&the assistance recipients who were sA quarter of employment in noncovered region as for the Nation. jobs was defined as any calendar quarter not old-age and survivors insurance in which an individual worked for wages Nonfarm self-employment.- Self- beneficiaries and who had some non- in cash or kind at least half the time or had employment other than farming covered employment. Individually , self-employment throughout the quarter. It was assumed that anyone who had this amount of employment in a quarter would sThe total of the two numbers exceeds %elf-employment (with the exception of have been paid $50 or more in wages re- the total number of recipients with em- such employment in agriculture and cer- quired for a quarter of coverage, or re- ployment in agriculture because some of tain professions) is covered under the 1950 ceived a comparable amount in self-em- the recipients had had employment of amendments for years in which net earn- ployment. both types. ings in self-employment total $400 or more.

6 Social Security Table 1.-Old-age assistance recipients 1 not receiving old-age and survivors opportunities of the late 1930’s had insurance benefits, with employment after 1936, by quarters of coverage curtailed covered employment oppor- and by sex, age, and region tunities, the years between 1937 and -i- Male Female 1949 were divided into 3 periods-pre- T_- - war (1937-41), war (1942-45), and Percent with Percent with Percent with postwar (1946-49). It was found that specified number specified number specified number 3 out of every 4 of the recipients with Total of quarters of Total of quarters of Total of quarters of Age and region num- coverage coverage num- ioverage quarters of coverage had acquired ber of ber of - recip- recip- some or all of these quarters during ients Less ients Loss the war; for 1 out of 4, all their covered 6 or than e e / 6 or than I\Jone Imore 6 more 6 employment occurred during this -- ._ _- -- period. About half the recipients Total. .__ .______17,G22 61.0 111,862 24.5 19.1 5,760 13.3 16.0 i0.6 -- -- __ _- acquired part or all of their quarters Age group: of coverage during the postwar period, 6.569 ____. _._.. ---. 10.170 28.3 52. 5 6,492 34.1 20. 1 45.8 3,Fi8 17.9 li. 8 64.3 70-74-~~.-.--....-. 4,344 14.9 65.9 3,072 17. 8 21.1 61. 1 1,272 8.0 14.6 77.4 including 1 out of every 10 whose only 75andover.-.-.-.. 3,108 5.0 82.0 2,298 6. 5 13.8 79.6 810 .7 10.4 88.9 quarters were acquired after the war. Region: Northeast- ______2,292 31.7 18.3 50.0 1,464 38. 9 18. 0 43.0 828 18.8 18.8 62.3 Slightly more than one-third of the Southeast ______._-_ 6,984 12. 9 14. 7 72.4 4,752 15. 9 18. 1 Ix. 0 2,232 6. 5 7. 5 86.0 Middle ______-_._ 3,390 24.8 20. 0 55. 2 2,298 27.7 19.6 52. 7 1,092 18.7 20.9 60.4 recipients with some quarters of cov- Northwest and erage had acquired part or all of them Southwest..--.- 2,766 19.5 19.3 61.2 1,980 23.9 19.4 56. 7 786 8.4 19. 1 72.5 Far West-... ______2,190 30. 7 24.4 44.9 1,368 34.F 22.8 42.5 822 24.1 27.0 48.9 before the war, and about 1 out of ------every 8 had had covered employment 1 Addrd to the old-ape assistance rolls in April 1949 and remaining on the rolls through March 1950. Data derived from sample representing one-sixth of these recipients. only in this period. As might be ex- pected, the recipients had acquired most of their quarters of coverage dur- the other types of noncovered em- The proportion varied from approxi- ing the war years. It was also found ployment were not numerically im- mately 1 recipient out of every 8 in the that more of the recipients had portant. Employment by State or agricultural southeastern States to 1 worked in covered employment dur- local governments accounted for the out of every 3 in the predominantly ing the postwar years than during the largest number of quarters of employ- industrial northeastern States. prewar years, despite the fact that ment for 5.7 percent of the non- The proportion of aged recipients they were then several years older. entitled recipients; employment by who had quarters of coverage declined Recipients who discontinued em- nonprofit organizations accounted for rapidly with the age of the recipients. ployment after 2936.-Of the old-age 2.4 percent and by railroads for 1.0 Almost half of those under age 70 who assistance recipients in the study, 2 percent. Miscellaneous and uniden- had worked had acquired some quar- out of every 5 who were not old-age tified types of noncovered employ- ters of coverage. In contrast, about and survivors insurance beneficiaries ment made up the major part of the one-third of those aged 70-74 and had been employed after 1936 but had employment of 9.4 percent. fewer than one-fifth of those aged 75 stopped working before 1949. Covered employment. - A total of and over had any quarters of coverage. Disability was the most frequent 6,870 old-age assistance recipients who It appears that the recipients who did reason that the recipients quit work, were not entitled to old-age and sur- not need old-age assistance until sev- outnumbering other reasons by more vivors insurance benefits had a record eral years after they had attained age than 2 to 1 and accounting for 27.7 of one or more quarters of coverage. 