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Show I AH Boys Are Good Material for the Building of Real Men I T NLESS one has come in con-I con-I J tact with condition?, it is jmr(1 t0 vmderstnnd how many children arc subjected to in-M in-M l fluenccs Hint arc almost certain to M cause their downfall, morally and M physically, in a great city. They arc M "born on the ragged edge of starvation. ffheii? parents frequently yield to the pressure of grinding poverty and olh-er olh-er harsh conditions and neglect ihcm-selves ihcm-selves and their children. The father M takes to drink and only too often the mother develops immoral traits that unfit her for the rearing of children. Hl At their best, the parents cannot be Wft Expected to rear a child in the wholc- pome atmosphere that is so essential to its moral development, and, at M I their worst, they arc a positive in-M in-M fluence in the direction of their chll-B chll-B V: drcn's downfall. B y As a result, there are hundreds, pos-sibly pos-sibly thousands of children today in 1 every big city that will become public . 1 charges, bad citizens, even criminal B men and women, unless the city or , . some other institution steps in as a foster father and teaches them how M to-Jive righteous lives. It has neen a- custom until very recent years for W, " communities to Ignore this vital runc-Hr runc-Hr I tions and trust to their jails to hold Hj the bad characters that are developed through the neglect of civic authori-! authori-! ties. Viewed from every standpoint this is a foolish policy that saves ne;-mm ne;-mm thcr children, men, nor-mono-. ifj The right policy soems to b( 'I the one that has been choson by iji SL Louis. It presumes that all boys and girls are capable of lcad-' lcad-' ing good lives If they are given the ) copportunity. It will save thousands of children every year when put in gen- exal practice, and will save the city I buillions of doflars spent on jails. IJ How It Works Out. U The way it worked out is best told ?m the words of Alfred Fairbanks, sec- rxetary to the Board of Children's j Kluardians. Fairbank said: "The first year in the board's his-jt' his-jt' kory can properly be called the year tai progress, for every branch of the i .department's works reflect healthy growth and advance. The passage of i llhe revision ordinance based upon past 1 tactual experience defined the board's ' ..powers clearly and satisfactorily, ex-tended ex-tended its limits and duties in the -vwork already undertaken and added to its responsibilities the care of the wclty's foundlings by transfer from the I mayor's office. "Tho survey of the year's work kav- I fang to do with the lives of 560 depen-, depen-, -dent and neglected children and 55 foundlings, G15 children in all, makes kmc feel as they never have before the tremendous responsibility placed in our hands. The dependents have been feared for in their own homes with their own widowed mothers; the ncg-'lectcd ncg-'lectcd children, bocause of their hav-Drtg hav-Drtg been taken away from their own vliomes by the Juvenile Court, have had 'loster homes found for them, while the tfoundlings have been cared for as in .Ihe past in the different private in- mmm sntutions in tne city. B "It is no easy and light task to be B I 'ihe friend and counselor of the B 'widow with her dependent children, B j and to give the kindly specialized ad-J ad-J yice to meet tlfe needs of each little B fcfamily; nor is it easy to be the "right B sprt of parents" to boys and girls who have been taken away from their own B parents, and to provide them with a I 'tnerw home with proper standards and J Sdeals, where the environment will 1 Igive them their change-to become good (citizens. It has been the department's privilege to be all this and much (more. "When mother and father have been H grossly intemperate, abusive and often Hj timmoral, the effect of such an en- vlronment on their children cannot be 'corrected in a few days and often not I Sot years. But it has been our job to liy and accomplish that very thing. "We base our approval of an nppli-I nppli-I 'cant for a child upon the proposition hat the governing motive that actu-I actu-I tales the applicant is the desire to idvo love and affection to a child. B fWlien measured by this standard some Applications fail of indorsement Each applicant must present four refer-1 refer-1 fences, and the home must pass the in- B ppection of the department visitors. pro child is placed more than fifty tjniles from the city, nor out of the Etate, and no child is placed In a home uof religious affiliation different from 5.ts own. As far as possible children ofT-one family arc placed in the same poster home, and when that cannot be Sdone two foster homes arc' found close together. I "The visitors "were required to in-jyestigate in-jyestigate these homes in addition to feheir regular work of supervising cilldren placed out. Each applicant rvas visited in her own home, the place where the child was to sleep ln- j bsnccted, the neighborhood surveyed, so &liat all the factors entering into the fluid's life might be carefully consid-Epred consid-Epred and weighed. Often the appli-cant appli-cant for a child who had made a fa vorable impression when she called at, C : the office did not give such an im- " " " 1 - , I ' pre.ssion when interviewed in her own v '' ,;,r,...- ) 'I' taken awayi thd - CT II 1 ' ' M . E the Juvenile Court, those parents arc I ' ' -"W jffl ''"Ipf 1 I f??-ff " " ''Oj . K usual cases, when arrangements are V ' ''St, : ' "Mr3 1 'M ' ' 'mW I I made for visits in the board's office. It ' 113 f lit.; M ' ' Wl while tevere.arc necessary if wc have VJ ' KBlSs I tho future wolfa,;o of the children in "'' I away from her mother by the Juvenile PifWX -; ' I - ml I ul X' Court because sjie allowed Mar to POTTAGE OIj: - I - " ':MmmJi II1 roam the streets all hours of the night, Kin 1 - " - I A."'- ' WMSmi I fi going with negro boys to picture, nU . . SV v.r .;?t 'J H shows, sleeping out all night, etc. . . ' J V fe. . I IIB Mother a whisky 'fiend, foul-mouthed . ' ,JA r ' " " &m&,. kSm J IW and abusive of all forms of law and - b 1 OOW "" " I B order. Child terribly neglected' and "'-''' AlO SI L.O - . I nurnmv . X Wm?'