Mrs. VAUGHAN. That is right.

Senator DONNELL. What have you done since then? From that time until now?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. I was research editor of Modern Industry magazine.

Senator DONNELL. Who issues Modern Industry?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. It is published by Magazines of Industry, Inc. It is an independent management publication.

Senator DONNELL. Where is its office?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. 347 Madison Avenue, New York.

Senator DONNELL. How long were you with that publication?
Mrs. VAUGHAN. Until last March.

Senator DONNELL. Then, beginning last March, what have you done from then?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. Since that time I have been a housewife and mother. I have worked with the Congress of American Women.

Senator DONNELL. You are not on a salary?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. That is right.

Senator DONNELL. You are not?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. I am not.

Senator DONNELL. And you have your home in New York?
Mrs. VAUGHAN. That is right.

Senator DONNELL. And you have a family, I take it?

Mrs. VAUGHAN. That is right.

Senator DONNELL. That is all.

Senator PEPPER. Thank you very much, Mrs. Vaughan, for coming here and giving us your views and helping us.

We will take a recess until 2 o'clock, and reconvene at that time. (Thereupon, at 1:15 p. m., a recess was taken, to reconvene at 2 p. m.)

AFTERNOON SESSION

Senator PEPPER. The committee will come to order.

Miss Lenroot, please. Miss Lenroot, we will welcome your state

ment.

Of course, for the record, you are Miss Katharine Lenroot, Chief of the Children's Bureau of the Department of Labor.

STATEMENT OF KATHARINE F. LENROOT, CHIEF, CHILDREN'S BUREAU, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Miss LENROOT. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am very happy to appear before your committee in support of S. 1318. I have not been informed concerning the relationship between this bill and the program of the President.

I regard it as essential to push forward now in developing health and welfare resources for the children of our Nation and for their mothers during the maternity period. Testimony already presented to this committee by Dr. Martha M. Elliot, Associate Chief of the Children's Bureau, in hearings on the national health bill (S. 1606), expressed for her and for myself our support of that bill and of the national health program. That testimony contains ample evidence of the urgent need for immediate advance in extending health protection

and medical care to our children. The tragic waste of the human resources of our country and the individual suffering and sorrow caused by such waste have been reflected in mortality rates and in findings of Selective Service.

This committee has not considered prior to the hearings in this bill the equally pressing need for extending and developing further the child-welfare programs now available in only a small proportion of the counties of the United States. Neglect to provide for the social needs of children is reflected by rising rates of juvenile delinquency and by childhood unhappiness and failure to make normal adjustments in school or community life. I should like to submit for the record a copy of the testimony which I submitted on May 29 to the Subcommittee on Aid to the Physically Handicapped of the Committee on Labor of the House of Representatives. This statement includes a general discussion of the needs of children for health and welfare services and a more detailed discussion of the proposals for childwelfare services incorporated in House bills identical with S. 1318 and the reasons why such a program is needed.

(The document referred to is as follows:)

TESTIMONY ON MATERNAL AND CHILD WELFARE ACT OF 1945 H. R. 3922, H. R. 3994, H. R. 4059, AND S. 1318) SUBMITTED TO SUBCOMMITTEE ON AID TO THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED OF THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON LABOR

(By Katharine F. Lenroot, Chief, Children's Bureau, U. S. Department of Labor) I would like to express my support of the proposed preamble' to these bills (H. R. 3922, H. R. 3994, H. R. 4059, and S. 1318) that has been agreed upon by Senator Pepper and the chairman of this committee. When appearing before the Senate Committee on Education and Labor, Dr. Eliot, the Associate Chief of the Children's Bureau, expressed in my behalf as well as for herself support of the President's national health program and of the National Health Act of 1945 (S. 1606). Titles I and II of the Maternity and Child Welfare Act of 1945, to which we are addressing ourselves today, have the same general objective as the maternal and child health part (title I B) of S. 1606, though they go beyond that part in making possible payment for medical care for any child and for mothers in maternity. They provide as did title I B of the National Health Act of 1945, for an extension of the crippled children's services which is urgently needed. The proposed preamble to S. 1318, H. R. 3922, H. R. 3994, and H. R. 4059 and the additional proposal to specify the amounts to be authorized for appropriation during the second year of the expanding program make clear the intent of the sponsors to regard this program as a potential part of the national health program, to be coordinated with and fitted into any over-all program that the Congress may develop. With this approach I concur.

That there is need for action now to provide funds to aid the States in expanding their services to mothers and children no one denies. The only differences of opinion lie in the way in which it should be done. I am here to lay before you the need to act at this time to provide for the health and welfare needs of children.

The future of our Nation lies with our children. The kind of responsibility which we assume for child health and child welfare in the programs which we are discussing today will affect the way in which they will be able to assume responsibility for tomorrow. What we do for our children we, in this sense, do for ourselves, and what we do for all of the people we do for our children.

