The increased visits with families made possible by this reduction varied from "being available quickly whenever needed," as in Marin County, Calif., to approximately once monthly, as in Washington, D.C. At both ends of the spectrum, a totally new experience was available to the families receiving public assistance, since their traditional relationship with the agency has had to be limited to the infrequent and brief visits required by statute to verify eligibility. But quantity is not the only change. The new focus, the concern for strengthening families, meant a new spirit and a changed pace for visitor and family alike. For the first time, the agency was not merely a watchdog, determined to ferret out abuses and irregularities. Now skilled counseling and trained concern were extended, and in this climate problems were more apt to be confided, and social workers and families had a chance to become partners in a mutual undertaking. It is little wonder that positive changes occurred.

These studies all give the facts regarding the financial and/or social savings they effected. They were all carried out during the last decade, and some of the reports are only now available.

The Washington, D.C., project involved 240 families with 900 children and was carried on from February 1953 to March 1954. Three skilled social workers were responsible for all of the counseling. They conclude that the status of the family was improved for 141 of the 240 families, as evidenced by increased financial support from 34 absent fathers, improved marital relationships in 32 families, improved health in 51 families, full-time employment in 18 cases, parttime employment in 9 cases, marked progress toward employment in 16 families, better housing for 23 families, and alleviation of school difficulties experienced by 9 children. These gains are particularly significant when we realize that in all of these demonstration projects, the project families have not been the "typical" assistance families but the "hard core," those with static or deteriorating conditions, those long known to the agency, those for whom little improvement could be anticipated. (2)

There have been two projects in Washtenaw County, Mich.. both focused on multiproblem families receiving general assistance. In the most recent study (1960), 14 cases involving 84 individuals were selected for intensive study. The work was evaluated after the families had been in the project from 3 to 10 months, and even within this brief period, considerable gains had been made. Families were evaluated according to financial status, family relationships and individual adjustment, and finally, their improved capacity to use community resources wisely and constructively. Three families showed gains in all three areas, five families in two areas and three families improved in one area. The authors state that the total monthly cost (to the public assistance agency) for these 14 families was $2,300. "During the first 6 months the project operated, six families became partially or totally self-supporting, which produced an estimated savings per month of between $700 and $750 ***. In an annual basis, an annual savings of $8,400 to $9,000" was thus effected. (3) This result was achieved despite the fact that these 14 families had received relief for an average of 21 months, and that the project workers were the "usual employees" of the general assistance agency. Highly skilled supervision, an active in-service training program and reduced caseloads made the difference.

The Florida project involved 505 families. After a 14-month period, about half of those families were no longer on public assistance. "By comparison, during that same period, about one-third of the cases carried by the regular staff were closed. Of the new applications handled by the experimental group, about 42 percent were accepted for financial assistance while among the regular staff about 56 percent were accepted." (4)

The Annual Report of the Florida State Welfare Board for 1957-58 compares financial dependence with disease and states that "there are two wonder drugs available: the money of the public assistance grant, and the time and skill which the social worker is able to devote to the case ***. Controlled experiments in the treatment of this disease (chronic dependency) have been conducted by this department. Again and again, in actual cases, * * * the social casework theory has been confirmed: for a substantial percentage of the ADC families this is a curable disease ***. In many instances, as high as 50 percent of certain caseloads in certain communities, can be returned to self-support when the social worker carries a practical caseload. (5) Although we might well question whether mothers who decide to utilize a public program designed to enable them to remain at home on the theory that home is where they belong are, in fact, "diseased", nonetheless the confirmation of the effectiveness of lower caseloads

is a pertinent addition to our story. Unfortunately, from the point of view of the taxpayer, changes made the following year by the Florida legislature resulted in decreasing the time social workers could devote to counseling.

