U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Social Security Administration, "Report of the Advisory Council on Child Welfare Services," Washington: DHEW, 1959. 56 pp.

U.S. General Accounting Office, "Report on Review of Grants to States for Public Assistance Programs," Washington: U.S. General Accounting Office, January, 1961. 35 pp.

Secretary RIBICOFF. My experience as a Congressman, a Governor, and as Secretary convinced me that we must reorient our thinking in welfare. We would be doing a disservice to the whole country and to the relief recipients themselves if we failed to meet our welfare problems head on. We in the Department have been receptive to new ideas from all sources. We wanted discussion, criticism, research, analysis, and suggestions-and all have been forthcoming.

Throughout the years there has been ferment and scrutiny among the thousands of Americans who carry responsibilities in this field. as public administrators, executives, educators, and social workers. We had an outpouring of ideas. Our final recommendations reflect all of this work. There has been considerable give and take. But we have thoughtfully considered all viewpoints and have worked out solutions which are generally acceptable to all concerned.

This process of reappraisal was possibly unprecedented in its scope and depth. It represents not only a great deal of work inside the Department but many conversations with people who know the field, who bear responsibility for spending the taxpayer's welfare dollar in the most helpful and careful way, and who come into contact with the human beings who depend on the program to keep body and soul together.

As a result, we have made a series of changes within the Department. These have been discussed with many of you and your colleagues, and I am now submitting them for the record, the administrative changes, Mr. Chairman.

(The material referred to above follows:)

OFFICE MEMORANDUM, U.S. GOVERNMENT

Date: December 6, 1961.

To: Mr. W. L. Mitchell, Commissioner of Social Security. From: Abraham Ribicoff. Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. Subject: Administrative actions necessary to improve our welfare programs. Revision of our welfare programs has been one of my principal objectives since becoming Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. At my confirmation hearing in January I told the Senate Finance Committee that these programs deserved a fresh, new look, that we would review existing laws and policies carefully during the year and that we would propose significant legislative revisions for consideration by the 2d session of the 87th Congress. I have discussed these matters with Chairman Harry F. Byrd and other members of the Senate Finance Committee and with Chairman Wilbur Mills and other members of the House Ways and Means Committee, and have been encouraged to move forward with this effort.

During this year we have sought and received advice and reports from several groups of distinguished individuals. The staff of this Department has carefully evaluated this material and contributed valuable suggestions.

What has emerged from this review is a clear recognition of the fact that today in 1961 the outlook of 1935 is not up to date. Born of depression emergencies, the original Federal welfare legislation well met the problems of that time. But the quarter of a century that has passed has taught us many new things. We are not satisfied with our welfare programs, and we know there is much that can be done to improve them.

We must move toward two objectives: eliminating whatever abuses have crept into these programs and developing more constructive approaches to get people off assistance and back into useful roles in society.

Many revisions will require legislation. These will be presented to the Congress in January.

I wish to make several changes in our welfare programs that can be accomplished by administrative action. Some of the patterns of 1935 have got to be overhauled, and the steps we take today can make a substantial start in that direction.

In addition to moving more effectively against such problems as locating deserting fathers and fraud, these administrative changes are designed to (1) promote rehabilitation services and develop a family-centered approach; (2) provide children with adequate protection, support, and a maximum opportunity to become responsible citizens; and (3) reshape our administrative structure so it may be more helpful to the States in accomplishing these objectives. These changes will help carry out the purposes of title IV of the Social Security Act (the aid to dependent children program) which specifically include strengthening family life and assuring the proper and efficient administration of State public assistance plans.

The steps taken today are the first part of a broad action program for welfare revision. Legislative proposals early next year will carry this effort forward. Let me emphasize that the success of this revision will require close cooperation with State, local, and voluntary welfare groups. I am anxious to work with all those in and out of government who can help move forward this important endeavor. I would like you to proceed immediately to implement the following decisions:

1. More effective location of deserting parents.-One problem warranting prompt attention is the large number of welfare cases caused by the desertion of a parent. The number of desertions across State lines is increasing. Efforts must be spurred to locate parents who have deserted their dependent families. These efforts should involve the following course of action by the States:

Each State shall establish within its administrative organization for public assistance a special unit responsible for locating deserting parents of children who are applicants or recipients of public assistance. This unit will be separately identified and adequately staffed. It will assist law enforcement officers and others in their efforts to require effective discharge of family responsibilities. The objectives of this special unit will be to reunite families whenever feasible and to obtain financial support.