1 Proposed preamble to H. R. 3922, H. R. 3994, H. R. 4059, and S. 1318: "SEC. 2. The Congress finds and experience has shown, especially during the war, that there is need for expansion of maternal and child health and welfare services through aid to the States, and declares that immediate action by the Congress is required to meet these needs.

"It is further declared to be the policy of the Congress that the special services for the health of children and their mothers during maternity herein provided for should form a part of any national health program to be authorized by the Congress and should be coordinated with and fitted into any such program."

There are about 41,500,000 children in the United States under 18 years of age. There are 22 million babies born each year. Children make up about 30 percent of the population.

The family is the first line of defense in the struggle to achieve good health and provide for the welfare of the child, but the family must depend upon public resources for many of the essential elements necessary to the health, growth, and development of children. Thus for over a hundred years it has been recognized throughout the country that education is a public responsibility, and from the foundations of the Republic the State has been recognized as the final guarantor to the child of protection against destitution, neglect, or abuse.

Approximately one-half of the families in the United States have no children, but all people have a stake in the welfare of children. For example, everyone benefits from the fact that we have public schools. An educated citizenry is the foundation of free institutions. All people would benefit in some way from public programs which would provide health and medical services for mothers and children, without discrimination because of economic status, race, creed, color, or national origin. Wherever there is a social problem involving children, it is in the interest of everyone that it be dealt with promptly and constructively, for the sake of the child and his personal development, and for the sake of the community, which is injured by delinquency, crime, and dependency. A long stride will have been taken toward this objective should this bill become law.

The economic burden of rearing our children falls unevenly among the population. A disproportionately large number of children live in families with low income. The figures for 1941, which was a year of high income with a relatively small amount of unemployment, show that approximately three out of every five children were living in families with incomes of less than $2,100 per year, and four out of five in families with incomes of less than $3,000. Moreover, 80 percent of our children live in families of four or more persons.

Children are also concentrated in low-income States. The 1940 census shows that one-half of the children in the United States live in 32 States which get one-third of the national income, while one-half live in 16 States which get two-thirds of the national income. Approximately one-fourth of our children live in the Northeast section that gets 40 percent of the national income and onefourth in the Southeast which gets 12 percent of the national income. Federal funds are needed to assure adequate opportunities for all children throughout the country.

Title V of the Social Security Act, under which the present programs are operating, was written with particular attention to need in rural areas. Now, as then, the burden of care for children falls more heavily in these areas. Farm families have the highest ratio of children to adults, approximately twice that of the large cities. In 1941 farm families had 29 percent of the children in the United States but only 11 percent of the income. Funds available under the Social Security Act have never been sufficient to meet more than a very small fraction of the needs of rural mothers and children.

There has been a long-time tendency for trained personnel to concentrate in urban areas. This is particularly true for the experts and specialists. For example, in 1941, 4 percent of the pediatricians were located in places of 10.000 population or less, where 60 percent of the children live, while 38 percent were in places of 500.000 population or more where only 14 percent of the children live. Both State health and welfare agencies are confronted with the need to initiate and carry out plans that will attract highly trained people into the rural areas where relatively more of our children live.

Progress has been made in the last 10 years under title V of the Social Security Act in maternal and child health, crippled children's services, and child welfare. More people are receiving service than was possible before the passage of this act, and the services are on the whole of better quality. Valuable experience has been gained-we not only know more about the nature of the problems with which we are confronted, but we have a better idea of how we can work on them. Every State has made a beginning, but in no State at this time are all of the essential services available to children throughout the State. The maior reason for slow development of services has been lack of funds to take the steps which are necessary if services are to be available for all children and for all mothers in the maternity period.

These bills would provide services for maternity patients and for children which would be a part of and should be adequately fitted in with the State and local health and welfare services for all the people. They would keep Fed

eral responsibility in the Children's Bureau, thus continuing to make possible general planning and adequae correlation of maternal and child health and child welfare services to the end that they may effectively meet the needs of children whose lives cannot be divided into separate water-tight compartments labeled "health" or "welfare," but who must be viewed and served as living, growing human beings.

The Children's Bureau has prepared material in support of the Maternal and Child Welfare Act. We are dividing our testimony in two parts. Dr. Eliot will speak in support of the health features, and I want to devote my remarks to the child welfare provisions.

WHAT THE BILLS PROVIDE FOR CHILD WELFARE

The child welfare provisions of these bills (title III) are intended to make it possible for each State, with Federal and State funds (and local funds if provided by the State plan), to provide services in the public welfare department that will be available whenever a child needs help. These services, under the requirements of the bills, would be available in every part of the State not later than July 1, 1955. A child may need such service because conditions in his home are such that he is neglected or mistreated, or feels unhappy and unwanted, or because of orphanage, desertion, difficulty in getting along in school or with other children, juvenile delinquency, or mental deficiency. Experience has shown that children from all economic groups may have these problems, that many parents want help and advice in dealing with them, and that service should be available without any feeling that to receive help from a child-welfare worker carries any disgrace or stigma.

