financial weakness of local units of government as compared with State governments and to new or growing programs of State aid to local governments.

Compared to the overall national expenditure, amounts spent by the Federal Government have been small. Trends in Federal grantsin-aid to States for child welfare services since 1936, the year in which Federal participation in the financing of public child welfare programs began, are shown in table 1 (appendix, p. 44). Sources of fundsFederal, State and local-are shown in table 7 (appendix, p. 46). Local expenditures are shown separately from State expenditures in table 8 (appendix, p. 46).

Public child welfare expenditures serve three major purposes: (1) To provide professional services-both for children in foster care and for those living in their own homes; (2) to provide foster care; and (3) to meet costs of operation.

In 1958, an estimated $124.5 million (71 percent of the total national expenditure) was used to pay for foster care. The cost of professional services, as such, cannot be measured from data now available. The best data are reported expenditures for personnel, largely salaries for professional staff, but including those of clerical and other workers as well, and reported expenditures for educational leave for promising workers. Other expenditures for facilitating services, reported to the Children's Bureau in a single item, include office space, supplies, communication, travel, and similar costs necessary to the operation of the public child welfare program. In 1958 an estimated $43.4 million (25 percent of the total national expenditures) was for personnel; $900,000 (0.5 percent) for educational leave; and $7.3 million (4 percent) for other expenditures. Trends in expenditures by object since 1952, the earliest year for which this information is available, are presented in table 9 (appendix, p. 46).

Although, as table 7 (appendix, p. 46) shows, Federal funds always have been rather small compared to the total national expenditure, their impact is somewhat concealed by this table. Federal funds, by and large, have not been used for foster care, the object of nearly three-fourths of all public expenditures. In 1958, only 9 percent of the expenditure of Federal funds was used for this type of care. The significance of the Federal expenditure, therefore, can best be seen by relating it to the total national expenditure for professional and facilitating services, of which Federal funds in 1958 amounted to 17 percent. The relative impact of these funds, of course, is considerably greater in some States than in others.

Wide variations exist among States in their expenditures for public child welfare services. Per capita expenditures (expenditures per child under 21 in the State population) were 5 times as large in the Northeast as in the South, somewhat under 4 times as large in the most urban as in the most rural States, and over 3 times as large in the highest income as in the lowest income States.

Children served by public welfare agencies.-On March 31, 1958, 339,801 children were receiving child welfare casework service from State and local public welfare agencies. This count does not include children in institutions unless they received casework service from a public welfare agency.

Table 10 (appendix, p. 46) presents trends since 1945 in numbers of children served by public welfare agencies, including rates of service

per 10,000 children in the U.S. population. These trends are presented graphically in chart 1 (appendix, p. 47). The number of children served has risen steadily year by year since 1945, although this rise has not kept pace with the growth in child population. The trend in the rate of children served has been slightly downward.

Trends in urban and rural States have differed significantly. Between 1946 and 1958, as table 11 shows, numbers of children served in the most rural States rose 85 percent as compared with only 17 percent in the most urban States. Rates of service during this period increased from 40 to 64 per 10,000 children in most rural States, but decreased from 62 to 51 per 10,000 children in the most urban States as shown in table 12.

These figures relate to numbers of children served on a single day. The estimated number of children served during the entire year ended March 31, 1958, was 475,000.

The specific services these children received are not reported to the Children's Bureau although such records are available in the States. But a rough indication of types of services is given by the nature of the living arrangements of these children. Information on distribution of children by living arrangement for the period 1946-58 is given in table 13. State and local public child welfare agencies provide casework services to more children away from their own homes than to children in their own homes. In 1958, 62 percent of the children served were away from home, 44 percent of them in foster family homes, and 18 percent in institutions or elsewhere.' The remaining 38 percent were served in their own or the homes of relatives. The proportion of children served in each type of living arrangement has not changed markedly, although some rise in the proportion in foster homes and some decline in the proportion in institutions or elsewhere is noticeable.

