sections 46.18, 46.19 and 46.20.

[Stats. 1917 s. 697-2, 697-3, 697-4, 697-5; 1919

c. 362 s. 22, 28, 34; 1919 c. 614 c. 39] 48.28 Commitment and custody of children. (1) The board of trustees of said home may receive into its charge and under its control by commitment, or otherwise, and become the legal guardian of any child under sixteen years of age residing in the county for which such home for dependent children has been organized, who shall be committed thereto by the juvenile court, or whose parent, or person standing in his place, by an instrument in writing, shall assign and commit such child to the care and custody of such home.

(2) Such home for dependent children may procure suitable and proper homes for and give away by adoption or place in families in this state upon written contracts any and all such children during their minority and is hereby constituted the legal guardian of all children committed to or received by it as aforesaid, and may consent in the courts of this state to the adoption of any such child by any person or persons in the manner provided by law; and such consent given in writing shall have the same force and effect as if given by the parent or parents of such child. Such written consent shall be given in duplicate, and one copy shall be filed with the secretary of said trustees, and the other delivered to the county court in which the proceedings for adoption are taken to be there filed. On the consummation of such proceedings, the custody of said trustees over the child adopted shall cease, except as hereinafter provided. It shall be the duty of the court making the order of adoption to transmit a certified copy of such order to the trustees of the institution from which such child was received.

(3) The board of trustees of such home for dependent children may enter into a written contract with any person who shall take or receive any such child otherwise than by adoption, and such contract shall provide for the proper care, education, and maintenance of such child during its minority, and specify the amount to be paid it at the expiration of the period of such contract, provided that in no case shall such contract contain any provision of a sectarian or partisan nature regarding its care, custody, or education.

(4) It shall be the duty of the court before whom such child is presented to procure a full statement as near as possible setting forth all facts, showing why such child or children should be committed to such home for dependent children. Such statement shall give the exact name or names, age or ages of said child or children, when and where born, full name of both parents, their family history in reference to tuberculosis, syphilis, insanity, and epilepsy, whether living or dead, their present residence, their previous residence, their financial condition, the name and residence of their nearest relatives, and whether they are able or not to support said child or children. The said statement must show whether such child or children are dependent upon their respective county for support.

(5) If the judge shall find as the result of such examination that such child is dependent or neglected, he shall cause it to be examined by the county physician if there be one, and if there is none, by a respectable practicing physician. Such physician shall certify in writing that he is of the opinion that the child examined by him is of sound mind and is not affected by any chronic or contagious disease and ascertain whether there is or has been any tuberculosis, syphilis, insanity, or epilepsy, and had not been exposed to any contagious disease within fifteen days previous to the examination, and verify such opinion by his affidavit, which shall be attached thereto and filed in the judge's office. A certified copy of such finding and a statement of the facts ascertained as aforesaid, with a copy of the certificate of the physician shall be delivered with the child at such home for dependent children. [Stats. 1917 s. 697-7; 1919 c. 614 s. 40]

48.29 Apprenticeship and adoption of children. (1) Such trustees may bind out all minors, who are supported at the expense of the county, in the same manner and with like effect as municipal authorities are authorized to do by section 49.05; but before consenting to the binding out or the adoption of any such minors, shall carefully investigate the qualifications and fitness of such persons to whom such children are to be bound out, or by whom they are to be adopted, and shall inquire into the treatment of children to whose adoption they have given their consent, as herein provided, or who shall have been bound out by such trustees, or by their predecessors in office, and defend them from all cruelty and neglect on the part of those persons who have adopted them, or to whom they have been bound out.

(2) If any child so adopted shall be misused, illtreated or neglected by the person or persons who shall have adopted such child, or by any person under their direction or by their permission, said trustees or any one thereof, in behalf of such child, may file a complaint in the county court for the county in which such person or persons so adopting such

child or children reside, setting forth the facts and circumstances of the case, and the court, after having caused such notice as it shall deem reasonable to be given to the person or persons having adopted such child, shall proceed to hear and determine the cause, whether such person or persons who have adopted such child, shall appear or not; and if the complaint be sustained, may make an order revoking and setting aside all orders and proceedings made in the adoption of such child by any court, and shall further order in his discretion, that said child shall be returned to the dependent home from which such child was adopted, and that the costs of the proceedings be paid by such person or persons against whom such complaint is made. If such complaint made by the officer authorized to bind out minors, or consent to their adoption, be not sustained, the court shall not award costs against such officer, unless it shall appear that the complaint was made without just or reasonable cause. Either party may appeal from any such order to the circuit court in the manner provided for appeals from orders made in probate proceedings. [Stats. 1917 s. 697-6, 697-8, 697-9, 697-10; 1919 c. 614 s. 41]