Among the responsibilities which this unit would help perform would be(a) Handling intrastate and interstate inquiries concerning deserting parents, and coordinating and supervising such activities of local public welfare agencies within the State;

(b) Reciprocal cooperation with other States in helping to locate deserters, obtain support from parents who live in States other than where their dependents are, and assess ways of restoring broken homes; and

(c) Establishing procedures for analyzing all desertion cases to make sure the agency is making every possible effort to locate the deserter. 2. Administrative actions to reduce and control fraud.-Control and prevention of fraud must be a constant objective of welfare administration. Information from administrative reviews and special studies by independent experts all indicate that the proportion of ineligible persons who receive assistance is not more than 1.5 percent. Those who receive it as a result of willful misrepresentation are a small part of that percentage. Nevertheless, effective steps and constant vigilance are necessary by Federal and State agencies both to prevent fraud and to deal effectively with it when it occurs.

"Proper and efficient operation" of State plans under titles I, IV, X, and XIV of the Social Security Act requires that provision will be made to assure that assistance by the States is provided only to those who are eligible for it. To this end State and local welfare departments already maintain extensive procedures for investigation and control of improper payments, but improvements can and must be made.

Existing administrative requirements should be strengthened by inclusion in the State plan of the following:

(a) A definition of fraud in accordance with State law as it relates to receipt of assistance payments;

(b) The administrative procedures by which the State will assure that it has proper and efficient methods for identifying, investigating, evaluating

and referring cases in which there is reason to believe there may be fraud by assistance applicants or recipients;

(c) Methods that will be used in investigation of instances of suspected fraud that are consistent with the legal rights of individuals;

(d) Designation of a point of responsibility within the State welfare department for the followup, and, if indicated, referral for legal action, of cases in which fraud appears likely;

(e) State supervision, review, and control, by which the agency will assure that the plan provisions for dealing with cases of suspected fraud are carried out; and

(f) Keeping records and making periodic reports.

The States should make periodic reports to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare on the nature and extent of the problem so that it can be kept under continuous and careful surveillance with a view to making any future administrative or legislative changes that may be indicated.

3. Allowing children to conserve income for education and employment.— Title IV of the Social Security Act provides that assistance be given only to dependent children who are in need. The existing policies make it clear that States may permit a child with income to use it to meet certain special needs without a deduction from the public assistance grant. These include costs for medical care, school expenses, extra clothing, and transportation needed for employment, etc. All of these needs for which the child's income may be used relate to something which is currently needed by the child. Not enough emphasis has been given, however, to the possibilities of recognizing certain additional needs of children that require expenses in the future for which their own income should be conserved. These needs include education, medical services, and preparation for employment. We must not stifle incentives for children to earn money that will contribute to their future independence.

The present policy should therefore be modified to permit the States to develop their own arrangements under which income of children can be dedicated to appropriate future needs without a deduction from the public assistance payment. States should be encouraged to take full advantage of the opportunities this change in policy affords.

4. Safeguarding the children in families of unmarried parents.—In about one-fifth of all ADC families a parent is unmarried. These families face serious social problems, which are of concern not only to themselves but to the entire community.

For all ADC families, but specially for this particular group of cases, receiving an assistance payment is not a complete answer. If we are going to avoid as far as possible more illegitimate births, if we are going to help these families become responsible citizens, we have to render to this category of families special services that we have seen can be effective. Providing these special services will involve the following steps in each State:

(a) Careful examination of ADC families with an unmarried parent, and of the special problems they face, to see which families are most in need of special services and which problems can best be resolved by services;

(b) Placing the selected families in caseloads sufficiently small so that effective services can be provided to them and making sure that special services are in fact rendered;

(c) Assigning to these cases staff members who are best qualified by education and experience to provide the kind of services that are needed;

(d) Increasing the frequency of home visits to these families so that those with serious social problems are seen at least once every 3 months; and (e) Coordination with the child welfare services program to assure the maximum use of child welfare staff in providing consultation and services for the special problems of these families.