In 1935, when the Social Security Act was passed, 11 States made no provision for general State level services for children. In two States, the child welfare division was organized at about the time the Social Security Act became effective. In 10 States, Alaska, and Hawaii, limited local public child welfare services existed, but no divisions within State departments of public welfare gave special emphasis and supervision to child welfare programs. The remaining 25 States and the District of Columbia had child welfare divisions within State departments of public welfare. Services for children in rural areas were for the most part limited to juvenile services, relief, mother's aid programs, and foster care of children in family homes or institutions. Considerable advances have been made since then.

Other health and welfare programs under the Social Security Act. also have affected the child welfare program. Old-age and survivors insurance and aid to dependent children programs have helped hold together many homes that otherwise might have broken up because of poverty alone.

Have we come far enough and fast enough? The number of children served in recent years has not risen as rapidly as child population. While the size of our child population is not a perfect measure of the need for services for the Nation as a whole, it is the best available. Nor have agencies been able to keep up with the mounting social prob

'This figure does not include children living in institutions not served by public welfare agencies.

lems that bear upon the welfare of children-divorce and separation, juvenile delinquency, illegitimacy, employment of mothers. The shortage of personnel virtually represents a national emergency not only for child welfare but for social welfare as a whole. Financesparticularly for foster care-are always in too short supply.

Voluntary child welfare agencies

Any group of people has the right to organize to provide voluntary welfare services which correspond with its particular interest, circumscribed only by its financial resources, and by governmental requirements for incorporation, licensing, and maintenance of acceptable standards of performance. Voluntary welfare services exist by choice of those sponsoring the services, and there is no legal responsibility on such persons to establish or continue an agency.

Nature of voluntary agencies.-Inherent in the nature of the voluntary agency is legal freedom to select its form of activity, to limit scope in order to maintain high quality of services, to experiment, to demonstrate, to adapt programs to new demands or needs, and to serve whom it chooses.

Today most voluntary nonsectarian agencies are sponsored by the community as a whole and seek financial support from the entire community. Child welfare agencies which seek funds from the community at large usually do not restrict services on the basis of nationality, race, color, or religion. Organization of children's services on a racially segregated basis is harmful to children. Voluntary agencies, whatever their auspices, have been urged not to restrict services on the basis of race or color.

Because of financial limitations, the voluntary agency, as a rule, meets only a small part of the child welfare needs of the community; and, as a matter of philosophy and policy, most voluntary child welfare agencies regard their role as specialized and selective. Some religious groups are particularly concerned that direct care of all children of their faith be provided by an agency of the same religious affiliation.

Services of voluntary agencies.-Services to children in their own homes are given by voluntary child welfare agencies largely in the form of protective services, counseling prior to foster-care placement or after return from foster care, and general parent-child counseling. An even larger part of voluntary service, however, is given in the general family counseling service of the family agency.

Statistics on the full program of voluntary effort in the Nation are not available. In addition to services to children in families, however, voluntary agencies for many years have been placing children deprived temporarily of parental care in foster family homes and in institutions and have been arranging adoptions for those children deprived permanently of parental care.

While complete statistics on care of children in foster family homes and in institutions are not available for all years, recent estimates made on the basis of State reports in connection with planning for the 1960 census have helped to complete the picture. As table 17 shows, approximately 271,000 children in 1958 were in the care of public and voluntary agencies in foster family homes and institutions. When this particular kind of service is compared with increases in child population, it has not grown. In fact, the services of both public and

voluntary agencies tend to preserve family life and to prevent the necessity for placing a child outside his own home for care. While the number of children in foster family homes under voluntary agency auspices was only slightly larger in 1958 than in 1933 the number of of children in voluntary institutions had decreased from 121,000 to 74,000.

As these figures show, voluntary agencies now care for 48 percent of the children living outside their own homes and public agencies 52 percent.

