Evening star., 1945-04-29
Diopidoted, Packed Buildings House c. Woyword ChIdre
First Of "a Series.)
BY SARAH FLINN.

The four boys at q District in
stitution who spend their early
mornings washing a bunch of dilap-
idated tables where the night before
reaches swarmed, and then cooking
breakfast. for the IS other boys in
the institution, typify the problem
facing the House Appropriations
Subcommittee scheduled to begin
considering the 1916 District budget
at hearings on Thursday.
In the bill is a request for ap-
proximately $368, 900, asked by the
Board of Public Welfare, for i'm
provements and plans for the homes
for wayward and delinquent chill
dren in the District. On that money
hinges the possible rehabilitation of
some several hundred children who
are charges of the District institu-
tions.
The problems faced by the insti-
tutions are two: Personnel and
physical facilities. Both are press
ing.
I visited the four institutions in
which maladjusted children live,
last week-three Of them are in
need of extensive and immediate
repairs and enlargement, and all of
them in need of additional-and In
some cases, better qualifled-per-
sonnel.
The Children's Receiving Home
was first. This is the place where
all children committed to the Board
of Public Welfare stay until 1t has
been decided whether to send them
back home. put them in foster homes
or private institutions or send them
to a District institution. There
is an average of so children here
all the time with a daily average
turnover of one-sixth. The chill
dren-both boys and girls, colored
and white-range from infancy to l8
Building Is Top Old.
1t is located in a building con-
structed during President Lincolns S
administration-and even if the
building were in the best possible
condition, it is too old and too small
to be suitable for its present use
Now, however, it is in general
state of disrepair.
The weather was nice outside, but
the building felt cold and damp
Andrew Caffrey, superintendent
said the heating usually was "ade-
quate." Some window panes were
out and the holes had been stuffed
with heavy cardboard.
We went through the hall to the
dining room. The table clothes
were spotted. the chairs broken
Next to the dining room was a tiny
kitchen, in which only four per-
sons were a crowd. This was where
all the food for the children and
staff is prepared. Because it is so
small, they Ak lot of things in the
basement and the girls carry the
pans upstairs. The kitchen equip
ment was old-including the one
stove. There is no cook. A woman
hired to serve as guard was in
charge of meal planning and cook
ing.
When I asked the children what
they had to eat in the last "a hours
they told me. "Sirup and bread for
breakfast, rice and vegetables for
dinner and sandwiches for sup
per-" Several of them said this
separately.
We found all the girls in the
home sitting around a table, or on
a bench in the recreation room" +"
1t was bare except for the table,
bench, few chairs and a bookcase
half filled with an assortment of
books. The girls were playing
cards, reading comic books and talk
ing. They stopped talking as we
entered and one little girl, years
old, who had been there four weeks,
giggled and blushed. The other
girls were in their teens. Some of
them were sex problems.
Partial Segregation Used.
There was one bedroom where all
the colored girls sleep, and sleep
ing porch for all the white girls
there is no segregation for the
younger children. One girl was in
bed sick. When Mr.. Caffrey noticed
her in bed he asked if she we're sick,
and then sent a matron to see her
The beds were all double decker
and pushed closed together, so that
of necessity. the health regulations
of 3 feet between beds are violated
Some of the bed springs were so
badly broken the mattresses sagged
through.
The bathrooms are tiny. There
are two toilets, and two basins, with
room for colored and one for white
girls. There is another bath, kept
locked, for girls with venereal dis
eases. They are on their honor not
to use the other room, and are given
keys to the private room. However,
the other bath is not kept locked.
All the boys live upstairs-there
is a metal fence at the head of the
stairs. which was locked when we
went up.
They were having cleanup time
and most of the boys were locked
in their rooms. When we opened
the doors we saw them lying around
on their beds, or sitting on the floor
playing cards and talking. Several
of them were kneeling in the hall
they we're doing "penance" for dis
obedience.
There was one long row of solitary
confinement rooms, and the others
had several beds in them. They were
dreary and bare and dark. The
bath was not as nice as the girls