65 had tended to engage in farming percent of the recipients as compared Of these, more than half (53.5 percent) or in self-employment, neither of with 12.8 percent for whom. other had 6 or more quarters. Men out- which was covered employment before reasons were reported. Among those numbered women by approximately the 1950 amendments. who had stopped working because of 3 to 1 in the group of recipients with A comparison of the number of disability, very few recovered suffi- a record of covered employment. quarters of coverage each recipient ciently to consider themselves again There was also a larger percentage had with the total number he needed able to work. Out of the 9,180 re- of male than of female recipients with to qualify for old-age and survivors in- cipients who had stopped work be- 6 or more quarters of coverage (an surance benefits indicates that 21.8 cause of disability, only 1.8 percent amount sufficient to qualify them percent of the recipients who had any recovered. As many as 65.4 percent for insurance benefits under the 1950 quarters of coverage could have quali- had bern continuously di:sabled for a amendments). Among the men with fied for insurance benefits on the basis year or more when they were approved quarters of coverage, more than half of four additional quarters (1 year) for assistance in April 1949, and 19.0 (56.2 percent) had 6 or more quarters; or less. For 57.9 percent the addi- percent had been continuously dis- the corresponding percentage for tional quarters of coverage needed abled for Eve or more years. women was 45.4. Old-age assistance amounted to 12 or less. recipients with 6 or more quarters of To determine the extent to which Recipients With No Employ- coverage accounted for 20.9 percent the wartime demand for labor pro- men t After 1936 of the recipients with employment vided quarters of coverage for the old- More than two-thirds of ‘the 14,280 after 1936 who were not insurance age assistance recipients and also to recipients of old-age assistance who beneficiaries in March 1950 (table 1). what extent the limited employment had no employment after 1936 were

Bulletin, July 1952 7 housewives. Nearly one-fourth were other hand, there is a strong pre- (table 2). Of the male recipients, 23.3 unable to work at any time after 1936 sumption that many of the recipients percent were also old-age and sur- because of disability, while about 1 aged 70 or over had been self-sufi%ient vivors insurance beneficiaries; of the out of every 18 did not work for other before they found it necessary to apply female recipients, 12.5 percent. Prac- reasons. Housewives accounted for a for assistance. Certainly one of the tically all the male recipients who majority (53.9 percent) of the female major sources of self-sufficiency is em- were insurance beneficiaries were re- recipients who were not receiving in- ployment, and it is accordingly not ceiving primary benefits6 based on surance benefits. Among the 33,216 surprising to find that there 6ad been their own employment records; de- recipients who were not receiving in- a substantial amount of employment pendent parent’s benefits were re- surance benefits, women outnum- among the older recipients. ceived by only 0.1 percent of the males. bered men by almost 4,500. Of all the old-age assistance recip- In contrast, 8.8 percent of all the fe- The proportion of female recipients ients studied, 17.5 percent were also male recipients received wife’s, who had been housewives increased old-age and survivors insurance bene- widow’s, and dependent parent’s somewhat with their age; the propor- ficiaries. Among recipients under age benefits, while 3.7 percent received tion of recipients of both sexes who 70, the percentage was 15.3; for those primary benefits. had not worked because they had been in the age groups 70-74 and 75-79, the The importance of private domestic disabled was even more closely related percentages were 23.6 and 19.9. Prob- service in the employment records of to age, the proportion increasing with ably the most important factor in the female recipients is reflected in the the age of the recipients. low percentage of the recipients under small percentage who received pri- age 70 who were insurance benefi- mary benefits. While 30.5 percent of Other Characteristics of ciaries was the larger number of quar- the women had some employment Recipients ters of coverage needed to acquire in- after 1936, only 12.1 percent of this sured status. This presumption is group, or 3.7 percent of all female The type and amount of employ- supported by the tidings on quarters recipients studied, were receiving ment in which a recipient of old-age of coverage earned by recipients. The primary benefits in March 1950. More assistance had engaged since 1936 proportion of the recipients under age than 86 percent of the male recipients determined whether he qualified for 70 who were not insurance benefi- had some employment, and 26.8 per- old-age and survivors insurance bene- ciaries and who had 6 or more quar- cent of them (23.2 percent of the total) fits. At the same time, the proportion ters of coverage was almost twice the received primary benefits. This com- of recipients added in April 1949 who proportion of such recipients aged 70- parison may slightly understate the were insurance beneficiaries varied 74 (28.3 percent as compared with 14.9 extent of entitlement to primary considerably according to such factors percent). It was accordingly for the benefits by women, since some re- as age, sex, race, and geographical group under age 70 that the liberalized ceiving wife’s or widow’s benefits may location. Some of these factors are insured-status provisions of the 1950 have been entitled to smaller primary closely related to the employment amendments were most beneficial. benefits in their own right. The ex- records and have aIready been dis- Sex.- Almost 47 percent of the tent of understatement would be cussed; their effects on the total group assistance recipients in the study were small, however, since the average of recipients studied are sufficient to men, and 53.4 percent were women wife’s benefit received by the female warrant separate consideration. beneficiary-recipients was about $12, Age. - The old-age assistance re- and the average widow’s benefit about cipients studied were all aged 65 or Table 2.