Evening star., 1928-02-12
LAW FOR HOME CARE OF CHILDREN
PROVING VALUE BY EXPERIENCE

board. The procedure. therefore, has
been to take on new families gradually
from the first Of the year until their
maintenance toward the close Of the
fiscal year ezhausts the appropriation.
with thc exception OF surplus LETT
available for pressing cases. The maxi
mum expenditure for any one month
has been S7,893. The expenditure for
January was S7.32D.66. Between now
and next July this monthly cZpendi-
ture will steadily increase.
The ultimate requirements for funds
under the act cannot be determined Tor
some time As there Is large waiting
list in addition To a constant flow OF
applicants, It Is 10 be expected that
there will be greater demand every
year. The board believes. however, that
there will come time when the num-
Der of cases taken from the list OF
benef1ciaries because OF children reach
ing the age limit or for other reasons
viii Offset the number Of new cases
added. Until then appropriations must
increase IL the full care sought under
the law is TO be extended.
Congress was liberal in giving the
Board Of Public Welfare a law that
imposes On its administrators no limi-
TO be spent on any one family. Be-
cause of the breadth Of the law. the
board has been able TO spend its money
intelligently basing expenditures on
actual conditions, which vary In nearly
every case, instead Of upon theoretical
conditions. The largest amount now
given TO any one family Is $120 a
month. but this does not mean that
the maximum has been reached.
The method Of determining the
amount of aid TO be extended Is one
of the interesting parts OF the laws
administration. Every family is placed
on budget. and the mother or guard
ian, with the assistance Of the boards
trained visitors, is taught to live within
the budget The surprising Thing
about 1t is that she does learn. and
that combined with the ability TO keep
her children in her home she Is taught
the lesson Of careful spending and
thrift. The typical case may be ex-
amined Of mother with four children.
She rents room to a boarder in her
home for SIS month. Her expenses
are budgeted for a month as follows
Rent. heat and light. S25: food, $50:
clothing. SO: insurance. $6.32: ice
dn Summer). So: and ineidentals, 81.
This makes a total monthly need of
sl06.32. Subtract from this amount the
! SIS month income from rental of the
room. and the money allowed her b.
the Board Of Public Welfare is $9l.32.
| The boards policy has been In every
case 20 emphasize the importance OF
| the mothers part OF doing everything
! she can TO support herself. Applying
| this policy. the board has not taken
under It's care any mother with less
/ than two children. In some cases out
| side work by a mother Is impossible. n
other cases undesirable because Of the
children. But the board has encouraged
! every mother to strive toward the ulti-
mate attainment Of self-support. II
has discouraged the tendency to fold
hands and lean on the State indefi
| nitely. The policy has contributed 10
a high morale among the beneficiaries
which has been most encouraging to
the board. There are only 81 cases out
Of the 1l2 where there is no income
outside of governmental aid. and in
nearly every case there is the desire 70
help ones self.
The success OF the boards policy is
in large measure due to its strict super
vision OF expenditures By each family
and the close relationship which exists
between the families and the boards
social workers or visitors A high
| standard has been set. which can be
maintained only by providing the board
| with the necessary staff to continue
! this supervision and contact. As the
! number Of benehciaries, increase, there
must be corresponding increase on
! the part Of those who actually minister
to them. Unless the machinery for
executing the Law is kept up to stand
ard as the demands upon it increase.
the benefits from the law must be
lcssened.