these proposals. I happen to have the privilege of being one of the members of the ad hoc committee on public welfare, to which Secretary Ribicoff referred in his testimony, which reviewed much of this experience and made certain proposals, and I am thoroughly aware of the broad concern and intensive work that has been done in the Department of HEW to bring some of these points to formulation.

There has been very wide consultation in this process between representatives of government and citizen interests, voluntary interests. I think probably that consultation and that working together has gone farther than at any previous time perhaps. That point itself is covered in a provision of the bill for the establishment of an Advisory Council and other advisory groups, section 1114.

Mr. Chairman, we believe this is a momentous piece of legislation, just as the Social Security Act in the first place was, and we are very happy to endorse its broad provisions.

The position statement on public welfare referred to in Mr. Bondy's above testimony and his prepared statement follow :)

TESTIMONY BY ROBERT E. BONDY, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE ASSEMBLY, ON H.R. 10032, PUBLIC WELFARE AMENDMENTS OF 1962

My name is Robert E. Bondy and I am director of the National Social Welfare Assembly. The National Social Welfare Assembly was organized in 1945 as the central national planning and coordinating body for social welfare. The constitution of the assembly states that social welfare means the total well-being of all people, that all parts of social welfare are interrelated. The assembly works, therefore, through a threefold partnership of voluntary and governmental, of lay and professional, of local and national interests.

Affiliation is open to national voluntary and governmental organizations in the social welfare field. Local communities are represented by citizens at large. Currently, the assembly includes 57 national voluntary organizations, 14 agencies of the Federal Government, and 4 associated groups. It is a nonprofit organization supported by contributions from affiliate national organizations, some 400 local communities through united funds, community chests, or welfare councils, grants from foundations, and gifts from business, industry, and individuals. From its inception the National Social Welfare Assembly has taken a direct interest in public welfare as the central governmental program in the field of social service and has encouraged its affiliate organizations to do the same, both on a national level and through their own local affiliates. Increasingly voluntary agencies in all fields of service have come to recognize their own stake in an effective public welfare program and the mutual complementary interest of public and voluntary welfare services in meeting the needs and problems of individuals and families wherever they occur.

Beginning in 1954 this interest was given a sharper focus through the creation of a committee on social issues and policies with a direct charge to study pending questions affecting public social policy, including legislation, and to act as a clearinghouse among affiliate organizations for information, experience, and views on all questions in this area. At the present time this committee, functioning under the chairmanship of Mr. Philip Bernstein, executive director of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds, includes 85 members, both lay leaders and professionals representing 50 of the national welfare organizations affiliated with the assembly and a number of other individuals especially qualified by their own experience in State, local, or related fields of activity.

This committee has throughout its existence followed all social security and public welfare proposals closely and this past year, at the request of Secretary Ribicoff, gave special attention to the temporary public welfare amendments and the request of the President that he initiate studies into the entire program prior to the development of proposals for changes of a more permanent character. For the past several years the assembly has given a top priority in all its activities to support of public programs and has devoted many of its public meetings to discussions of the development of public policy. This past year

a further step was taken at our annual meeting, authorizing the National Social Welfare Assembly itself, after an extensive procedure of discussion and clearance, to adopt position statements on pending social welfare issues or legislation reflecting a broad consensus of agreement within the social welfare field.

It is significant, I believe, that the first position statement adopted under this new authority concerns the subject of the bill pending before your committee. I would like at this point to request permission for this document entitled "Position Statement on Public Welfare" (copy attached) to be included in full in the printed record of this hearing. In the meantime I would like to summarize some of its sections and read those that seem particularly pertinent to the bill under consideration. Before doing so, however, I would like to state that our committee on social issues and policies, which developed this statement in the first instance, held a meeting on February 6 at which the specific provisions of H.R. 10032 were reviewed in detail and that there was a clear consensus that the provisions of this bill would represent a substantial advance toward the objectives spelled out in the assembly position statement. Some of the organizations there represented will be testifying in their own behalf and a number of others plan to submit written statements regarding the positions taken by their governing bodies, but the committee strongly urged that I present to you today the consensus of its views as reflected in this position statement. In addition, Mrs. Savilla M. Simons, general director of the National Travelers Aid Association who serves as chairman of our subcommittee on residence laws, will present to you our particular interest in that subject and a second assembly position statement entitled "Mobility and Progress" which discusses the positive contribution of migration to the solution of economic problems and the relationship of residence restrictions to such migration.

