Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1951-05-27
Juvenile Court
Continued From First Page.)

ents under the earlier order had
no meaning for her."
Mrs. Cooper was particularly at
fected by the order since the five
workers under her supervision
work with the parents and the
youngsters when they are re.
ferred to court to determine
whether to close the case before
it gets to court or to send it to
the judge.
Cases frequently have been
closed by having another agency
take over guidance Of the child
and assist with family problems,
This iss particularly true where
the child is only eight or nine
Years old and too young to under
stand probation. .4,<
when you want another
agency to take over, Mrs. Cooper
said, you have to explain enough
about the case for them TO decide
whether they can accept it. Nov
we can just refer cases without
any information.
A veteran of 20 years in child
welfare work. Mrs. Cooper gave
these specific examples where the
secrecy order has been against
the interests Of children:
A nine-year-old was referred to
Juvenile Court as a law violator.
Investigation developed that he
and his seven-year-o brother
were running the streets late into
the night and were generally
being neglected by their mother.
The father. who was separated
from the mother, wanted custody
OF the children and could make
a good home for them. He was
moving to another city and had
asked an agency in that city to
help him gain custody of the
two boys. Juvenile Court had the
information to show the children
were being neglected by their
mother, but couldn't pass it along
to the other agency so that
good home could be provided for
the boys.
Delay Pointed Out.
Another nine-year-old was
brought in on series of COM
plants. The mother understood
the boys problems but needed
some help in dealing with him,
Believing the boy too young to
be committed to an institution,
particularly when the mother
wanted to give him better guild
ance, the Juvenile Court worker
wanted to refer the case to a
private children's agency. The
agency, however, couldn't take the
case without knowing something
about it. The judge was asked
II the boys background and prob
lens could be explained to the
other agency. That was two
months ago but the answer has
not been forthcoming and the
case is still pending.
A young girl from a Southern
state was living here with her
aunt, who refused to keep her any
longer. The girl wanted to 90
nome. Previously, the court would
nave written to the other State
explaining all the circumstances
the aunt's lack of affection. the
chlld's desire to go home, the
background of her troubles. But
the letter sent under the new
order said only that the girl was
known to the court as a resident
OF that State. No answer has come
back from the State, but it is
doubtful that the other State will
want to take child it knows
only as delinquent since she
could be committed to an .insti-
tuition here.
Teachers, Mrs. Cooper, went on.
might know children are on pro-
baton to the court and read a lot
more into that than actually
exists. Previously, probation off,
GERS would talk to teachers and
principals and give them some in
sight into the child's dificilties-l
particularly when the teachers
had a mistaken idea that the
offense was more serious than it
actually was.
Now" said Mrs. Cooper, "allI
we can do is ask if the child is
attending school and it, he's al
problem"
Mrs. Cooper said she had de-
bated for a month or more about
leaving the court because the
director of social work, Miss
Helaine Todd, had done so much
through recognizing. But, she
went on, as her staff. kept bring
ing questions to her and she
couldn't GET them onSuarod sat ha