The 1960 Annual Report of the Department of Public Welfare in Pennsylvania reports on the Rehabilitation Demonstration Project of the Allegheny County Board of Assistance. "The economy of small caseloads (35 in the project) was demonstrated clearly *** out of the project's 349 cases, were closed because of employment. Savings on assistance grants alone for these cases from the time they went off assistance until October 1958, totaled more than $256,000 ** In October 1958, a followup was attempted with the 37 cases that had left assistance for employment a year or more before* * * 16 were located *** Assistance had been given in each of these cases for more than 5 years before it was discontinued. Handicaps (in these families) included severe physical handicaps (11), mental (9), social (9), no skill or experience (10). Only two of these people might have found work by their own efforts The total earnings ($114,500) of the 16 families alone almost equalled the entire cost of the project ($124,000) ***. If these people had not had this special help, it is likely that they would have continued to receive assistance totaling $53,262." (6)

Fixel and Wiltse conclude their report on a project involving 43 ANC families in California by stating, "These data suggest that if the department were adequately staffed so that individual attention could be given to the interests, emotional and physical problems, and the educational needs of each client, the time on assistance would be greatly reduced. Let us expand this hypothesis to a statewide basis. The total cost of ANC in California will be approximately 120 million this fiscal year (presumably 1959-60) and the average length of time on aid, 42 months. If the average time on aid were reduced even 1 month the resultant saving would pay for all statewide increments in quality and quantity of staff. Whether expanded to a statewide, nationwide, or reduced to the smallest local level, these simple facts indicate that an adequately trained staff in sufficient quantity to keep caseloads down to optimum level is the simplest form of economy." (7)

In Texas, during 1959 and 1960, "mature, experienced workers" were selected to work with ADC cases and by the end of the year they were credited with having achieved a remarkable drop in the caseload. "In September, 1959, payments were made to 23,147 families representing 73,381 children under this program. By August, 1960, these dropped to 19,662 families representing 62,512 children under 14 years of age, a decrease of 4,132 families (17 percent) and 12,772 (17 percent) children. During the corresponding period, average payments per family per month increased *** $1.66 per family ***. Recipients of ADC assistance (nonetheless) received $17,930,831 in money payments for the year, a decrease of $3,103,614 under the total for the previous year." (1) Without a detailed report on this project, these financial gains are difficult to assess, since at this time no information is available on employment or unemployment rates in Texas, on the usual case movement of other ADC cases, on the rate of applications, or on the services made available by social workers. Lake County, Ind., limited caseloads to 40 families for selected caseworkers in 1958 and referred only families who had been chronically dependent and showed signs of serious deterioration. Despite the gravity of these cases, "it was found that the average rate of termination of grants for the total ADC caseload of the agency in 1958 was 19.4 percent while the rate of termination for the 125 intensive cases was 28.8 percent." They estimated a savings only to the agency of $16,593. It is most interesting that in 1959 it became necessary to raise the caseloads in the experimental group by assigning 40 family units rather than 40 separate cases, as in 1958. The termination rate dropped, although it still remained higher than the rate for the entire ADC caseload. Despite a lower rate of termination, the savings were higher for the simple reason that the families involved had more children and thus had received higher grants. In 1959, an estimated $22,556 was saved by effecting earlier terminations through intensive casework counseling. (8)

Westchester County, N. Y., instituted a demonstration project in June 1957. Highly skilled social workers, excellent supervision, and reduced caseloads were again proven to be economical. These 152 families were plagued with many problems, and had been receiving relief for an average of 25.1 months prior to being assigned to the project. After an average of 6.7 months of counseling, 49 of the families were able to function in dependently. (8)

Niagara County also initiated a project in 1957. Forty-one families were involved who had been continuously or intermittently on public assistance for 5 or more years. Despite the high unemployment rates in Niagara County at the time, 17 families became self-supporting, while over one-half of the families involved took concrete steps in the direction of improving their employment potential. The author observes, "These changes are not as spectacular * actual case closings through employment ***. A long-range goal of * * * self-support for many of these families has a reasonable chance to be reached.” (8)

as

Marin County, Calif., stands out as the site of intelligent experimentation and planning for public assistance, and particularly the ANC caseload. In 1951 a new director, Betty Presley, was employed by that department. Miss Presley brought "conviction that an informed community would support an effectively organized county welfare department able to provide help with difficult family problems. She foresaw that professionally trained staff and smaller caseloads prerequisite to giving skilled social services might increase administrative costs. However, she believed such services would strengthen family relationships and individual efforts, and in many instances result in self-support, thus ultimately decreasing assistance costs." (10)