Turning to the position statement itself, the first sentence states:

"This statement of support for public welfare has been adopted by the National Social Welfare Assembly in the belief that no social welfare agency, whatever its immediate responsibility, can do its own job well unless it does so within the framework of a sound governmental welfare policy."

Section I entitled "Social Welfare: Public and Voluntary" discusses the basic role of social welfare in our society and the intrinsic relationship of public and voluntary welfare in carrying out this role. I would like to read two excerpts here that seem basic.

"The purposes of democracy are best served when social welfare programs function under both voluntary and governmental auspices.

"Only government can meet widespread social welfare needs which require programs based on a rule of law, tax-based financing, or principles of universal availability. There are, in addition, particular circumstances in which a social service can be better or more acceptably provided by government than by a voluntary welfare agency or where the public interest will be best served by providing the individual or community with a choice of auspices. The relationship is complimentary rather than competitive. The one is necessary to the other."

Section II describes the specific functions and programs of public welfare. Section III discusses the necessary limitations which hold public welfare to an underpinning or supplementary role. It states in part:

"Public welfare helps support a healthy society by assisting individuals in times of hardship, readjustment, and social difficulty. But there are limits to what it can do. It cannot take the place of an economy which provides the means of livelihood to all. It cannot substitute for the broad social measures that reduce or prevent need. Too often public welfare is blamed for the very social ills it seeks to mitigate for individuals. It cannot do its own job effectively if it is regarded as a panacea for all social problems or a convenient scapegoat for their existence. An effective public welfare policy must, therefore, be built upon a foundation of broad economic and social measures that contribute to general prosperity and minimize economic hardship and social handicap for individuals. Basic to this objective is the existence of a healthy adaptive economy with production sufficient to assure jobs to all persons in the labor market and a reasonable standard of living to those who-because of age, disability, family responsibilities or temporary economic dislocations-are not able to work."

It then goes on to enumerate the various social measures such as social insurance; vocational training and job placement; health measures and others which could help to reduce the size and cost of the public assistance caseload. In other words, while we desire to see an adequate and effective public welfare program,

we also strongly favor all measures which will serve to prevent the needs and thus reduce the numbers of persons obliged to turn to public welfare for help.

In section IV we enumerate the kind of changes we believe would help public welfare agencies meet the needs which actually exist in a more effective and constructive way. You will note that in the first instance we urge the States to examine their laws, resources, and policies to this end. But then our statement goes on to state the following:

"But because ours is one Nation, based on one economy and serving one people, we also look to the Federal Government to use its leadership and broader-based financial resources to help the States develop policies and programs that assure adequate protection to all Americans wherever they may live. We, therefore, urge the Congress and the several State legislatures to examine and revise their welfare laws and supporting appropriations with the following goals in mind." On the question of who should be entitled to public welfare aid and services our statement has this to say:

"Eligibility. It is to the general public interest that public welfare benefits and services should be promptly available to all those who need them. Eligibility should be based on actual and individually determined need for such aid and/or services without arbitrary restrictions related to residence, categorical definitions, social status or formula for the sharing of costs among the several levels of government. Social services should not be restricted to persons in economic need. This is especially important when prompt help will serve to prevent or minimize such long-term problems as family breakdown, chronic dependency, or invalidism. Child welfare services should move toward a plan of FederalState cooperation which emphasizes statewide applicability and a broadened definition of their scope to include preventive, protective, and supportive services to all children who need them."

In this connection we are, of course, particularly interested in the provisions of H.R. 10032 which strengthens the social services available through public assistance and especially emphasize their preventive role, increase the authorization for child welfare services with the requirement that the program move toward a broad availability of service, changes the definition of child welfare services to recognize their broadly preventive role, extends assistance beyond June 30, 1962, to children in need because of the unemployment of a parent, and establishes provisions relating to residence requirements.