Numbers of children placed by social agencies in adoptive homes since 1944 are presented in table 16. Their numbers have more than doubled during the period covered by the table. This reflects growth in adoption service on the part of both voluntary and public agencies. Financing voluntary agencies.-Although the numbers of children in foster care served by voluntary child welfare agencies have not been increasing, dollars spent for this type of care continue to rise both because of increased costs and new kinds of services. As the public agencies have borne increasingly the burden of board and care the voluntary agencies have turned to the more expensive specialized services, such as treatment centers for emotionally disturbed children. What sources of income are available to voluntary agencies? What has been happening to these sources? As public funds have increased, voluntary funds have also increased. One of the most important sources is money raised by community chests and united funds. According to a report by the United Community Funds & Councils of America, the amount raised by community chests and united funds has increased by about 400 percent between 1938 and 1958. Data on allocations to child welfare services are included with data on family services and other social adjustment services. Allocations to the major fields of service have increased as follows: General dependency and social adjustment services, up 195 percent; health, up 285 percent; recreation, up 565 percent. These trends are presented in table 18. Data in this table have not been adjusted to take account of changes in dollar value. The figures indicate that voluntary welfare services. have not done nearly as well as voluntary services for health and recreation. A more detailed picture of chest allocations since 1950 is shown in table 19. Among prominent trends in the voluntary agency field is more service to middle-income groups, with a corresponding increase in the practice of charging fees. Fees contribute substantially to the agency's financial resources.

1

Public-voluntary financial interrelationships: The facts available show that public payments to voluntary child welfare agencies and institutions for foster family and institutional care and other child welfare services are substantial. Preliminary findings of a "Study of Public Expenditures for Care of Dependent and Neglected Children by Voluntary Agencies," by Miss Ruth Werner, professor at the School of Social Work, Western Reserve University, indicate that only four States that replied to her 1957 inquiry said they were not using public funds for care of dependent and neglected children under auspices of voluntary agencies, either on a lump-sum subsidy or a per case basis.

1 Preliminary report issued in the course of the study. Made available to the Children's Bureau in a letter June 9, 1959.

Data submitted by 38 States to the Children's Bureau in 1956 showed that about one-half of the total outlay for foster care was expended by public agencies directly and one-half paid to voluntary organizations. However, excluding Pennsylvania and New York from this picture, the share spent directly by public agencies was 86 percent, and the share paid to voluntary organizations, 14 percent. In 28 of the 38 States, four-fifths or more of foster care expenditures was by public agencies directly. In only three States was the share paid to voluntary organizations more than 50 percent-in Pennsylvania (84 percent), New York (79 percent), and North Dakota (56 percent). Within the northeastern region alone, wide differences existed; in contrast with Pennsylvania and New York, the voluntary share in Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined (the only other States in the region for which information was available) was 7 percent. Smaller disbursements to voluntary organizations may be due to lesser availability of voluntary facilities in some States, to State differences in public policy concerning purchase of care from such organizations, or to both of these causes.

Sizable expenditure flows to voluntary organizations occurred in a number of States where the percentage was substantially lower than in Pennsylvania, New York, and North Dakota. Illinois paid voluntary agencies over $1 million in 1956 (36 percent of its total foster-care expenditure; Oregon and Washington paid over $600,000 (42 percent and 30 percent, respectively); and Indiana and Ohio paid over $500,000 (24 percent and 11 percent, respectively).

Public funds paid to voluntary agencies rarely cover full cost of care. Usually a "net cost," often substantial, remains that must be met out of other funds.

The Division of Program Research of the Social Security Administration, from reports published by United Community Funds & Councils of America for a limited number of urban areas, estimates that in both 1938 and 1955 voluntary agencies serving children received one-fifth of their income from public funds.

Problems in financing voluntary services.-The cost of serving children in institutions has been rising steadily. The cost of foster home care is also rising. Data collected by the Child Welfare League of America from its member agencies show a 42-percent rise in the median base board rate, defined as "a scheduled rate for schoolage children who present no extraordinary problem," from $31 a month in 1946 to about $44 a month in 1954. As of October 1958 the median board rate had risen to $52 a month, an 18-percent increase over 1954. Base board rates paid by member agencies ranged widely in 1958 from $35 to $82 per month.

PARTNERSHIP OF PUBLIC AND VOLUNTARY AGENCIES

Title V, part 3, of the Social Security Act provides that "the facilities and experience of voluntary agencies shall be utilized in accordance. with child-care programs and arrangements in the States and local communities as may be authorized by the State."

The 1958 amendments authorizing use of Federal funds for child. welfare services in urban areas make cooperation between public and private agencies more important than ever before-to strengthen on-going service programs and to avoid gaps or duplication in service.