Evening star., 1944-07-29
Public Welfare Board
Delinquency Project
Proves Huge Success
! Definite Coins Reported
In MoIodjusted Children; /;
/ Work to Be Continued

A project in the prevention Of
delinquency, the first Of its kind
undertaken here, launched without
publicity by the Public Welfare
Board in January, has proved sc
successful 1t will be continued and
possibly expanded.
Originally on q demonstration
basis, the project covered l68 young
sters froms6 to Is whose maladjust-
rnent indicated they might become
more serious problems" unless pre-
ventive measures were taken.
Definite gains" in at least two
thirds Of the children during the
arst six-month period ending In
June were reported to the board at
q meeting yesterday.
! Assigned to Work.
Six case workers and q supervisor
were assigned by the board to work
with school personnel, parents and
through community facilities.
Character traits in the youngsters
ranged from excessive timidity and
"babyishness" to cheating and steal
ing; from nail biting or speech de-
fects to profanity, drinking and
smoking. Still others were referred
for hardness, truancy, inattentive-
ness to school. boastfulness, destruc-
tiveness, temper, Stiffness or in
dolence.
Altogether. more than 80 charac-
ter traits indicating need for special
attention were listed as reasons for
referral =
The program was launched after
a check last fall showed that 80 per
cent OF the children In the protec-
tive service care OF the Welfare
Board showed a delinquency pat
tern, according to Ray L. Hun, well
fare director.
Approved by Congress.
1t was made possible, he pointed
out. by legislation approved in 1912
giving the board the right and re-
sponsibility to enter actively in the
field Of preventive work.
Although similar work has been
done IN the past where delinquency
already Is established, the project
Is the boards first to be directed
specifically at delinquency pre-
yention.
Cooperating were more than 200
principals and teachers from nearly
so elementary schools Throughout
the city. The project also had the
voluntary cooperation of parents
or, in a few instances, the relatives
or foster parents with whom the
children lived.
The procedure was to treat the
factors leading to undesired behav-
ior, rather than the behavior itself.
Promote Good Feeling.
Every week or two each of the
chilsren was seen by the case worker
and the youngster usually came to
think OF her as a friend, according
to the report yesterday. An attempt
was made to provide physical care
when needed; psychological testing
was done If possible; remedial"
work and extra help and praise of
certain children were given by the
schools. Everything possible was
done to promote good feeling be-
tween the home and school.
Treatment in psychiatric clinics
was given IS children. Help in
housing problems was provided in
several instances but only in 13
cases were children placed away
from their homes. An effort was
made to improve the personal ap-
pearance of 56 children. Church
help was enlisted in numerous cases
and summer plans made for so
Some Of the work was dramatic
and each case was a little different,
In all cases the social worker re-
garded her role as a supplemental
and co-ordinating one.