These opinions were supported by the administrative survey in June 1951 by Kroeger & Associates which said, "We are firmly convinced that there is no room for the inexperienced or poorly qualified social worker on the staff in the Marin County Welfare Department." A family-care unit was established to provide intensive casework, and an experimental caseload was forthwith established in this unit. Twenty-four chronic cases were assigned to a worker with graduate social work training. In the previous 5 years, $91,920 had been spent on these families in assistance and medical care. After 1 year's work, improvement was noted in all but two cases and expenditures for the entire group began decreasing. Most of these cases involved immaturity, marital conflict, mental deficiency, mental illness, and alcoholism. They included 104 children ranging from 2 to 9 in a family, and 24 of these childen were known to have personality disturbances. So convincing was the improvement that "the agency concluded that intensive effort in all such cases was indicated and that casework help given in the early stages of agency contact contributed to the prevention of personal and family breakdown and economic dependence." (10)

Between 1952 and 1956 further administrative changes were made, so that a senior clerk was trained to do much of the clerical work previously assigned to social workers, who were then free to concentrate on counseling families. Caseloads were reduced throughout the family-case unit to approximately 40 to 50 cases. qualifications for workers were raised systematically. Salaries were raised, more supervision was provided, and the work of various related offices was coordinated. The results achieved in Marin County were then rigorously compared with results and trends in the San Francisco area, as a whole. Marin County was found to show a significant drop in ANC cases per 1,000 population when compared with the San Francisco area, despite the same rate of applications. Not only was the "discontinuance rate" higher but cases "stayed discontinued" longer. During the 1954-56 period the costs of ANC in surrounding areas increased, although it decreased markedly in Marin County. There were also decreases in average grants per child in Marin County and studies revealed that this probably related to both increased support from absent fathers and increased earnings of parents. Finally, the following table illustrates the shifting relationship of salaries and assistance costs in the county:

The director also pointed out that based on the average monthly aid-to-needychildren grant in this county of $125, the saving represented by discontinuance of three aid-to-needy-children cases exceeds the monthly salary of one worker. Four discontinuances exceed the salary of a supervisor.

In summarizing their comparisons of the Marin County statistics and those from the San Francisco area generally, the authors of this report note:

"Consistently the foregoing figures point up a picture of downward trends in ANC caseload (both in relation to population and absolutely) and in total costs in the 4-year period (1953 through 1956) that the family care unit has operated in Marin. Concurrently, in the San Francisco area group of counties which have many common factors in their economic and social paaterns, the trends are upward."

In concluding their report, they note that their program was in jeopardy in July 1955 when a firm of administrative analysts made a survey of the welfare department for the county grand jury. In the eventual public hearing, it is noteworthy that a representative of the California Taxpayers' Association brought out that "per capita expenditures for welfare in Marin County were lower than in any of the other 11 counties of the State closest to Marin in population." He also pointed out that the administrative costs of Marin's total welfare programs were the second lowest in this group of counties. He stated, and several other speakers agreed, that "If you spend $10 more in administrative cost to save $100 in the aid program, you've saved money." It is encouraging to note that the director's budget was granted and that caseloads were kept down to their 40-to50 limit. "The support given by the board and community amounted to a vote of confidence in the preventive and rehabilitative approach taken by the Marin County Welfare Department." (10)

BIBLIOGRAPHY

(1) "Annual Report of the Department of Public Welfare, Texas," 1960, p. 6. (2) "ADC Demonstration Project," Washington, D.C., Department of Public Welfare, 1954. (Mimeographed.)

(3) "Reducing Dependency. A Report of a Demonstration and Research Project," Wilbur J. Cohen and Sydney E. Bernard, Ann Arbor, Mich. University of Michigan, December 1960. (Mimeographed.)

(4) "Casework Services in ADC," Maude Von P. Kemp, James M. Wallis, and Joyce Hetzel, Chicago. APWA, Child Welfare series No. 2, January 1957, pp. 18 and 19.