The next series of recommendations in our position statement relates to the kind of progam provisions we feel will best meet the needs of those individuals and families obliged to turn to public welfare for help and serve the public interest. Again I would like to quote our statement in full as it would seem to support the primary focus of the pending proposal.

"Program.-Individualized aid and service is the essence of the public welfare program. It is, therefore, essential that the financial and other program resources of the public welfare agency be sufficient in amount and variety to meet actual needs in the most constructive way. For many people whose need is unusual and continuing (for example, the very old who need nursing home care) the principal need is for more adequate financial assistance in order to provide a life of dignity and a better standard of care. For others there is need for a more intensive investment in social service in order to help them find the means to self-support or a more satisfactory way of life. For others the primary need is for a wider variety of direct services such as physical rehabilitation; vocational retraining experience, and relocation; day care and other child-caring services, homemaker service; protected living arrangements; specialized institutional care, etc. Fitting the service to the need will in the long run prove the best economy in public welfare expenditure and the best investment in better individual and family functioning."

Many of the specific proposals in H.R. 10032 are directed toward a more individualized attention to families with children on public assistance and more flexible provisions for meeting those needs. The requirement for an individual social service approach to the needs of such children developed on a coordinated basis with the child welfare services program where appropriate would seem to be a major step in that direction. Continuation of the temporary provision authorizing care in a foster home for children receiving assistance who are removed from their own homes by court order because of abuse or neglect and the addition of institutional care in appropriate circumstances gives the public welfare agency an additional resource in meeting unusual needs. The provision of authority for community work and training programs to enhance the employ

ability of unemployed parents of such children (with proper safeguards including provisions for their care) is another example. While in general we favor the principles of cash payment in assistance we recognize the value of a carefully safeguarded provision for protective payments in unusual cases. The addition of day care provisions under child welfare should likewise serve to help the children of all low-income working mothers including those who might otherwise have to depend upon public aid. The provision for special demonstration projects also opens up a wide variety of possibilities for States to experiment with new and more flexible methods of meeting particular needs. And, of course, the inclusion of the second parent in the Federal sharing in assistance payments is an important step toward more adequate benefits.

The third area of specific recommendation in the assembly position statement reads as follows:

"Means to these ends.-To achieve these ends four kinds of change are paramount. First, there is need for better financing from all levels of government, given under conditions which assure an adequate level of help to people wherever they may live. Second, there is a compelling need for more professional social work and related personnel and the resources of all levels of government should be committed to an intensive investment in the training and employment of such personnel for public welfare functions. Third, there is a need for streamlining public welfare agency structure, policies, and administrative procedures to better serve these ends. Fourth, there is need for a better interpretation of the job of public welfare so that policymakers and the public may be fully informed regarding its functions and its problems."

Here again there are many provisions throughout H.R. 10032 that would contribute to these ends. But none is more important than those which will encourage a more adequate investment of funds in qualified social work personnel in public welfare agencies, both through a higher rate of reimbursement for such services and the inclusion of special provisions of training for public welfare personnel. The recognition of qualified staff service as essential to all other improvements in public welfare puts these provisions in the highest priority of needed change.

In conclusion I would like to congratulate the chairman for his sponsorship of this important measure and the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and his colleagues for the thoughtful and thorough manner in which they have developed these proposals. There has been the widest possible consultation in this process and I believe you can depend on an equally broad basis of support from the whole field of social welfare, both voluntary and governmental, in their implementation should these proposals be incorporated in the law.

NATIONAL SOCIAL WELFARE ASSEMBLY,

POSITION STATEMENT ON PUBLIC WELFARE

New York, N.Y.

