Connecticut western news., 1921-04-07
SWEEPING CHANGES IN CHILDREN'S
 LAWS ASKED FOR
Welfare Commission Completes
 Report to Legislature.
FINDS CARE FOR NEGLECTED
 CHILDREN INADEQUATE

Although Connecticut was the first state In the Union to grant money for the special training of deaf and blind children, and although some of her laws for children are now amsng the best iR the United States, many ef her provisions relating to children appear to need sweeping revision. This is the conclusion of the Connecticut Child Welfare Commission created by the 1919 legislature to study the laws and the conditions relating to children. The Comnission has just reported to the Governor and the Legislature. Tn the two years since Its appointment the Commission has made an investigation into the care ef neglected children h the state; it hes surveyed the work of the. courts on juvenile cases: it has Investigated the care of feeble-minded and physicaliy handicapped children, and 1t now reports that this care falls short Of the standard in many par ticularA. The changes recommended by the sCommission are included In twelve bills presented to the LegtGaA- turs.
 
 In Connecticut Is in an institution, ac- cording te the Commissions report Tn addition, there are about 1000 chll- dren placed out in private families from the county homes. Supervision over these children is placed by law in the hands of the State Board of Charities, but as the state allows only three supervisors to cover the ground, It Is reported, that half the childrea dresses given were found to be- in many cases, incorrect. Likewise, S1 per cent of the homes had not been inspected in advance to find out whether they would be good homes for the children, according to the report.
 AS a result of the division of power between the different authorities look ing after these children, the Commis- sion states that, ''The placed-out chill dren of Connecticut have been found to be over-wOrked, exploited, poorly educated, poorly trained, and twisted and thwarted from normal develop ment. More than one-third of the chil- dren taken into private families from the county homes are taken for serv- ice" It Is the belief of the Commis- sion that the present system does not ground adequately for purposes of supervision and inspection.
 Thirty-eight public and private insti- tutions caring for children are report ed on by the Commission. Feeble minded children, 1t says. were found in almost all the institutions visited a deaf and dumb boy was discovered in an institution for feeble-minded children; in one institution 1t was found that at least three epidemics had swept through the home In the course of 8 year. These conditions are ascribed to a lack of proper ex. animation of children before commit ment to the homes and to lack of room In the institutions caring for mental ,lefectives.
 The specific recommendations of the Commission fall under three main heads. First, the establishment of state bureau or department of child welfare, with power to supervise the work of existing agencies caring for children, license homes, keep records, etc AS the Commission believes al- legged defects in the present system to be due to lack of people to do the work, 1t recommends the bureau as body which through its own per sOnnel and by cooperation with other agencies would fill the gaps and stand fc rrfu on6 c11DT01nTnnnt fhn work now being done In the state.
 Second, the Commission recom- i, mends the setting up of a juvenile court system. Forty-t1ve of the forty eight states have already established some such system, 1t reports; the three which have not done so are Con- necticut, Maine and Wyoming.
 The proposed bill would make use of the existing court machinery while establishing an entirely separate se- ries of courts from the point of view of administration and jurisdiction. Neglected and uncared-for children, as we'll as delinquent children would be included under It's jurisdiction. The present law says that children's cases may be heard in chambers. The pro posed law says that they must be 1 heard in chambers. The bill also pro hibits the detention of children in the jail or lookup. A juvenile probation service for the entire state under the general supervision of the proposed bureau of child welfare is recommend ed, as we'll as investigation of all chill dren's cases in advance of hearings. The third main division of the chill dren'S code is a bill creating a special | division under the State Board of Ed ucation to select and oversee the ed 1 ucation of defective children. Spe- cial classes with state aid might he provided in the communities where the children live. The Commission ad- vocates such plan as less expensive than the provision of special training in institutions. A number of amend ] ments to the present laws for children coIHplctn the code as presented to the 1 Legislature.
 Connecticut Is one of eighteen states