The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-07-15
MOTHERS PENSION,
CHARITY REVISION,
URGED BY WOMEN
Mass Meeting Wants Va
ri0us Boards Named
By Commissioners.
AID NEEDY PARENTS
Increased Power for Juvenile
Court and Home Probation
Demanded.

Demands that all child-caring
agencies and charity boards be ap-
pointed by the District CommI ssioners
and made subject to their supervision
were included in resolutions adopted
at a mass meeting of approximately
200 mothers and representatives of
women's organizations held in the
auditorium of the Interior Depart
ment last night.
Legislation to recognize the entire
charity system on a basis that will
keep children in the homes of parents
rather than in boarding homes or
institutions was urged.
A mothers pension, whereby funds
will be paid into homes instead Of
boarding houses, and increased power
for the Juvenile Court, to allow a
home to be put on probation instead
of being broken up, were the two
outstanding plans urged as a means
of affording home protection.
Representative Free Speaks.
Representative Free, of California.
contrasted the handling OF dependent
and delinquent children in California
with methods employed in the District
Oh Columbia. Declaring that the laws
governing charity agencies in Wash
ington make up "a legislative mud
die" Representative Free asserted
| that before the situation can be rem
edied new laws will have to be en-
acted. He strongly urged a mothers
pension and the granting OF chancery
Jurisdiction to the Juvenile Court.
That the number of children now
in care of the Board of Children's
Guardians could be greatly reduced
| was the belief expressed by Repre-
sentative Free. By paying to par
ents the sums now being paid to
boarding homes, he declared, a
better condition for the child would
be provided and the unity of the
! home preserved.
| children to homes not run by the
you are getting on dangerous
ground" Representative Free
| warned.
Tells of "Homes."
A summary of conditions found
| in homes used by the Board OF
| Children's Guardians was given
| by Mrs. Edmund Brennan. chair
man of the Mothers Congress COM
mittee on dependent children.
Mrs Brennan described conditions
| as deplorable in a number of cases
discovered by her committee. In
numerous cases she declared there
was evidence that children were
| placed with people incompetent to
give proper training.
Such conditions she attributed
to an inadequate staff of investi-
gators for the Board of Guardians.
and to complicated laws.
The aid oil every women's organi-
zation in Washington will be
| sought. it was said, in drafting new
| legislation to remedy conditions
| Such legislation should place the
Board of Children's Guardians
under a supervising authority, the
| speaker asserted.
! Industrial Home Praised.
Retention of the Industrial Home
School as a home for children tenn
porarily committed. and as a tenn
porary receiving home was strongly
! Endorsed. The administration OF
! Superintendent Herrick also was
praised.
Judge Willis Brown, former State
| Judge of Utah, severely criticized
! laws governing CHlluI Gil GOHlAllhIcN
TO the Board of Guardians. The
| Juvenile Court. he explained, has
no alternative except to place a
child on probation or commit it tc
the board. If the latter step is
| taken, he declared, the board is the
| legal owner of the child until II
| reaches majority. There is no au-
thority to which parents can APP
| peal for restoration, he pointed out
Following the regular program
| the meeting was thrown open to
general discussion. Speakers rep
| resenting numerous citizens or
CARNATIONS and women's clubs. ex-
| pressed the interest of their as
| sociations in the campaign for
| child improvement.
Mrs. Theodore Tiller. District
! president of the National Associa-
| ton of American Penwomen, pre-
| sided.