This statement of support for public welfare has been adopted by the National Social Welfare Assembly in the belief that no social welfare agency, whatever its immediate responsibility, can do its own job well unless it does so within the framework of a sound governmental welfare policy. While public welfare programs to carry out this policy must adapt to changing needs and circumstances, the convictions and principles supporting them are basic and enduring. Essential to all social welfare programs, both public and voluntary, is the belief that in a democracy the social good and individual welfare depend upon each other. Today public welfare policy is under reexamination by those who would like to see it better adapted to current needs and under challenge by those who are unreconciled to its role in modern society. This statement is intended as one contribution to the discussion and understanding of an important current issue.

I. SOCIAL WELFARE: PUBLIC AND VOLUNTARY

Social welfare plays an indispensable role in the functioning of modern democratic society. In one sense this is a mass society depending for its prosperity on big organization, specialized jobs, and complex relationships that inevitably tend toward impersonality. But this is also a society which places a high value on the individual: his opportunities, security, and well-being. Social

welfare helps to reconcile these two values; it is one of the devices used by society to restore the balance in favor of the individual. Its job is to help compensate for the impersonality of mass institutions by easing the hardships inevitably created for particular individuals and groups in the population. Social welfare programs assist pepole, either as individuals or as a group with a common problem, through periods of economic stress and social crisis in their lives. In doing this they supplement and underpin the family and other forms of personal association that help meet the needs of individuals. Their social purpose is twofold: to assist and strengthen the individual and, in so doing, help society work smoothly in the best interests of all its members.

The purposes of democracy are best served when social welfare programs function under both voluntary and governmental auspices. Programs supported by voluntary contribution and effort have the freedom to emphasize variety, flexibility, and experimentation; they can develop limited programs for particular needs or particular groups, new approaches to needs, and varied approaches to needs of long standing. But this freedom depends, in turn, upon the existence of a governmental program adequate in coverage and resources to meet those welfare needs that lie beyond the capacity of voluntary effort. Only government can meet widespread social welfare needs which require programs based on a rule of law, tax-based financing, or principles of universal availability. There are, in addition, particular circumstances in which a social service can be better or more acceptably provided by government than by a voluntary welfare agency or where the public interest will be best served by providing the individual or community with a choice of auspices. The relationship is complementary rather than competitive. The one is necessary to the other.

II. THE PUBLIC WELFARE PROGRAM

"Public welfare" is the name commonly applied to those social welfare programs which function with tax support under governmental auspices and are directed toward the specific economic and social needs of particular individuals and families. Public welfare departments are the principal agents of government in carrying out this task. State and localities have major responsibility for the actual discharge of most public welfare responsibilities but the Federal Government assists them with some of these through grants-in-aid.

Public welfare is the channel through which the responsible level of governments assures to individuals and families the means of meeting those social and economic needs it recognizes as basic, but for which other provisions have proved inadequate. Among the present program provisions of public welfare, often spotty in their availability and limited in their adequacy, are the following: economic assistance in those circumstances when individual and other resources are either lacking or insufficient to meet minimum needs; social services to help and protect children or adults in a particularly vulnerable situation; counseling and other social work services which help individuals and families regain selfsupport or function more effectively; financial aid and social service to help individuals secure medical and related health services not otherwise available to them; special services for the aged; operation of institutions for those whose welfare needs can best be met in this way; the provision of services for young people or stimulation of other community efforts in their behalf; the setting of standards for voluntary or commercial agencies operating in the welfare field; and other governmental functions requiring social work knowledge.

III. MEASURES THAT PREVENT WELFARE NEEDS

Public welfare helps support a healthy society by assisting individuals in times of hardship, readjustment, and social difficulty. But there are limits to what it can do. It cannot take the place of an economy which provides the means of livelihood to all. It cannot substitute for the broad social measures that reduce or prevent need. Too often public welfare is blamed for the very social ills it seeks to mitigate for individuals. It cannot do its own job effectively if it is regarded as a panacea for all social problems or a convenient scapegoat for their existence. An effective public welfare policy must, therefore, be built upon a foundation of broad economic and social measures that contribute to general prosperity and minimize economic hardship and social handicap for individuals. Basic to this objective is the existence of a healthy adaptive economy with production sufficient to assure jobs to all persons in the labor market and a reason

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