-Number of old-age assist- $18. over in April 1949 when they were ance recipients 1 and percent re- The proportion of recjpients who added to the assistance rolls, and were ceiving old-age and survivors insur- ance benej?ts, by sex and race were keing paid old-age and survivors accordingly agrd 66 or over in hla.rch insurance l-,~F!tsJ‘ * ,I varied more by 1950. Approximately half mere under socio-economic region amon;: ivomen age 70, about one-fourth were aged 70- thaz men. The cxtrfmcs in the 74, and z&out one-fourth were 75 or ranges PetTveen regions -0zre in the over. Their median age was about Far West and Pnuthenst. I:1 the Far 5 years yonnrer than for sll recipients \V:i:st, Xi.1 percent of tile mek recip- on the olrl-age assistance rolls, icnts lucre alco inxlrance bcnefi- rnug111y half of uhom werf ever age ciarie^- , aln~ost 3 the5 the 13.0 per- 7.5. cent mho ~~cri: enti?lcci to IrmGts in Thera are in the population many the? S(wtllca~;t rcgicn. Tc:r inn::rle ra- persona \\-r-lioare in noed. before rcnch- clpient:: t!le ratio TVG;Smore tkan 4 to ing age 65 and wh qualil;- for old-nqe 1; 19.0 gercmt v;crc cztitkd in the assiktunce promptly after reaching Frr Wect and 4.7 percciit in tlio &ut,h-- their sixty-fifth birthday. I’robal~ly east. tho proup of recipients under age 70 was :ather .lirarily v;r;if~!~!i:d wit!: re- cipicnts of this t)pe \vho v;ere n&?ed 66 at the time of the study. On the

Social Security Race. -Out of every 5 old-age Conclusion employment or domestic service in assistance recipients studied, 4 were private homes. More than two-thirds white and 1 was nonwhite. Only The study showed that 1 recipient of those who had not worked after about half as large a percentage of in every 6 added to the old-age assist- 1936 were housewives; in many in- nonwhite recipients as of white recip- ance rolls in April 1949, who remained stances they were the wives or widows ients were also old-age and survivors on the rolls through March 1950, was of men who had worked in noncovered insurance beneficiaries-lo.4 percent receiving old-age and survivors insur- employment. as compared with 19.3 percent. The ance benefits but had insufficient re- The 1950 amendments that ex- difference is in substantial part sources, even with the insurance tended coverage under old-age and attributable to the geographic con- benefits, to meet his needs. One re- survivors insurance to most of the centration of the nonwhite recipients; cipient in every 3 had worked long urban self-employed and to certain 72.5 percent were in the 11 States com- enough to qualify for insurance bene- agricultural laborers and domestic prising the Southeast region. fits (under the requirements in effect workers in private homes will help to In the Southeast the percentage of before the 1950 amendments) if all his close the gaps in coverage. However, recipients who were insurance bene- employment had resulted in quarters as long as gaps remain, a substantial ficiaries was the lowest In the Nation, of coverage but could not qualify be- number of persons who have worked and while the proportions for white cause part or all of the employment fairly regularly in noncovered employ- and nonwhite recipients varied, the was not covered under old-age and ment-especially in agriculture-may difference was relatively small. For survivors insurance. be expected to need old-age assistance. nonwhite recipients, the percentage Approximately half the nonentitled About one-tenth of the recipients with insurance benefits was 8.2, as assistance recipients who had worked added to the old-age assistance rolls compared with 9.0 for white recip- after 1936 had part or all of theirem- had been unable to work after 1936. ients. In the rest of the country, ployment in agriculture. They were These people were the victims of dis- which included only 27.5 percent of almost equally divided into two ability, one of the major hazards of the nonwhite recipients, the differ- groups-those who had been eelf-em- contemporary life against which no ence was more marked; the percent- ployed farmers and those who had insurance protection has been pro- age of nonwhite beneficiary-recipients been agricultural laborers. Most of vided under the Social Security Act- was 15.8, as compared with 22.6 for the remaining recipients who had either as originally enacted or in the white recipients. worked had engaged in nonfarm self- amendments.

LAW-ENFORCEMENT AMENDMENT been in operation for 1 year. State the two that preceded it have fur- (Continzled from pnge 3 ) agencies that had already adminis- nished invaluable material for the tered State legislation similar to the development of Federal policy and The group recognized the need to Federal amendment were able to con- standards for State practice. Because study and appraise the results of tribute useful suggestions for sound the 2-year lapse between the adoption the amendment, and it discussed administration gained from their ex- of the legislation and its effective date methods for gathering data through perience. Major stress was placed on has made careful advance planning current reporting and special studies. the need lor services to the families possible, it is anticipated that the ad- Specifically, the group recommended affected by this amendment. ministration of this amendment will that a special study of the effects of The advice and suggestions ob- have positive values for the families the amendment be made after it has tained from this meeting end from affected.