Every State, Alaska, Hawaii, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico now has a plan for child-welfare services authorized under title V, part 3, of the Social Security Act. Many States are putting in much more money for these programs than comes to them from the Federal Government, for the total annual appropriation authorized under the Social Security Act for this purpose is only $1,510,000. As will be shown later, however, only a small portion of the need is now being met. These bills would utilize the foundation of administrative machinery and experience developed in the 11 years since the Social Security Act became law, but would go much farther in the kind and extent of services authorized. It is time to make these advances, for the sake of our children and the future of our Nation.

Title III of the pending bills would make possible in every part of each State, in the numbers needed to serve children requiring such help, the services of a worker qualified by personality and professional preparation to understand children's needs and to bring to bear upon their problems all the resources of the community made available through public or through private initiative. In addition, it would assist the States in providing suitable care and protection for children without parental care and supervision and children who are dependent, neglected, delinquent, or in danger of becoming delinquent. Provision for aid to dependent children would remain with the Social Security Board, through grants to State welfare agencies available for their public assistance services, but provision for care of children in foster homes and for other care aş indicated below would be developed as part of the State's child welfare program, through funds made available through the Children's Bureau.

To be specific, the services authorized as defined in sections 301 and 305 of the bill are as follows:

(1) Individual guidance and social services for children in their own homes needing such service, to be available in all political subdivisions of cooperating States to all children in need thereof, not later than July 1, 1955;

(2) Care of children in foster homes;

(3) Temporary care in receiving, detention, or study homes of children who are in need of such care because they are waiting court action or the making of definite plans for their care, especially in areas where children would be detained in jail or deprived of necessary protection and shelter;

(4) Specialized services (such as recreation service, mental health service, the service of a social worker), needed to strengthen and improve the programs of public institutions caring for children;

(5) Day care for children who because of their mothers' employment or other conditions require such care, including care in foster-family homes or day-care centers;

(6) Payment of the cost of returning nonresident children to their own communities, if such return is desirable and the cost cannot otherwise be met;

and

(7) Cooperation with appropriate State and community agencies in improving conditions affecting the welfare of children.

To provide these services, an appropriation of $20,000,000 is authorized- for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1946, and a sum sufficient to carry out the purposes of the title for each year thereafter. For each of the first two fiscal years there is to be allotted to the States $10,000,000 which must be matched by State, or State and local funds on a variable matching formula (sec. 304). The remainder of the appropriation, which after the second year must not exceed onefourth of the total amount, is to be allotted to the States on the basis of number of children, special problems of child welfare, and financial need, and is not required to be matched. Other provisions of the bills are included in the summary presented as appendix A. It will be noted that all States, Territories, or possessions of the United States may participate in the program. It is in my opinion exceedingly important that the children of all these areas have access to the benefits contemplated.

WHY IS A CHILD-WELFARE PROGRAM OF THE KIND AUTHORIZED BY THESE BILLS NEEDED?

Normally, children receive guidance, care and protection from their families and from the services afforded by the community to all children. A large number of children, sometimes described as socially handicapped children, have needs that are not met or cannot be met by their parents or by community services available to all children. These are the children whose parents do not make the right kind of homes for them, the children who have lost one or both parents, the children who have behavior difficulties or are emotionally disturbed, and the children with mental and physical defects.

Nearly 4,000,000 children have lost one or both parents;

Sixty thousand children are known to be orphans of servicemen who died in this war;

Seven hundred thousand children are in homes broken by divorce, desertion, or separe

on;

Over 80,000 bbies are born out of wedlock each year, and nearly 50 percent of the unmarried mothers are under the age of 20 years;

More than 250,000 children each year are brought into juvenile courts as delinquent and several times that number come to police attention;

Twenty-five thousand of the children who come to juvenile courts are runaways from home;

Three hundred thousand children each year are detained over night or longer by police and juvenile courts, many of them in local jails or in poor detention homes;

Thirty thousand children are in training schools for juvenile delinquents;

Two million seven hundred and seventy thousand mothers of children under 14 were at work in 1944; after the war many of these mothers are still at work and others will enter employment;

Eight hundred thousand children under 18 years are feeble-minded.

To provide the care and protection that these children need is a public responsibility.

WHAT KIND OF HELP IS GIVEN THROUGH A CHILD-WELFARE PROGRAM?

An adequate child-welfare program provides for guidance and social services to children. Child-welfare workers are attached to local departments of public welfare or to regional or district offices of the State public-welfare agency. These workers give service in cases of individual children at the request of parents, teachers, public assistance workers, police officers, juvenile-court judges, and others.

Following are examples of requests for help received by the Children's Bureau that are typical of those with which a child welfare worker would deal:

A 12-year-old epileptic girl asks protection for herself. Her mother is mentally ill. She has been living with a grandfather who "scared me into doing things." A 16-year-old girl complains of the treatment she has had in the homes of relatives since her mother's death. She has been going from one to another and "they are getting tired of me."