Developing plans to provide these special services will require close cooperation between the States and the Federal Government. I therefore propose we proceed initially by issuing to the States within the next few weeks materials outlining these important responsibilities. This will enable the States to make an early start in coming to grips with these unusually difficult problems. Shortly thereafter we will meet with the State welfare administrators in Washington so that we can discuss with them whatever practical problems there may be in providing these special services. On the basis of this advice and the experience gained in the coming months, we can expect to issue formal policies by the middle of next year.

5. Safeguarding children in families in which the father has deserted.—A second group of ADC families where special services should be provided are those in which the father has deserted. Desertion of a parent with the accompanying evasion of family responsibility is one of the serious indicators of family breakdown in our society. The families broken by desertion are faced, in most instances, by many serious social, economic, and other problems. This is particularly true within the period just after the desertion occurs.

Therefore, in addition to the steps outlined with respect to the location of deserting fathers, the same kind of standards should be established as to the identification of such families, caseloads of limited size, the provision of services by trained personnel, and the provision for home visits at least once each 3 months, that are established for families in which the parents are not married. The procedure for developing these special services should be the same for this group of families as applies to the group discussed in paragraph 4.

6. Safeguarding children in hazardous home situations.-In addition to families in which the mother is unmarried and those in which the father has deserted, there are other family situations in which the physical and moral development of children is seriously threatened and where the home is in danger of becoming unsuitable for the children. Here preventive and protective services are clearly called for. While no single problem generally accounts for these threats to the development of chidlren into responsible citizenship, we know there is a need to identify such situations at the earliest possible moment and to afford them the best appropriate services that we are capable of providing. These families may have special problems such as money mismanagement, or may have home conditions or conduct by the parents that is likely to result in inadequate care, inadequate protection, or neglect of the children. Such families should be made a third group subject to the same standards of intensive casework service, using the best available personnel, that are established for the families whose problems arise from unmarried parents or desertion.

With respect to this third group, arrangements should also be made for including in the State plan (a) the conditions under which various protective methods will be used in making payments to such families when appropriate to the individual case; i.e., weekly and bimonthly issuance of assistance checks, use of legal representatives, and guardianship, and (b) a program for increased State and local leadership and participation in the development of community services for rehabilitation in these cases.

7. Improvement of State staff training and development programs.—The central core of proper and efficient administration is personnel-adequate in number and appropriately trained to do the job required. With the changing characteristics of the public assistance caseload, and the need to emphasize more and more the preventive and rehabilitative aspects of public welfare, the existence in each State of an adequate staff development program is imperative.

Studies show an alarming shortage, in the public assistance programs, of personnel with the necessary professional and technical training needed to deal with difficult problems such as illegitimacy, deserting fathers, and protective services for children and the aging. Federal financial participation is now available for the administration of staff development programs, including inservice training and educational leave, as part of the costs of administering public assistance. However, States vary in their present implementation of a balanced and comprehensive staff development program.

Each State should have a statewide staff development plan which would include both inservice training and opportunities for professional and technical education.

In issuing new requirements in this area we must recognize that States will need time before they can be expected to have the fully developed training program which is contemplated. Accordingly, provision should be made for permitting the various steps to be implemented gradually, starting with the requirement for the submittal of a 5-year plan and at least one full-time training position in each State agency by July 1, 1962. An annual report should be submitted by each State indicating the progress made in implementing the plan it has developed.

8. Developing services to families.-Too much emphasis has been placed on just getting an assistance check into the hands of an individual. If we are ever going to move constructively in this field, we must come to recognize that our efforts must involve a variety of helpful services, of which giving a money payment is only one, and also that the object of our efforts must be the entire family.