The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-06
THE JUVENILE COURT
 OF JEFFERSON COUNTY
SOCIAL SERVICE DEPARTMENT By MRS. SIDNEY RI. uLLMAN

The juvenile court of Jefferson county situated in Birmingham. is splendid ex. ample of the far-reaching influence oi the good an institution of such a charac. ter Is in any community the efficient work of the force, with Judge Murphey at it. head. is apparent in all the branches Here the arm Of justice embraces tho child in conscientious parental character and the institution accepts the responsi. bility of state parenthood
 The first juvenile court in the United States was established in Chicago. Al the St. Louis Worlds Fair three DOT. traits were hung in one room. the Hon Ben B. Linsey, Hon. Harvey R. Hnrd oi Chicago and the Hon. R. 8. Futile oi Chicago, each called the father of tho juvenile court" Probably this trinity ot fathers was necessary when we stop tc consider the immense number of childrer to be fostered under the care of the ju venile court.
 Judge Harvey B. Hurd wrote the bill and infused into 1t spirit that has eff. fected every juvenile court law since.
 Dr. Hasting H. Hart of the child help ing department, Russell Sage founda. tion. says: If the juvenile court had net been established in Chicago, 1t would have been somewhere else. 1t is an evolu ton and came about in the natural pro cess of events.
 Prior to the Illinois law, the canadanl had a full-hedged juvenile court. Bostor also had separate trials for children.
 The Juvenile court is still in the pro. cess of development, only now 1t is beinl settled as to what the juvenile probation officer really is; today we are reeognizinG that the officer need not only be good but must be thoroughly competent to ac as probation officer
 pr. Hart stated in a report made 1T the New York state probation commission the chiefS trouble Is the overlooking of tn, probation officer. he has the respons hility of placing children in family home. and supervising them; he is expected tt manage children with disciplinary infu ence but often these children are scat tered over five or 10 miles from a com mon center.
 The probation officer is probably tn, most important outside agent the iu venile court has. the probation officei
 
 being brought into court and by friendl, consultation disposes of many cases, pu the probation officer cannot do everything especially as in Jefferson county wher one officer Is supposed to cover the en tire county.
 When juvenile courts were first operate, in Chicago a society was assigned fo special duty, one officer of this society brought into the juvenile court more ehil dren than all the other officers put to gether. After a while 1t was diseovere, this wasn't such a desirable thing afte all Now, the most important thing tn. probate officer has to do Is to find way to avoid bringing the children int, court.
 The Russell Sage foundation has pub lished book called "The Delinquent ChilC in the Home" Here many kinds of chil dren are consdered-the immigrant child an individual we do not have to comba with as often as the courts in the east the children of the poor. the children O handicapped by drunken fathers an, mothers. Out of the 157 immoral girl that were studied it was found 47 of then were victims of people who should hay been their protectors.
 The child of the crowded home, wher, older boys and girls have been sacri feed to help maintain tho younger brothe and sister is a type to be considered. w, also find the ignorant child and the prob lem of the feebleminded.
 Some Chief Causes of Delinquency