48.30 County industrial schools. Any one or more counties having a several or joint population exceeding fifty thousand may establish a county industrial school, as provided in section 46.17, for the purpose of keeping and educating delinquent children committed to it by the juvenile court. In any county having a population of two hundred and fifty thousand or more such school shall be governed pursuant to section 46.21, and the board shall appoint an additional superintendent to have charge thereof. In all other counties it shall be governed pursuant to the provisions of sections 46.18, 46.19 and 46.20. In any such school the board in charge shall, in addition to the superintendent, appoint a visiting physician and a matron, who shall continue in office at the pleasure of the board, and shall perform such duties and render such reports as may be required by the board. [Stats. 1917 s. 697-18 to 697-23, 697-27 to 697-31; 1919 c. 362 s. 34, 39; 1919 c. 614 s. 42]

48.31 Removals from state or private institutions to county industrial schools. Upon the request of the chairman of the county board and of the district attorney of any county maintaining a county industrial school, either singly or jointly with one or more other counties, the superintendent of such school may demand and receive the custody of any and all children committed as delinquents to any state or private institution within the state for the support of whom said county or counties are liable. Such removal however, shall be subject to such rules as the state board of control may adopt. In case any of said state or private institutions shall refuse any such demand properly made, the counties to whom the expense of caring for and maintaining said children is chargeable may at their option, refuse to pay any and all claims of said state or private institutions for the maintenance of said children incurred after such request shall have been duly made. Any county not maintaining such industrial school may contract with another county or counties maintaining such institution for the care, maintenance and education of its delinquent children. [Stats. 1917 s. 697-24; 1919 c. 614 s. 43]

48.32 Placing children in homes. Whenever it shall be deemed advisable by the trustees of said institution to remove any child or person from any such institution to a place or home where they can be taken care of or adopted under the law with the consent and approval of the state board of control, they may do so. [Stats. 1917 s. 927-26; 1919 c. 614 s. 44]

48.33 Aid to dependent children. (1) If any person shall have knowledge that any child is dependent upon the public for proper support or that the interest of the public requires that such child be granted aid, such person may bring any such fact to the notice of a judge of a juvenile court or of a county court of the county in which such child resides. (2) The said judge shall cause an investigation and examination to be made before the granting of aid for such child. To assist in making investigations and examinations, the judge may appoint a board of child welfare for his county to consist of three members, who shall hold office at the pleasure of the judge making the appointment; or in the event that the judge shall fail to appoint such a board the county board may appoint a committee of three of its members to make such investigations. No salary or wages shall be paid to the members of said committee, but they shall be reimbursed their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, such expenses to be approved by the appointing judge, and to be audited and paid by the county as other claims against such county are audited and paid. Such board shall advise and consult with, the judge regarding the best method of investigating cases under the provisions of this section; establish a basis of household expenses to compute the amount of aid to be extended to needy families; help needy mothers to expend aid granted economically, and advise them how to keep accounts of expenses; recommend discontinuance and reductions in aid and generally to act, consult and confer with each other and the court relative to any and all

problems relating to families to be aided, and as to the best methods of carrying out the provisions of this section economically and efficiently.

(3) The proceedings provided for by this section may include one or more children, all of whom may be named in the same notice and order of the judge thereon.

(4) Upon such investigation the judge may, as the best interest of such child requires, grant aid to it or to its parents or to any person having the care and custody of such child, or commit such child to the state public school, or place such child in the home of a relative or friend of the family or in the home of a person interested in public welfare or make such other disposition of such child as he may deem wise.

(5) Aid for dependent children shall only be granted upon the following conditions: There must be one or more children living with or dependent upon the mother or grandparents or person having the care and custody of such children, one or more of whom shall be under the age of fourteen or between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and unable to secure a permit to work; the mother or grandparent or such other person must have resided in the county in which application is made for aid for at least one year prior to the date of such application; the mother must be without a husband or the wife of a husband who is incapacitated for gainful work by permanent mental or physical disability, or of a husband who has been sentenced to a penal institution for three months or more, or of a husband who has continuously deserted her for three months or more during which time all provisions of law have been used to enforce support and none has been obtained, or such mother must be divorced from her husband and must show that she has used all provisions of law to compel her former husband to support her and has not been able to do so. Such deserted or divorced woman need not show that she has used all provisions of law to enforce support, if the court shall be of the opinion that such procedure on her part would be of no avail; the mother or grandparents or person having the care and custody of such children must be a fit and proper person to have the custody and care of the dependent children and the period of aid must be likely to continue longer than one year. The ownership by a mother of a homestead shall not prevent the granting of aid under the provisions of this section if the rental thereof would not exceed the rental which a family of the same size as the family of such parent, receiving aid, would be obliged to pay for living quarters.

(6) The aid granted shall be sufficient to enable the mother, grandparents or person having the custody of such children to properly care for the children and shall not exceed fifteen dollars per month for the first child excepting in emergency cases where the aid to such first child shall be left to the discretion of the court and ten dollars per month for each additional child. Such aid shall be the only form of public assistance granted to the family excepting medical aid and no aid shall continue longer than one year without reinvestigation.

(7) The parent or other person receiving aid under the provisions of this section shall file monthly with the judge of the juvenile or county court of the proper county a statement showing the expenditures of all moneys received as aid under the provisions of this section together with the original receipts or vouchers therefor. The judge may require the mother to do such remunerative work as in his judgment she can do without detriment to her health or the neglect of her children or her home, and may prescribe the hours during which the mother may work outside of her home.

