of vital importance in the interests of education as well as physical and mental health that an appropriate environment be available to all children. I believe that day care services need to be amplified and extended to meet the needs of the millions of children who are living under deprived conditions for reasons of working mothers or inadequate home environments. I endorse the principle of Federal aid for such services. Sincerely, EVELINE OMWAKE, Director, Nursery School. THE UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE, Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. IRWIN: I should like to go on record as endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day care services. As a specialist in the education of preschool children, I am convinced that it is impossible to provide adequate day-care services for children without Government subsidy. The problem of adequate day care is very real here in the State of Tennessee and possibly even more pressing in some of the other States of the Southeast. While the amount of subsidy is not adequate to meet the needs, I hope that at least the portion of the bill on day care of House bill H.R. 10032 entitled Public Welfare Amendments of 1962 will be passed. Very truly yours, RUTH HIGHERBERGER, Head, Department of Child Development and family Relationships. ASSOCIATED DAY CARE SERVICES OF METROPOLITAN BOSTON, STATEMENT RE BILL H.R. 10032, "THE PUBLIC WELFARE AMENDMENTS OF 1962" Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston wishes to go on record as supporting specifically those areas of administration bill H.R. 10032 which apply to Federal support of day care for children. As a red feather agency which for 10 years has operated day-care programs, we are increasingly aware that in order to assure the expansion of good day-care services, public support is essential. It is our belief that the stimulation of Federal leadership is needed to encourage the States to establish and improve day-care services, and we wish to emphasize our conviction of the importance of a partnership between public and private agencies in providing welfare services for children. It is a recognized fact that good day care can provide a vital service in the strengthening of family life and the prevention of chronic social problems in children. Since day-care programs serve children in their formative years, it is necessary to provide safeguards of approved physical surroundings, guided by warm adults who are trained to understand and meet children's needs. In view of the conviction that day care has a vital role to play in a total child welfare program, we wish to reemphasize our support of the sections of this bill which provide for (1) Cooperative arrangements between the State welfare, education, and health authorities, with respect to provision of necessary services for children receiving day care (sec. 523a). (2) Allotments to the States to provide for "day care in facilities (including private homes) which are licensed by the State, or are approved (as meeting the standards established for such licensing) by the State agency responsible for licensing facilities of this type ***" (sec. 527a). (3) The inclusion of day-care services within the general definition of child-welfare services providing for flexible use of such services for the protection and welfare of children and for the strengthening of family life (sec. 528). Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston urgently requests legislative support of the above day-care provisions. Respectfully submitted. HELEN B. ROCHLIN STATEMENT SUBMITTED BY MISS HELEN M. HARRIS, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSES OF NEW YORK, INC., NEW YORK, N.Y. This statement is directed toward the specific area of day care for children of working mothers, included in the President's proposal for reforms in the Federal Social Security Act. It is submitted for inclusion in the printed record of public hearings scheduled to open February 7, 1962. IDENTIFICATION OF UNITED NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSES United Neighborhood Houses is the federation of 50 settlement houses and neighborhood centers located in low-income areas of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx in New York City. It was organized in 1900. Settlement house leaders, past and present, are well-known for their devotion to child welfare and the preservation of family life, and have played a large role in bringing about reforms in this field, including the creation of the Children's Bureau. Many of the member agencies of U.N.H. now operate day-care centers for the children of working mothers, at present with the aid of the Department of Welfare of New York City. They have done so since May 1943, when the Mayor's Committee on the Wartime Care of Children started this program with the help of State and city funds. I have been associated with child-welfare work in general and day care for children in particular for many years: as regional director of the National Youth Administration, as director of the Mayor's Committee on the Wartime Care of Children, as a founder and board member of the Day Care Council and a member of the National Committee for the Day Care of Children, as well as through long association with the settlement movement. This statement is intended to support the more detailed presentation of the National Committee for the Day Care of Children. SUPPORT FOR THE DAY CARE PROPOSAL United Neighborhood Houses gives its enthusiastic support to the proposal that $5 million be earmarked in 1963 to aid programs of children working mothers, and that this amount be stepped up to $10 million annually thereafter. It is an undeniable fact that many mothers of young children must and do work and that the earnings of a large majority of these mothers are insufficient to pay for care during the mother's absence. The problem of the neglected child in such homes has long been with us. It is a great relief to see the Federal Government recognize its responsibility in this particular area. Our hope is that here in New York, the State, too, will participate in this program. The program eventually should also include day-care service for those children, who, for any reason cannot be cared for adequately in their own homes during a portion of the day, without limiting it to working mothers. This is the present policy in the New York city-supported day-care program. It makes it possible to avoid foster or institutional care in those homes where the mother is dead or incapacitated. NEED IS GREAT All of the 118 New York City day-care programs have waiting lists totaling 4,000 children. More centers need to be opened. It is to be hoped that some of this need can be met by the Federal program. NOT LIMITED TO FAMILIES ON RELIEF The suggestion that the States could open the program to low-income families not on relief is a feature that we heartily endorse. Self-supporting families who have never been on relief need this service at least as much as families already on relief. NOT ALL MOTHERS OF RELIEF FAMILIES SHOULD WORK A sound welfare program on any governmental level must be humane in conception and devised primarily to meet human needs. This humane spirit, it seems to me, animates the President's proposals for reforms in the Federal welfare program. I trust that, in its formulation by the Congress and eventual presentation to the States, no implication will ever be attached to it that a daycare program would be a means of harrying needy families off the relief rolls. There is no more important job to be done than that of caring for and rearing young children. It should be the exceptional case, rather than the frequent, that a mother of several young children should be induced to leave the home in order to work. The choice should be the mother's. Counseling should be available to guide that choice so that it will best fit the situation of the family and the needs of the children. Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel, BALTIMORE ASSOCIATION FOR PRESCHOOL EDUCATION, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. IRWIN : Our organization endorses the Federal-aid appropriation for day care services for children included in H.R. 10032, Public Welfare Amendments of 1962 now in the Ways and Means Committee. This appropriation would be an enabling factor in meeting a very important unmet need. Sincerely yours, Mrs. John L. Tilley, President. THE CITY AND COUNTRY SCHOOL, Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: We, members of the staff of City and Country School, wish to go on record as endorsing the bill entitled Public Welfare Amendments of 1962, H.R. 10032. Day care services are vital to many families, but the personnel working in the centers are handicapped by lack of funds. We believe the increase of funds allotted to this service to children would be an investment and yield returns as great as any investment in public education. JOHANNA E. KULBACK UNION WASHINGTON CHILDREN'S CENTER, DEAR MR. IRWIN: We the parents of Union Washington Child Care Center wish to go on record immediately endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day care services. We are also in favor of the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962,” number of bill, H.R. 10032, introduced by Hon. Wilbur Mills. Yours truly, Signed by the following: (Numerous signatures follow.) UNION WASHINGTON CHILDREN'S CENTER, DEAR MR. IRWIN: We the staff of Union Washington Child Care Center wish to go on record immediately endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day care services. We are also in favor of the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962," number of bill, H.R. 10032, introduced by Hon. Wilbur Mills. Yours truly, Signed by the following: (Numerous signatures follow.) UNION WASHINGTON CHILDREN'S CENTER, New York, N.Y. DEAR MR. IRWIN: We the staff of Union Washington Child Care Center wish to go on record immediately endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day-care services. We are also in favor of the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962," number of bill, H.R. 10032 introduced by Hon. Wilbur Mills. DEAR MR. IRWIN: Please be advised that I wish to go on record in favor of bill H.R. 10032 which endorses Federal aid for day-care services. Though I feel a child should not be separated from his mother for reasons of poverty, there is the right of choice for a parent or parents who prefer to work and there should be good care for these children. Sincerely yours, Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Mrs. DOROTHY CARROLL, Sunpervisor, Day Care. TOLEDO DAY NURSERY, Toledo, Ohio, February 12, 1962. Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: The Toledo Day Nursery has been providing day care in Toledo since 1871. We are a member agency of the Child Welfare League and have always kept our standards of care high. We realize the cost of providing good day-care service is more than the parents are able to pay in fees and that not all communities can subsidize day-care programs. Therefore, we wish to endorse the principle of Federal amendments for day-care programs as proposed in the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962," No. 10032. Sincerely yours, LOUISE A. DAGEFOERDE, Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, DELAWARE COUNTY CHILD CARE CENTER ASSOCIATION, Chief Council, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR SIR: I would like to go on record as urging the passage of bill H.R. 10032, "Public Welfare Amendment, 1962." There is a great need for day-care appropriation. I would like to see even stronger measures taken by the Federal Government to help provide good daycare service where children cannot be with their parent during the day hours, but this bill would at least be a step forward. Sincerely, KATHERINE HAMMOND, Executive Director. TOPEKA, KANS., February 10, 1962. Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. IRWIN: With an increasing interest in and need for adequate daycare facilities for children, the Topeka Preschool Association wishes to stress the importance of facts related in the attached letter, dated February 2, 1962, from the Kansas Preschool Association to Senator Carlson. As stated in paragraphs 2 and 3 of this letter not all day-care establishments are included in United Fund programs, and it is particularly desirable that funds earmarked for child day-care be made available for use in either group care centers or private family day-care homes. Respectfully yours, Mrs. J. L. COLTON, President, Topeka Preschool Association. KANSAS PRESCHOOL ASSOCIATION, February 2, 1962. Senator FRANK CARLSON, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. DEAR SENATOR CARLSON: The Kansas Preschool Association is deeply concerned with the provision of good day care services for children. Recent information indicating increased interest in this problem by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare is encouraging to people interested in the welfare of children. Our facilities in Kansas differ from those in other urban areas in that most child care in this State is done either in family day care homes, or in small day nurseries which are privately owned and operated. Both types of facilities operate under the licensing program which is the joint responsibility of the maternal and child health division of the State board of health, and of the division of child welfare services of the State department of social welfare. The family day care home as proved to be an excellent resource in our State and has provided care not only for children of working mothers, but has been used in a number of instances to keep families together when the mother was ill or out of the home. Family day care homes and small day nurseries have also provided employment for women within their own homes and enabled them to supplement family income, and have interesting employment, without leaving their homes. Many of these women have availed themselves of opportunities for in-service training and regard child care as a highly specialized work. For families of moderate income or where both parents work adequate day care services can be provided, but for families in a less favorable financial situation there is a very real need for some subsidized day care services. At present these services are lacking and we have concern about what is happening to the children. There is also a need for the provision of more persons fully trained in child development and nursery education to give leadership and offer in-service training for women working with children. Some means of helping women who are working with children to be able to attend workshops and training sessions is |