Evening star., 1944-11-07
Classification Center
Embodied in Plans :
For Receiving Home
BY FRANCES LIDE.

Something new in the field ol
children's services provided here by
the Board Of Public Wefare-a
classification center-is embodied in
plans for a new $500, 900 Receiving
Home for Children being sought by
the board for the District.
As a step toward its realization
supplemental budget requests to be
submitted to Congress soon by the
Commissioners include $4,000 fol
plans and specifications for a build
ing to be erected on q site aready
purchased near Gallaudet College.
A modern structure to replace the
inadequate receiving center now
housed in a building temporarily
taken over from the National Train
ing School for Girls would solve
many obvious and pressing prob.
lens.
In addition, moreover, the welfare
board hopes to set up the classifica-
ton center for all children receiving
any type of service in the public
welfare program.
Long Needed, Says HUFF.
Long needed by the board, &C.
cording to Ray l.. HUFF, welfare di.
rector. 1t would be stated with
psychiatrists and psychologists a.
well as medical and dental person
mel.
Such a center, he explained, sup
plementing the investigations oi
the boards case workers, would
provide the means for a scientific
determination" of a child's needs
before any service is begun.
In discussing the proposed prof.
ect. Mr.. HUH attacked, popular
conception that the majority Of the
children with whom the board deals
are "delinquent"-a term he avoids
incidentally. on the grounds it is
highly inaccurate.
Cites Figures ON Sources.
OF approximately 5000 children
for whom the board provided some
type of service last year. he said,
$500 were referred through sources
other than the Juvenile Court.
Some are abandoned children, he
explained; some have problems
arising from neglect or perhaps be-
cause their parents find them diffi-
cult to manage. They may be re-
ferred by their own parents, by the
school. their neighbors or the DO
lice, although he board never has
jurisdiction except by consent of
the child's legal guardian unless the
youngster has been committed by
the Juvenile Court.
Present System.
But under the present system
the case worker talks to everybody
she can find who knows something
OF the child-his parents, neighbors
and so on. Her investigation must
determine whether she will work
with the child in his own home, in q
foster home or in an institution.
In many cases, however," Mr.
Huff said, "the worker doesn't feel
she has learned enough. She may
believe a medical, psychological OF
psychiatric examination Is needed
and sometimes, when the need is
urgent, she manages to get these
services"
Less than third of the children
needing such examinations do re-
ceive them however, and at least
10 per cent of the workers time is
spent in the effort to secure them,
Mr.. Huff estimated.
A classification center would
make such services available-at q
saving of time for the case worker
and at saving of stress and strain
on the youngster himself.
The proposed structure would
provide 10 rooms of an infirmary
type for nursery-age children and
there would be an additional 10
rooms for youngsters needing indi-
vidual segregation. Dormitory IA
cilities for approximately 96 would
be In small enough units to provide
other types of segregation.
Provision for both indoor and out
door activity also are included In
the proposed project.