(8) The county board of each county shall annually appropriate a sum of money sufficient to carry out the provisions of this section. Upon the orders of the judge of the court having jurisdiction, the county treasurer shall pay out the amounts ordered to be paid as aid, under the provisions of this section.

(9) The county clerk of each county having a population of one hundred thousand or more shall make a report to the county board at its annual November meeting showing in detail the amount of money advanced by the county to the residents of each town, village and city under the provisions of this section and section 48.331. The county board at such meeting shall determine the amount to be raised and paid by each such town, village and city to reimburse the county for the money so advanced. Within ten days after such determination the county clerk of each county shall certify to the clerk of and charge to each such town, village and city the amount so advanced. Each such town, city and village shall levy a tax sufficient to reimburse the county for such advances to be collected as other taxes and paid into the county treasury. If any town, city or village shall fail to raise and pay over such money to the county the county board shall have authority to compel such payment.

(10) On the first day of January of each year the county treasurer shall certify under oath, in duplicate, to the secretary of state and the state board of control the amount paid out by such county during the preceding year for aid under this section and section 48.331, and if the board of control shall approve the same and shall cause its approval to be in

dorsed by the president and secretary of said board on the certificate received by the secretary of state, the secretary of state shall credit one-third of the amount so certified to be due such county on the state taxes next due therefrom, and the state treasurer shall credit such county with said one-third of such amount in his annual settlement with said county for taxes due the state; provided, that the amount paid by the state to any county in any one year shall not exceed a sum equal to one dollar for each thirty inhabitants thereof; provided, further, that if the total amount paid by all the counties under this section and section 48.331 as certified by the county treasurers shall exceed the sum appropriated by subsection (13) of section 20.17, the secretary of state and the state treasurer shall prorate the said sum among the various counties according to the amount paid out. [Stats. 1917 s. 573f; 1919 c. 251, 308, 466; 1919 c. 614 s. 45; 1921 c. 86; 1923 c. 83; 1925 c. 426 s. 2; 1927 c. 273, 374] Annotated *+

48.331 Maternity aid. Aid shall also be granted to the mother of a child during the period extending from six months before to six months after the birth of the child, if her financial circumstances are such as to deprive either the mother or child of proper care. Such aid shall be governed in all respects by the provisions of section 48.33, except that the limitation therein upon the maximum amount of aid per month shall not apply and that the aid allowed under this section may be given in the form of supplies, nursing, medical or other assistance in lieu of money. [1925 c. 426 s. 1]

48.34 Earnings of self-supporting minors. During any time when, by reason of abandonment, drunkenness or profligacy, a parent of a minor shall neglect or refuse to provide for his support, or for his support and education, the earnings of such minor shall be his sole property as against such parent or any creditor of such parent. [Stats. 1917 s. 2344a; 1919 c. 614 s. 46] Annotated †

49.01 Municipalities must support the poor. Every town, village and city shall relieve and support all poor and indigent persons lawfully settled therein whenever they shall stand in need thereof, except as hereinafter provided. The town board, village trustees, or common council, respectively, in each town, village, or city shall have the oversight and care of all such poor persons and indigents so long as they remain public charges; and shall see that they are properly relieved and taken care of in the manner required in this chapter. [Stats. 1917 s. 1499, 1501; 1919 c. 345 s. 2] Annotated *+ 49.015 [Renumbered section 74.77 under 43.08 (2)]

49.02 Legal settlements. Legal settlements may be acquired in any town, village, or city so as to oblige such municipality to relieve and support the persons acquiring the same in case they are poor and stand in need of relief, as follows:

(1) A married woman shall always follow and have the settlement of her husband if he have any within the state; otherwise her own at the time of marriage, and if she then had any settlement it shall not be lost or suspended by the marriage; and in case the wife shall be removed to the place of her settlement and the husband shall want relief he shall receive it in the place where his wife shall have her settlement.

(2) Legitimate children shall follow and have the settlement of their father if he have any within the state until they gain a settlement of their own; but if the father have no settlement they shall in like manner follow and have the settlement of their mother if she

have any.

(3) Illegitimate children shall follow and have the settlement of their mother at the time of their birth if she then have any within the state; but neither legitimate or illegitimate children shall gain a settlement by birth in the place where they were born unless their parent or parents had a settlement therein at the time.

(4) Every person of full age who shall have resided in any town, village, or city in this state one whole year shall thereby gain a settlement therein; but no residence of a person in any town, village, or city while supported therein as a pauper shall operate to give such person a settlement therein.

(5) Every minor whose parent and every married woman whose husband has no settlement in this state who shall have resided one whole year in any town, village, or city in this state shall thereby gain a settlement therein.

(6) Every minor who shall be bound as an apprentice to any person shall, immediately upon such binding, if done in good faith, thereby gain a settlement where his or her master or mistress has a settlement.

(7) Every settlement when once legally acquired shall continue until it be lost or defeated by acquiring a new one in this state or by voluntary and uninterrupted absence from the town, village, or city in which such legal settlement shall have been gained for