needed. Many more of these women would attend workshops, arranged by the Kansas Preschool Assocation, if it were less difficult for them to make financial arrangements for this attendance. The response to educational opportunities has been most encouraging, and we have had reports from the licensing personnel visiting these child care facilities, of the improved care and understanding of children given by persons who have attended these workshops. We hope that you will give serious consideration to any proposal to make possible improvements in day care services. If our group can be of assistance through either furnishing or disseminating information, please feel free to call upon us. Respectfully yours, PROFESSIONAL STATUS COMMITTEE, AHAVATH CHESSED DAY NURSERY, INC., Re day care legislation. Chief Counsel. DEAR MR. IRWIN: As we know, a bill designed to carry out the President's recommendation on public welfare was introduced into the House on February 1, 1962, by Congressman Wilbur D. Mills, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. We the board and members of the Hendrix Street Day Nursery School wholeheartedly endorse the principle of Federal aid for day care service. Since we are unable to appear in person we wish that our endorsement goes on record. Chief Counsel, Room 1102, New House Office Building, DEAR MR. IRWIN: I wish to go on record as endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day care services as it appears in H.R. 10032, a bill on Public Welfare Amendments of 1962. I trust that you will bring this endorsement to the attention of the proper authorities. Very truly yours, EVEOLEEN N. REXFORD, M.D. Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, THE CHURCH OF ALL NATIONS NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE, Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Room 1102, DEAR MR. IRWIN: I would like to go on record as endorsing the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962" and endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day care services. I have been close enough to the day care program in New York City to know that this is one of the very best ways of strengthening family life and I feel that it is very important to extend this kind of assistance to other parts of our country where day care is needed. Sincerely yours, 80118-62- ——45 THELMA J. BURDICK. BROOKLYN, N.Y., February 13, 1962. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Room 1102, We would like to go on record as strongly endorsing the principle of Federal aid to day care services as stated in bill H.R. 10032. BROOKLYN SECTION NATIONAL COUNCIL OF Hon. WILBUR D. MILLS, GUARDIAN ANGEL SETTLEMENT ASSOCIATION, Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee, DEAR SIR: The board of directors of the Guardian Angel Settlement would like to urge your strong support of the bill, Public Welfare Amendments of 1962-numbered H.R. 10032, particularly with regard to the section supporting good day care. During our 50 years of day-care service to the families of our neighborhood we have seen how urgently day care has been requested and appreciated principally by mothers who must work but would like to keep their loving families intact. We have also seen the strengthening effect of good day care on these families as well as the well-rounded development of the individual child. Since the need for day care is growing not only in our own city but throughout the country we believe that Federal assistance in this problem is of vital importance. For these reasons we would appreciate your active support of Mr. Ribicoff's bill. DEAR MR. IRWIN: I am writing to you in regard to Federal aid for day-care services, the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962," H.R. 10032. I am deeply concerned about the growing need for adequate day-care services for children whose families cannot afford the total cost. In my own community last year we opened a modern day-care center for preschool children. One room has remained vacant because community funds were not available to hire additional staff. Yet our waiting list grows each month. We have a professionally trained caseworker and teaching staff. We are well aware of the tremendous need for day care to families who need this service and cannot afford it. Inadequate care for young children often leads to serious problems later in their development or the need for placement away from their own families. We urge you to support this bill which is an investment in strengthening family life and the future of our country. Sincerely, FREDERICK W. HOCK, President, Board of Trustees. Mrs. SUZANNE ZIMMER, Executive Director. Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel, AMHERST H. WILDER FOUNDATION, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. IRWIN: I would like to go on record as endorsing the principle of Federal aid for day-care services. Yours truly, MRS. MERYL TIPLER, Director, Wilder Day Nursery Program. HEALTH AND WELFARE COUNCIL OF METROPOLITAN ST. LOUIS, Hon. WILBUR D. MILLS, Chairman, House Ways and Means Committee, DEAR REPRESENTATIVE: The Conference on Day Care Services of the Health and Welfare Council of Metropolitan St. Louis, with a memberhip of 13 nonprofit daycare centers, would like to present its wholehearted endorsement of the bill entitled "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962," numbered H.R. 10032. We are interested in particular in the section which provides for assistance to States in order that adequate and vitally needed day care be available throughout the United States. We are very happy that Secretary Ribicoff and many others share our deep concern for the great number of children receiving inadequate care when their parents must work, are ill, or are otherwise unable to provide them with parental care during the day. We see within our own community many areas in which day-care services are urgently needed and we have found that ours is not an isolated problem but one of national concern. May we, therefore, urge you to support this bill which we are certain is based on sound principles of good day care and which will thereby strengthen family life throughout the Nation. Sincerely, Sister MARY LOUIS, Chairman, Conference on Day Care Services. NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE, INC., Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counsel New House Office Building, DEAR MR. IRWIN: We are writing to endorse the principle of Federal aid for day care services, a part of the President's proposal, "to extend and improve the public assistance and child welfare service programs of the Social Security Act.” In a report released by the National Urban League, September 1961, on the economic and social status of the Negro in the United States, it was found that with the exception of single women, nonwhite women are more likely to be in the labor force than white women. The woman alone and relatively more nonwhite than white women are in this situation-is faced with economic pressure to support herself and her