Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1931-05-08
Development OF Social Sc rvice
League OF Montgomery County.
CAMPAIGN STARTS MAY s,

!, Montgomery County can take lust pride
In the fact that it was the first in the State
70 establish countrywide organization fol-
} the care OF the poor and unfortunate. Help
Tor the needy and deserving was the reason
Ior the organization of the Social Service
League OF Montgomery County in 1908.
mat IS the reason for its continued ex-
istence under the mutual auspices of the
county government and the public spirited
citizens who support it.
Joseph E. Janney of Sandy Spring was
the tirst president Of the league. William
r. frettyman OF Rockville was the first
secretary of its executive committee. The
following citizens sponsored its forma in
corporation in 1918 Mrs. Fannie T. Smith.
DR.. F. N. Henderson. Mrs. Mary A. Spencer,
MIS- Nellie S. Beck and Thomas A. Hauten-
Burke of Rockville. Mrs. Elizabeth W. Tib-
bott and John A. Garrett of Bethesda.
Carter Claeett of Potomac. Mrs. Clara Ray
wilson OF kensineton, j. E. Deets of Clarks-
burg, Albert Osborn of Washington Grove.
and Harry C. 4llnutt of Laytonsville.
| The purpose of the league, as defined in
It's charter, was and is ito promote a care
ful study OF conditions related to the care
OF the poor, of neglected and delinquent
children. and especially of tuberculosis cases
In Montgomery County; to educate public
opinion as to the causes and prevention
OF suffering; to arouse general interest in
securing adequate provision for the proper
care OF the needy in their homes and in
i suitable institutions"
The newly formed welfare organization
Immediately employed nurse to visit the
sick. while the other social service activities
were carried on by volunteers. The exist
ing character of the work and its increasing
volume In the ensuing years necessitating
tnat It De placed in charge of a trained
social worker. This was done in 1918, Miss
Margaret Brooke of Sandy Spring, assum-
ing charge.
The number of cases and the details of
handling them and maintaining records
grew up with years. In scant dozen years,
the activities of the Social Service League
Increased so greatly that it now ranks
second only to the organization maintained
by Baltimore County in the volume of duties
performed. AT present, it employs an ex-
ecutive secretary and staff of four social
workers who respond TO calls from every
part of the county.
Those who knew the league in its early
days willrecall how it started on the modest
budget of 5000 and how the first nurse,
in response to calls of suffering, travelled
by train as far as she could, and then con-
tlnued her journey to the patients home
with horse and buggy. Calls upon the
league today are so numerous, that even
with an automobile the workers could not
care for all the needy were it not for the
help which volunteers furnish
Since its inception, the league has spon-
sored numerous county welfare activities.
Among other things, it introduced the sys-
Of medical 81
children; itsponsored the establishment of
the Juvenile Court of Montgomery County,
of which its executive secretary functions
as probation officer and it financed the
public health nurse employed by the county,
until this responsibility was taken over by
the county commissioners about eight years
ago.
Since 1920, the Social Service League
has been designated by the Maryland
Childrens Aid Society as its agent for
Montgomery County. Thus the league, on
court order. handles the cases of children
who must become wards of the county for
various causes.
Since the leagues organization, the coun-
ty commissioners have appointed it trustee
for the pensions it grants to widows and
to the dependent and aged of the county.
In 1928. the commissioners further recog-
nized the service rendered by the league
by appropriatine $8. 900 toward its budget.
This appropriation has been increased to
$1,000.
The work of the Social Service League is
divided into three parts: (D Family relief
and service: (2) Child placement and
supervision. and (3)Juvenile court and
probation.
The family relief and service work RANGES |
from providing food to starving families, to |
the disqualification of the sick. the institu- |
tionalizing of incompetents and the placing |
of boys and girls under proper guardianship. |
Each of the family relief and service cases |
presents an individual problem, and each |
has to be approached in an individual way.
Here is where the social worker ingenuity
is taxed. and here is where her training is
called into play. To cite few examples
of this branch of her work: family bread
winner i'll with tuberculosis has to be placed
in sanitarium; job has to be found for
a man who has exhausted his savings
looking for work; widow left penniless
with small children has to be provided for;
an aged couple has to have a home found
for them.
No two situations are alike. Each case
must be handled by the social worker &C.
cording to the peculiar conditions surround
Ing IL. 1nC opCht III duyuotiuB q
family's difficulties may vary from one day
to five or six years. The ultimate object
of the social worker must not merely be to
supply aid she must educate the families
under her care to become self-reliant and
independent-in word, she strives to help
them to help themselves so that they may
not always be drag upon society.
Ia addition to handling family case work,
the Social Service League is frequently |
called upon to supervise children and place |
them under proper supervision. Last ear |
20 boys ana % girls were under the guar |
dianship of the league. This is one of the |
4 most vital features of its work. 1t protects
/ the dependent and neglected child whose
parent may have been found unfit to pro-
vide for him or whom death may have
deprived of parental care.
| Every normal child should have the ad-
vantage of proper home environment,
where he can feel sense OF security as
well as enjoy response to the normal de-
sire to be loved. With this concept in view,
the League attempts where possible to
place dependent children in foster homes
instead of institutions. The League workers
are primarily concerned with improving
the condition OF children in their own homes.
Children are removed from parents only as
a last resort. BY providing normal back
ground for maladjusted children, the league
endeavors to make healthy. self-reliant,
and respectable citizens Of the future.
In the Juvenile Court and probation
branch of its work. the Social Service League
during the last year handled rs cases.
Twelve children were made wards of the
MARYLAND Children's Aid Society: five were
committed to the custody of their parents
pending further court order; five were
Committed to institutions. and three were
placed in adoption homes under the ward
ship Of the League.
The connection between the League and
the Juvenile Court is a natural one,
for the court was established to eliminate
criminal procedure in juvenile cases. BY
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