CHILDREN IN NEED OF SPECIAL CARE

187

SECTION VII.-CHILDREN IN NEED OF SPECIAL

CARE.

OUTLINE 1. CAUSES AND PREVENTION OF CHILD
DEPENDENCY AND NEGLECT.

No amount of individual or social effort can recompense a child for the lack of normal home life in his own family. There is no adequate substitute for parental care and affection. The payment of wages sufficient to maintain a proper standard of living, and the supplying of means of livelihood to families who have lost their breadwinners will do much to eliminate child dependency. Knowledge of the causes of dependency and understanding of community resources is essential to successful work with individual children and general preventive and constructive measures.

A. Lack of normal home.

I. CAUSES.

1. Death of one or both parents.

2. Divorce, separation, or desertion.

3. Illegitimacy.

B. Inadequate family income.

1. Low wages.

2. Unemployment.

3. Sickness or physical disability.

4. Economic inefficiency due to low mentality, shiftlessness, or bad habits.

C. Parental neglect.

1. Willful nonsupport or misuse of family income.

2. Shiftlessness, ignorance, and low mentality.

3. Alcoholism, immorality, or other delinquency.

READING REFERENCES I.

DEVINE, EDWARD T.: Misery and Its Causes, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1909, pp. 167-173, 199-202.

LUNDBERG, EMMA O., and LENROOT, KATHARINE F.: Illegitimacy as a ChildWelfare Problem, Parts 1 and 2, U. S. Children's Bureau, Publications Nos. 66 and 75, 1920, 1921.

MANGOLD, GEORGE B.: Problems of Child Welfare, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1914, pp. 421-432.

TOWNE, EZRA T.: Social Problems, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1916, pp. 290-300.

WARNER, AMOS G.: American Charities, Revised by Mary Roberts Coolidge, Thomas Y. Crowell Co., New York, 1919, pp. 72-74, 149-157, 189.

II. PREVENTION.

A. Supplying means of livelihood to families whose breadwinners are absent or incapacitated.

1. Workmen's compensation for accident or sickness.
2. Allowances and compensation for soldiers' and sailors'
families.

3. Mothers' pensions.

4. Family relief from public or private agencies.

B. Adequate family incomes.

1. Wages sufficient to supply the necessities of life. 2. Regularity of employment and unemployment insurance. C. Enforcement of parental responsibility and prevention of neglect. 1. Through nonsupport and desertion laws.

2. Through enforcement of support of children of illegiti

mate birth.

3. Supervision by courts or other social agencies of families failing to provide proper home conditions.

4. Community measures for improved social and moral conditions, including prevention of alcoholism, immorality, and crime.

READING REFERENCES II.

ABBOTT, EDITH, and BRECKINRIDGE, SOPHONISBA P.: The Administration of the Aid-to-Mothers Law in Illinois, U. S. Children's Bureau, Publication No. 82,

1921.

ALMY, FREDERIC: "Public pensions to widows," in National Conference of Charities and Corrections, Proceedings, 1912, pp. 481-485.

BOWEN, LOUISE DE KOVEN: Safeguards for City Youth at Work and at Play, The Macmillan Co., New York, 1914, pp. 128-135.

DEVINE, EDWARD T.: The Practice of Charity, Dodd, Mead & Co., New York, 1904, pp. 43-65, 121-139.

Effect of Workmen's Compensation Laws in Diminishing the Necessity of Industrial Employment of Women and Children, U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin No. 217, pp. 7-13, 105-109.

FISHER, HARRY M.: "The legal aspects of illegitimacy," in National Conference of Social Work, Proceedings, 1917, pp. 294–299.

FISHER, IRVING: "The need for health insurance," in American Labor Legislation Review, March, 1917, pp. 9-23.

FREUND, ERNST: Illegitimacy Laws of the United States and Certain Foreign Countries, U. S. Children's Bureau, Publication No. 42, 1919.

HARRIS, HENRY J.: Maternity Benefit Systems in Certain Foreign Countries, U. S. Children's Bureau, Publication No. 57, 1919.

HART, H. H.: Preventive Treatment of Neglected Children, Charities Publica tion Committee, Russell Sage Foundation, New York, 1910, pp. 377-382.