The L'Anse sentinel., 1923-07-06
Country i'm Need
of Welfare Work

in a number of states county welfare
boards have been created and their
officers appointed, and that the results
have been encouraging. Mention is
made of the delicate treatment de-
manded in removing defects In chill
dren because the work involves
much more delicate process of adjust
mert than the worst bone fracture.
The treatment Of the Juvenile ielin-
quent is field which requires real
professional skill"
The state University Of Minnesota,
as well as number of other states,
the report says, has provided training
schools for rural welfare workers,
both through summer institutes and
through regular courses OF several
years. Nothing Is said about the fact
that this comparatively new field opens
way for congenial and steady en-
ployment to many thousands of per-
sons having an aptitude for 1t, but
some alluslon appears to be made to
It by this statement by the bureau;
perhaps we get an idea Of what
this new career involves II we recall
for a moment the great number Of
needs which are filled by modern
work for chlldren-by' the activities,
for instance, which are carried on in
typical large city; by health centers,
clinics and hospitals, vocational and
psacement bureaus, Juvenile courts
and probation officers, child-study bu-
reaus In the schools and courts, or
ganizations aiding In enforcement Of
protective laws, family aid societies
and mothers pension boards, home
finding bodies, training schools for
blind and deaf and abnormal children.
If we compare the great variety Of
this work with the limited provisions
In the country, we shall realize more
fully what task is faced by the new
county officers doing pioueer work"
How Task Should Be Handled.
In explaining how the welfare work
er should set about his task in a rural
community the bureau says:
"For needy family, for example,
with the complications of child delin-
quency and handicap which occur so
often, he (the welfare worker) secures
emergency aid from q church society
or Red Cross chapter or from county
funds. He enables the father TO get
on his feet financially by bringing him
into touch with an agricultural agent,
who advises as to farming methods
and who interests the troublesome boy
In corn or stock-raising club. Mean
while he arranges for friendly doctor
to examine small crippled girl who
has never been able to attend school.
and while she awaits admittance to
an orthopedic hospital he finds trans
portation so that she can go to school.
He calls In the county nurse to advise
the mother as to care and diet for her
other children, probably undernour-
ished. If there is no public health
nurse, he brings the county to see the
need for one.
"The welfare manor welfare lady
II may be-soon becomes a well-known
figure on the country roads. But he
cannot be everywhere at once. and in
the absence of the city's organized re-
sources he must largely develop rem
edies and treatment for hts cnses OF
dependency, delinquency and neglect
by arousing neighborly spirit where 1t
may have been lacking. That spirit
Is contagious from his own we'll
established conviction that the whole
community benefits or suffers accord
Ing to the welfare Of Its children and
its individual families"