Evening star., 1940-02-20
Institutions

money comes in, but there are Ger
tain things that could be cleaned
up now"
When the hearing broke up Rep
resentative D'Alesandro told report
erS the "evils" he believed could be
cured without spending money.
His recommendations were: That
admissions Of children to the re-
ceiving home should be better con-
trolled; that tubercular patients at
the Home for the Aged and Infirm
at Blue Plains should be sent to a
tuberculosis hospital; that Blue
Plains should be put under super
vision of registered District hos
pital: that mental cases at the Home
for the Aged should be sent to a
mental hospital; that inmates at
Blue Plains should eat in shifts so
their food would be warm when
served; and that the length Of time
between the placing of a child in
the receiving home and the notifying
of its parents should be reduced.
Before Mr.. Bondy took the stand
Mr.. D'Alesandro had had a sharp ex-
change of words with Grady Leon
ard, superintendent of the Chill
dren's Receiving Home, about food
at the institution for children.
When Mrs. Leonard followed her
husband to the stand and admitted,
in answer to his questions, that the
children helped serve the food, he
said sharply, You have 16 attend
ants for IS children. and the chill
dren have to do the work them
selves"
Count on Police Aid.
Asked by the Representative why
it took 48 hours to get in touch with
the home of child taken to the
Receiving Home, Mr.. Leonard said ii
had always been the duty of the
police to notify the parents and that
the police had always given good
service.
do you call 48 hours good serv-
ice?" Mr.. D'Alesandro demanded
II think we should send for Maj
Brown superintendent of police) to
get this thing Strengthened out"
His attitude toward the Leonards
differed sharply from the much
gentler questioning of the other wit
nesses, Judge Fay Bentley of the
Juvenile Court and Miss Elsa Cas-
tendyck, director of the delinquency
division of the Children's Bureau.
Judge Bentley, first witness tc
testify before the subcommittee, de-
clared:
mo persons have ever believed the
Children's Receiving Home is ade-
quate either in construction, facili-
ties or play space"
She emphasized that the main
difaculty rs been lack of definition
of the functions of the home.
Until the home is used just for
a place Of detention" she said, land
intake Is controlled, It Is only natu-
raj that people who are harrassed
will turn to the institution and use
it for a dumping ground"
Asked about health condition.
at the home, she said she hac
known of no serious epidemics.
Regarding Mr.. Leonard, the su.
perintendent, she said he had al.
! ways co-operated to the fullest ex.
tent with the Juvenile Court.
Both she and Miss Castendycl
who followed her to the stand
agreed with the recommendation!
of the Jacob Kepecs report, made
after a survey in 1898.
Reports on Findings.
On the basis of her visit to tn,
home last Friday, Miss Castendycl
said she had found:
That the dormitories were ex-
ceedingly crowded, with beds
sometimes less than 6 inches
apart.
That it was impossible to iso-
late boys with venereal diseases.
That the dependent children
were not segregated from the de-
lnquents resident at the home.
That no facilities for isolation
were provided pending physical
examinations and that there was
no resident trained nurse.
That no educational opportu-
mites were provided. although