Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1910-03-14

Society of Newark, part of whose work
is the supervision of homes, would join
in the movement to systematic the
work, but they were o willing to CO.
operate.
Keeping Families Uuited.
Frequently a mother in distress felt
compelled to place her children in an
institution. Al agency like the Chill
9ren's Bureau could give suggestions
for obtaining work or tiding over an
emergency which would show q way
by which the family could be kept to-
gether.
-Four institutions recognized the
above needs and Joined in securing an
agent and an assistant and a central
office which would serve as a joint APP
plication bureau for all of the institu-
tions. Those four were the Home for
the Friendless, the Orphan Asylum, the
Eighth ven Baby Shelter and the
Babies Hospital. The Foster Home
and the Children's Aid Society re-
fused to cooperate with the bureau,
although they were strongly and re-
peatedly urged.
1.-The work continued with satisfac-
ton for about two years, and the f1nan-
cial result were especially gratifying,
as evidenced by the officers and some
of the affiliated institutions, one of
them stating at a meeting held more
than a year after the work was UNDER
taken that during the year its work
had secured an actual cash saving to
the society of considerably over $1,000,
and a somewhat similar result was re-
ported by another institution. Unfor-
tunately, however. after about two
years friction began to develop be-
tween the manager Of the Joint COM
mittee n the affiliated institutions,
which continued until good results were
impossible of accomplishment, and one
of them determined to withdraw from
the bureau. The causes of this friction
and opposition to the bureau are va
rious, but in a general way may be
stated as follows:
obviously the result Of a thorough
going work by the agent would be the
cutting down of the number of children
in the institution, and because of the
'insistance upon payments by relatives,
where able, 1t became more and more
impossible for unworthy cases to be
admitted, and for careless or unworthy
parents to relieve themselves of their
proper obligations by placing their own
responsibility upon the institution. In
some cases a spirit seemed to be de-
veloped which indicated a fear that
should the work of the bureau be fol-
lowed to it's logical end, and while that
end would, in the estimation of the
bureau, best serve the ~cases-that Is the
children-it would naturally decrease
the number to be cared for in any in
stitution. Curious as it may appear,
the interests of the children seemed to
be in some cases overlooked, or at least
over-shadowed by the thought that the
of the success of the institu-
ton was determined by the number of
children it had in its care. This can be
said without in any way seeking to re-
fleet upon the internal management of
any institution, out merely to bring out
the fact hat there is a wide difference
of opinion as to the most efficient
method of handling the child-caring
problem.
The best experience and most adj
vanced thought on the subject, as evil
denced by the unanimous conclusion of
the convention called by President
Roosevelt. made it perfectly clear hat
the placing-out system should be fol-
lowed, but it should be handled with
exceeding care and developed to the
limit of it's possibilities. By this means
money could be saved and the child
developed in a way to make it far bet
tersable to face the problems of life in
after years han would be possible if
brought up in any institution, however
well managed. 1t can readily be SEEN,
therefore, that the managers of the
various institutions believing in the in
stitutional care of the child, rather
than the p~lacing-out system, should
view with alarm the natural efforts of
the agent in charge of the Children's
Bureau. While the members of the
bureau thoroughly believed in placing
out, it was never their intent n to
force this part of the work on any
affiliated institution that did t de-
sire it.
The Situation Now.
"By the withdrawal of the institu-
lions from the children's- Bureau and
the necessary cessation of its work the
condition becomes as it was before the
organization of the Children's Bureau
or the Joint Committee OF Children's
Institutions.
1.-The undersigned canno help but
feel that to go back to the old con-
ditions is most undesirable. There is
now used for the support of the chill
dren's institutions of this city more
thar $50, 900 each year. Money for
charitable purposes should be con-
served to the last degree, and it Is be
lieved that the work of the Children's
Bureau would be of vital assistance in
this conservation.
1.-THE institutions seem not to realize
their common responsibility to the
whole field, and that each board can
not, or at least should not, conduct an
institution without some regard or
thought for other institutions of a like
nature, and, further, without regard
for the natural needs of the city.
1.-THE success which was realized in
the first two years of the Children's
Bureau, together with the success
which is being realized in similar lines
in Boston, San Francisco. Pittsburg
and other cities. leads us to hope that