Connecticut western news., 1921-03-31
CONNECTICUT WOMEN ARi:: i::SIR0NCLY BEHIND
 CHILD WELFARE BILLS
Declare Better Care for Children Would Be Economy
 for State.
SIX HUNDRED ATTEND
 CAPITOL HEARING

One way UT pTacIlClng economy 1S to cut down expenditure. a better way Is to spend wisely in order to check waste, according to the Connecticut Child" Welfare Association, which as- serts that an appropriation to estab- lish child welfare bureau in Con nee icut would be money we'll spent. "At present" says Austin Cheney of South Manchester, President of the Association, i've are wasting through the overlapping of the work of vari- ous agencies caring for children and in many other ways. To take but a few instances:
 First, many children are committed to the county homes who have rela- tives in other towns or outside the state, willing and able to give them a home. The state pays S3.50 a week toward the support of each child in the home. Much Of this could be saved through adequate investigation of the chtld's family prior to commitment.
 "Sec0ndly, am informed that Con- necticut spent last year s272, ,591 for penal and reformatory institutions for children. A good juvenile court sys- tenn with expert probation work done In connection with 1t would not only cut down the number ofFrepeaters' and save the state part of this annual out lay, but 1t ought to accomplish a sav- ing with regard to our courts and prisons for adult offenders and crimi- nals. Thirty-one per cent of the in- mates of the Cheshire Reformatory are former inmates of the Connecti- cut School for Boys at Meriden. We have figures showing that in states which have a juvenile court system the proportion of children in reforma- tories Is considerably smaller than in Connecticut.
 Third. we should have every child who Is committed to a public insti- tuition examined for possible mental defect. Everyone knows that one men, tai defective at large can cause thou sands of dollars damage and endan- ger hundreds of lives through arson, murder, or train-wrecking. Yet feeble minded children are permitted to re- main in our County Homes and go out from there without supervision. A cen tral agency such as the Child Welfare Bureau proposed by the Connecticut Child Welfare Commission would be in position to save the state actually more than it would cost for it's own maintenance"
 Six hundred men and women appear ed recently at the legislative hearing in support of the bill to establish a child welfare bureau. Many Of them spoke individually for the bill, while others appeared as representatives of state and local organizations. Begin ming with the appearance last Janu- ary of Volume I. of the report of the Child Welfare Commission appointed by ex-Governor Holcomb, the interest of the women has been on the increase. Among the organizations that have in dorsed the Commissions recommenda- tions are: Connecticut Child Welfare Association, Business and Professional Women's Clubs of Hartford and New Haven, Congress of Mothers, .Associa- tion of Collegiate Alumnae, Connecti- cut League of Women Voters, League of Republican Women, Democratic Women's Alliance, Council of Jewish Women, Women's Christian Temper ance Union, Children's Aid Society, Hartford Federation of Women's Clubs, Connecticut Humane Society, Meriden Chamber of Commerce, Glas- tonbury Chamber of Commerce, Water bury Child Welfare Commission, New Haven Civic Protective Association, New Haven Orphan Asylum, Social Workers Club of New Haven, Vassar Club, New Haven Emergecy Baby Home, Kings Daughters of Hartford, Woodbury Woman's Club, Woman's Civic Club of Putnam, Waterbury Wo- mans Club, Woman's Club of Willi- mantle, New Britain Charity Organiza- tion, Board of the Hartford Orphans Asylum, Mothers Club of Somersville and others.