Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-17
Welfare Agency Control
Urged for Boys Home
Advisory Group
Offers Policy
On DeIinquents
BY BETTY MILES
Star Staff Writer

Council has recommended to
the District Commissioners
that a proposed institution for
aggressive delinquent boys be
run by the District Welfare De-
partment and not the Depart
ment of Corrections.
The council acted in a spe-
cial meeting yesterday. Its rec
concentration stemmed from a
study of future accommodations
for District boys when the Ma
tional Training School for Boys
is moved from Washington to
Morgantown, w. Va. The Ma
tional Training School is under
the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
A large proportion of the pop
ulation has come from the
District.
About los District boys are at
the school now.
The council recommended a
six-point plan for comprehen-
sive rehabilitation of delin-
quents here. The new institu-
ton under Welfare's direction
would be part of this program.
Other Proposals
Other points are:
That the proposed security
institution for tougher delin-
quents be located at the Chill
dren's Center at Laurel, Md,
the District Welfare Depart
ment's facility for delin-
quent and retarded children.
That a diagnostic center be
set up where depth" evalua-
ton could be made before a
child was committed to an in
stitution.
That additional vocational
training facilities be developed,
related to job opportunities in
metropolitan Washington.
That planning money in the
buildings and grounds budg-
ct for 1864 be moved up to the
supplemental 1868 budget to
help finance an analysis of de-
linquency here by the National
Conference on Crime and De-
linquency.
The council acted on report
of it's special committee on the
National Training School for
Boys. Mrs. Hobart A. Spalding
is chairman of the special COM
mittee.
Mrs. Spalding said her COM
mittee proposed an overall
plan rather than detailed rec
concentrations because a profile
study of District boys at the
National Training School now
being made by Children's Gen.
ter, will provide important
material for use in final de-
tailed plans, The study is ex-
pected to be ready in a few
weeks.
Mrs. Spalding also urged
that the city wait until the
proposed study by the National
Conference on Crime and De-
linquency is completed before
drawing up its blueprint.
The council also approved,
in principle, creation of half
way houses for children ready
to leave an institution but
without a real home to go to-.
Committee Named
Welfare Director Gerard M.
Shea told the council that the
mere physical replacement of
one institution for another is
not the answer. In addition,
the Juvenile Court Act would
have to be changed to make it
legal to move a youth from
the proposed new training CEN
ter to the Department of Cor
rectionS installation at Lorton,
Va. if this should be necessary.
In other business, j. E. Bind
eman, council chairman, named
a new committe that will push
one step further the concept OF
a peace corps to help families
on relief here.
Mrs. Mark Cornell will be
chairman of the committee that
will make specific recommends
tions for a peace corps plan.
Mr.. Bindeman said recent
press accounts indicated Presi-
dent Kennedy is looking lnCo a
peace corps on the home front
where citizens would work IN
slums and institutions.
The advisory council recon-
mended a local Peace Corps for
relief families when the Ma
tional Peace Corps for service
abroad was formed, but the pro-
posal never got off the ground,
Mr.. Bindeman said.
Expressing delight that Presi-
dent Kennedy is interested in
such an idea, Mr.. Bindeman
declared, "if the Commissioners
didn't do it, the President of the
United States is doing it."