(5) "Twenty-first Annual Report of the State Welfare Board, Florida." Jacksonville. Florida State Welfare Board, 1958, p. 13.

(6) "Public Welfare Report, June 1, 1958-May 31, 1960." Harrisburg. Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare, September 1960, pp. 75 and 76.

(7) "ADC: Problem and Promise," Chicago, Ill., APWA, undated. Justine Fixel and Kermit T. Wiltse, "A Study of the Administration of the ADC Program," p. 35.

(8) "A study of ADC Cases Receiving Intensive Casework in 1958 and 1959," Lake County, Ind. Department of Public Welfare, Intensive Casework Division (passim).

(9) "To Prevent and To Restore." A report on the rehabilitation potential of public social services in New York State. Albany. New York State Department of Social Welfare, 1960 (passim).

(10) "A Study of Marin County, Calif.-Building Services Into a Public Assistance Program Can Pay Off." California Department of Social Welfare, 1958 (passim).

Supporting studies

"A Study of Protective Services and the Problem of Neglect of Children in New Jersey," Claire R. Hancock. Trenton. New Jersey Department of Institutions and Agencies, State Board of Child Welfare, 1958.

"The Incentive Budgeting Demonstration Project." Denver Department of Public Welfare, July 1959-June 1961 (interim report, June 1960).

"Facts, Fallacies, and Future." A study of the ADC program of Cook County, Ill. (New York City: Greenleigh Associates, 1960.)

"Parental Behavior in ANC Families." State of California, Department of Social Welfare, July 16, 1960.

"Aid to Dependent Children in Maine." A study of family management, Maine Department of Health and Welfare, June 1960.

Mr. KING. Thank you again.

Miss WICKENDEN. Thank you.

Mr. KING. Mr. Keogh, who is unavoidably absent today, has asked the chairman to read this statement to the committee on his behalf:

Mrs. Randolph Guggenheimer, the next witness, is a member of a distinguished New York family which for many, many years has devoted its time and talents to many humanitarian and charitable causes. Mrs. Guggenheimer has been in the forefront expousing the cause of her more unfortunate fellow citizens. I know that she will bring to the committee a humane and experienced point of view, and I commend her testimony to my colleagues. In addition to all her other activities, Mrs. Guggenheimer is presently serving on the very important New York City Planning Commission by appointment of His Honor, Mayor Wagner.

Mrs. Guggenheimer. Will you identify yourself for the record, please?

STATEMENT OF MRS. ELINOR C. GUGGENHEIMER, NEW YORK, N.Y., PRESIDENT, NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE DAY CARE OF CHILDREN, INC.

Mrs. GUGGENHEIMER. My name is Elinor C. Guggenheimer and I am president of the National Committee for the Day Care of Children, Inc.

Mr. KING. You may proceed, Mrs. Guggenheimer.

Mrs. GUGGENHEIMER. Our organization represents individuals and groups in many parts of the country, all of whom have been troubled by the devastating problem of child neglect and who feel that one of the major solutions to the problem could be found in the development of good programs of day care for children.

We are therefore in favor of the principles set forth in those sections of H.R. 10032 (bill to extend and improve the public assistance and child welfare services programs of the Social Security Act, and for other purposes) which relate to day care. We endorse the principle of allotments for day care and the development of family and group day care programs in all our States.

We are deeply convinced that rehabilitative and preventive programs are urgently needed. This country has many examples of families who have been on public assistance for two and even three generations. The patterns of dependency will never be broken unless children are exposed to at least one wage earner in the family. There were, as of July 1961, 2,621,252 children in families receiving aid to dependent children. Certainly, we are in favor of mothers staying at home with young children. We are delighted that at least the problems of starvation are staved off by the program of public assistance to families for the care of dependent children.

However, we are equally aware that public assistance levels are low and that the status accorded such families is low. The depressing and demoralizing effect of continuing public assistance is in many cases undesirable. There are mothers who should be allowed to choose work, if the community could guarantee that their children would not be neglected.

Preventive programs, particularly good day care, can keep families from starting down the too often dead-end paths of public assistance and can help them to find their own way.

Even more serious is the large number of mothers who enter the labor force, although there are no adequate provisions for the care of