children. Moreover, even when she has a husband to share family responsibilities, the Negro wife is more likely to work than the white, because generally her husband's earnings are lower. Thus, in March 1960, 41 percent of all nonwhite married women were in the labor force, compared with 30 percent of white married women. Of particular importance to nonwhite families is the frequency with which mothers of preschool children are in the labor force. In April 1960, more than one out of four nonwhite married women with preschool children were at work and not at home. This raises a number of problems. Day-care centers for preschool children are not sufficiently available in many communities. Nonwhites have lower incomes than white, which further restricts their use of day. care centers. It is necessary, therefore, for nonwhites to rely to a greater degree on relatives and friends, including teenage girls, for full-time babysitting services. The lack of adequate day care facilities for children of working mothers in the second largest city of the United States, Chicago, Ill., and the impact of this inadequacy on the aid to dependent children program, were discused in a recent study by Greenleigh Associates, Inc. "Licensed facilities for day care for children are so inadequate in this county as to nullify the policy requiring mothers to accept outside work. There are no public day care facilities for children in Cook County, and the licensed voluntary day care facilities accommodate not more than some 1,800 children. All are overtaxed with long waiting lists. There are, in addition, licensed commercial day care facilities which can accommodate some additional children, but these are generally too costly for ADC families To complicate the problem, few of the existing day care facilities are located in the areas where the bulk of ADC mothers are." Increasingly mothers, particularly Negro mothers, will be working, and it is urgent that children receive adequate day care to insure their maximum development. Cordially yours, JEWELDEAN JONES, Associate Director. FEBRUARY 21, 1962. Mr. LEO H. IRWIN, Chief Counselor, New House Office Building, DEAR MR. IRWIN: On behalf of the East Harlem Council for Community Planning, Committee for Services to Children, we would like to go on record as strongly supporting the Public Welfare Amendments of 1962 (H.R. 10032). We believe that properly administered and staffed day care centers are one of the best ways of holding families together; the working mother can go to her job knowing that her child is well cared for. The alternatives of foster care or public assistance are rarely as successful. Thank you very much for your attention in this matter. ELIZABETH WHITESIDE. LOVELAND, OHIO. Mr. LEO IRWIN, Chief Counsel, New House Office Building, Washington, D.C. DEAR MR. IRWIN: The increasing number of children who are receiving little or no training to become future citizens stems in a number of cases from lack of good supervision in their early years. Cases of child abuse are increasing (see enclosure). Where parents will not or cannot because of their immaturity plan adequately for the early training of children, then training must be provided the children through public means. We accept public education. Since our urban areas need Federal funds for many new and untraditional services, day care should be among them. Neglect of young children can be far more costly to the country than funds spent to prevent damaging experiences in the early formative years. Sincerely, MARY H. BACH MEYER, CHILD-ABUSE CASES SAID TO BE GROWING WASHINGTON, January 18.-Mrs. Katherine B. Oettinger, Chief of the Children's Bureau, said today there was urgent need for action to end what she described as the growing number of cases of physical abuse of children by their parents. The Bureau held a 1-day conference here Monday to discuss what could be done, Mrs. Oettinger disclosed. Taking part were 25 pediatricians, judges, lawyers, psychiatrists, social workers and other experts on child care. Mrs. Oettinger said the group had emphasized these basic points: The problem of physical abuse appears to be growing. The problem is complex and requires the efforts of medical, legal, and social workers. Parents who abuse their children are the most difficult to reach in ways that will assure the abuse is stopped. Therefore, the abused child, often must be removed from the home. Proposed remedies included suggestions that doctors of hospitals be required to report such incidents to authorities, with followup action by health departments or juvenile courts. DEAR MR. IRWIN: This is to express my enthusiastic support of Federal assistance to day-care services as provided in H.R. 10032, the "Public Welfare Amendments of 1962." For several years I have been on the board of directors of the Associated Day Care Services of Metropolitan Boston, an agency administering red feather funds in the provision of day care for children. The services are limited to cases of special need, such as an emotionally unsettled environment at home or a mother having to work to take care of her children because of the absence of a father in the home. Relying entirely upon the charitable dollar, we have been unable to finance adequately the services we do provide and the services we provide only scratch the surface of the need. The vast majority of children who need to be cared for during the day outside of their homes either are not cared for or are cared for under grossly inadequate standards where the experience may do more harm than good. The problem is especially acute in public housing projects. Day care is needed in order to bring order out of chaos in many homes and in order to help the parents strengthen their children for later life. Adequate day care in terms of both quantity and quality is desperately needed if American families are to avoid or resolve the problems of delinquency and other social problems which beset us today. I would like to urge the Ways and Means Committee to give favorable consideration to the pending day-care proposals, which will be a start in a very right direction. Sincerely yours, Hon. WILBUR MILLS, JAMES W. PERKINS. NORTH MIAMI BEACH, FLA., February 14, 1962. Chairman, House Ways and Means Commitee, DEAR SIR: Enclosed is a study I made for the Committee on Dependency of the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia; also a copy of a letter I addressed to Representative Martha Griffiths, a member of your committee. May I ask that the study and the letter be included in the record of hearings being held on your bill H.R. 10032. The provisions contained in the amendments to section 5 of the Social Security Act providing funds for day-care centers will stimulate such programs as I outline in my brief study of the pilot project in the District of Columbia. We note that State child welfare services are to administer the program. As is usual under these federally supported programs, we hope that the Children's Bureau will be called upon to assist in developing standards, including careful |