- f DETENTION Z . , ' " -W'"J REPLACED BY - BOYS .::,. X " ChlLDRENIS BUILDING COTTAGE NO, 2: V mittcd to the board's care. After one year's stay at the Industrial School she was placed out in the country. Began id respond at once to fresh air, good food, regular hours and kindly supervision. Now nearly 1-1 years old and is rapidly developing into a reliable, relia-ble, trustworthy, high-minded girl and becoming quite pretty. "Ernest, a deaf, dumb and nearly blind lad of 7. years. At first highly destructive, impudent and dull looking, look-ing, given to wailing all the time, all probably caused by inability to express ex-press himself. Glasses for the meager mea-ger sight conserved it and open up . new worlds for him, which called hands and feet into action. Training at' the School for the Deaf and Dumb worked wonders. Still taxes, the strength and patience of his foster mother, but much improved over the 'former conditions. Children Sent (o Country. "John and Helen, aged 12 and 6 respectively, re-spectively, living in filth and neglect in a bad neighborhood. Father heavy drinker, had deserted mother, who was very immoral; children committed to board by Juvenile Court. Home found for them in country, where they were happy and contented and gained remarkably re-markably in health and strength. Allowed Al-lowed to visit mother in board's office, 'where she in some manner learned their address and kidnapped them the next week. "Too much canno be said in support sup-port of these foster parents. Theirs is a labor of- genuine love. -Their patience pa-tience is remarkable and. their desire to help these boys and girls is most commendable. Wc do not make a- success suc-cess with each placement. Sometimes we must try three or four times before we find the home that will fit the peculiar pe-culiar needs of a i articular child. Each year finds the worn or the boarG along these lines becoming better known and more applications for children chil-dren may be expected. "We are gradually grad-ually raising the standard of"lhe homes used, and wc are convinced that the new method of caring for the city's neglected children will commend com-mend itself as a decided improvement over the old. "Only a most exceptional combination combina-tion of ingenuity and ability on the part of the mother could bring up such a family a credit to the community, commun-ity, without aid and assistance and keep her own and the children's health. , So until the creation of the Board of Children's Guardians, such a mother haci either to place her chil- B drcn.ln an orphan asylum or work H away from them at wages inadequate to care for them, which resulted in the B dcinorafizalion of the health of the . m mother and children. They become K truants and often delinquents and ; B' grew up without the training and su- K pcrvision every child needs. "Experience in handling these cases iw is sufficient to draw definite conclu- JSRc sions of facts, and these will be com- B? piled and submitted in the near fu- Bt ture. On the whole, the scheme which many thought highly danger- : B? ous and which the department frankly B admits it approached cautiously, has worked with comparatively few ex- 1 B? ceptions most satisfactorily and re- R acted splendidly upon the health and ml general environment of the recipients u of this kind of aid. The mere fact H? that the applicant is a widow does not B qualify her. The investigation must B) show, a residence of two years, that K the family is dependent upon the pub- B' lie for support, that she is a fair man- Bz ager, ihat she is a proper person and B? tliat Jier home is a proper place for B her children. If the applicant meets Br these various requirements, the chil- Ba dren are committed. HT "These cases require a high order Bs of investigation and a most rigid 'fol- Be low up' supervision. S&PM- "The investigation shows the extent tMb of the family income in each case, and flmV contact with many cases has given the ' B department'an estimate of the amount B necessary to provide for families of . WLr various sizes who are dependent upon Bt the public for support. The amount c allowed is generally the difference be- B- tween the mother's earnings and the j B amount necessary to provide the bare i Bi necessities of life for the family. Con- BM sequently the allowances run from ?5 Wt to 45 per month, the last sum allow- B ed to a woman with six children all B under 12 years of age. "In considering the amount to be 1 Br earned by the mother, due regard is , IB had for the health and strength and ' IB the amount of time necessary to be IB' spent away from, her home and her : IB cliildren. The granting of an allow- , B ance to a family is the easiest part of IB ( the program, and a highly dangerous IB and indefensible procedure unless B -most rigid, careful and kindly super- -Jb t ' vision is maintained over the family ' after the allowance is granted. And yet no widow has been found who . could give any exact idea of what it , would cost to provide for the separate ' ; items of expense each month, and ' ' nearly all of them have given the im- ' : ' prcssion of being good, well-meaning mothers, with limited 'ability to manage man-age or plan, and very ready to cast ' j the whole burden on the shoulders ' of ' the board's employes. i : -io guara against this form of pan- ; ' perizing families, each widow has been required to keep a daily expense account on a budget basis and limit : her expenses to her income. "This has been an invaluable aid. It ! separated them at once into 'widows J with ability to manage' and 'widows f requiring cstra supervision.' It show- ed that some were getting sufficient ' food of balanced diet and others no ; variety at all, and that the funds. al- ygl lowed did not control the diet, but f 'P hat it was poV or good in direct re- ' t ' lation to the ability of the mother to . manage, widows have been moved to - : larger and more sanitary quarters. T Hey have been taught easier moth- f ous of washing and cleaning and- jobs " f found for them, their children urged . to work hard at school, so that thev ' ' might become capable and to avoid ' . b ind alley jobs.' Disputes have been adjusted and many other tasks too I numerous to be enumerated have come I for settlement." S |