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WOP.KS
9563
A D MI
P E OGRE S S
I S T P. A T I O N
Harry_ L . Ho p k~ns , A.~rr.inistrator
Howard B. Eyers , Di 1 ector
Divisi on of Social P.es ~arch
Corrinrt o n Gill
Assis tr nt .Adra i n i strato r
P.ESEAP.CR B 'LLETE~
OP.GANI ZATI ON ii!ill PF.OCEDUF.ES
OF
THE .ALAJU.M.A DZP AP.'l1!.:ENT O? PUELI C ·:,"EL:?AP..E
July 1931:>
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9563
PREFACE
In response to many requests that a study be made of social
work practice in rural areas, the Research Section of the
Division of Research, Sta.tistics and Finance of the Federal
Emergency Relief Administration initiated such a survey in
July 1935~ (The study was completed by the Division of Social Research of the Works Progress Administration.)
A staff of three social workers mane a preliminary survey
of three predominantly rural counties in different parts of
the country-Escambia County, Alabama; Redwood County, Minnesota; and Wicomico County, Maryland. These counties were
chosen primarily because in each of them an organized social work program, established prior to the depression, was
still functioning and because the administration of general
relief had been and still was carried on under the supervision of a State organization.
A comparative analysis of the material gathered in these
three counties revealed the value of State planning ruid assistanGe in the establishment of organized social work in
these counties and the need for continuous ~upervision in
the development of rural social work practice.
As a result of this analysis, it was decided to undertake
a survey of the ,,ork of the State Department of Public Welfare in Alabama and of the Board of State Aid and Chari ties
in Maryland with spec!al emphasis upon th~ relationship of
these agencies to rural public welfare agencies. These surveys were m~de during February and March 1936.
The following report is intended to show the organization
of the Alabama State and local public welfare services, the
extent and nature of ' the supervisory responsibility assumed
by the State agencies, and some of the effects of their
leadership.
Prepared by
Wilma Van Dusseld.o:rp
under the supervision of
T. J. Woofter, Jr .•
Coordinator of Rural Research
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CO NTENTS
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General .A.pp rais8-l • •
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I.
Fore-Runners of the Department. • •
• • • • • • !
Child Labor Laws • . • • , • . • • • • • • • • , , , . •
Juvenile Courts • . • • • • • • , • • • • • • • • • • ~
Child Welfa re Denartment • • • • • • • • • • • • • • !
State Provisions for Use of County Funds • • • • • • •
The Emergency Reli e f Program in .Alab ama • • • • • • •
Effect of Federal Supervision. . • • • •
• ~ • • ~ !
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3
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II.
Establishment of the Department. • • • • • • • • • • • •
Purpose and Fun ct ions. • •
• • • I• • •
• • • •
Practical Operation of the Dep a rtment • • • • • • • • •
Fincencial Support. • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • !
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9
III.
Stat e Org anization of the Department • • • • • • ! • • • !
The :Board! • • . • ~
The Commissioner. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • !
Burea·u.s. • • • • • •
• •
• • • • • •
The St nff and Its Inter-Rel a tionships • • • • • • • • •
Trnining a nd Experi e n ce of St a ff , • • • • • ! ,
,
•
....
IV.
v.
10
11
13
13
13
14
17
19
County Publi c We lfar e Units • • • • • • • • • • • • ! • •
Lega l Provisions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~ • !
Se lection of Board Members • • • • • • • • • ! • • • •
Organization of County Ur:i ts • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Sele ction of Sta£f • . • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • •
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Current Soci c11 Work Practice and Plnns for the Future
Provision s for Training .
• • • • • • • ! • • • •
Bu:teo.u of Fwnily Welfr-i.re • • • • • •
Old Age Assist a nce • • • •
Pl ans for the Futur ~ • • •
Bur e au of Ch ild We lfa re . • • • • • •
.
Aid to Dep ende nt Children
Adop tions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Child C2ring Institutions and Agenci e s . . • • • •
Foster Home c ~re • • • • • • • • • • • , • • • • •
Plnn for Pr e ventive Ch ild Welfr1re Se rvice • • • •
Bure a.u of Fi e ld Se rvice .
• • • • • • • • • • • •
.
Divi sion of Time of Fi e ld Repr e s ent a tives
Pro-ol e ms Ra ise d b;7 Coun ty Workers • .
Type s of Ass i s t a nce Gi ve n . • • .
G~ ide for Obse rving Local Bo, rds . • • • •
Plan for Cas e Work Su~0rvi s ion • • • • • • • •
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.Appendix A
Department of Public Welfare Act • • • • • • • • • • . • •
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Appendix B
.Agreement Worked Out Between Montgomery Juvenile Court and
County Department of Public Welfare. • • • • .. . • • . • •
58
.Appendix C
.
Suggested Outline for Field Representative's Narrative
Report • • • • • • • . • • • • . • . . . • . . . • • . . •
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.Appendix D
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Reports on Field Visits to Elmore County • • • • • • • • •
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GENER.AL .AJ-fR.AISAL
The history of social work in Alabama reveals the gradual
development of improvad programs of relief and service in behalf of
under-privileged gro~ps. ~efinite steps taken in Alabama ~how more purposeful planning and action than characterize the history of social work
programs in many states.
Certain convictions about programs and practice on the part of
the leaders in the development of social work appear to have had notable
influence upon the alabama program:
1.
Strong state leadership, with administrative powers and trained personnel, is necessary if organize1 programs of social work are to
reach persons in need in rural areas.
2.
Services are as essential as material aid in meeting the needs of
under~privileged groups if progress is to be made in the prevention
of social problems.
3.
Progressive opportunity for formal training of personnel is of major
importance if the quality of work done by persons beginning as untrained workers is to improved steadily and meet adequcttely the needs
for social work.
4.
Whereas coordination of social work services is desirable in Any community, it is essential in rural counties faced with a dearth of finar. . cial r esources ruid qualified personnel.
5.
Knowl edge of the work of th e c1gency must b e freely shared with the
lay public, and the administrative policies and principles of practice
must be built in close cooperation ,,,i th board members and members of
the official governing body of the cour.ty if the program is to be perpetuated and developed with grp,dually incrcasAd understar:riing and RCceptance by the general public.
Such guiding principles carried into a ction dur ing the last two
decl't ies have eff ecte,i a relatively uniform pro gr Rm over the state. The
pattern estFtblished by the stAte R.dministr;,,tion has been c1dopt.ed by cour_ty
workers who hRve done much to interpret the progrrun to officials flnd the
lay public.
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ORGANIZATION ANil PROCEDURES OF
THE ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE
I.
Fore-IJ1n.ners of the Den artment
Social weJ fare leade :..· s in the State of Alabama ge nerally agree
that the State Department of Fa~lic Welfare was es tablishe d in 1935 as a
r esult of the influence of the Social Secu rit y Act. There was little organized opposition to the bill, most of the articu~ate public evidently
appreciating the po s sible advant age s of such a department.
Moreover, the people of the state had be e n gradually preparing
for such a step. Public welfare s e rvic e s had deve loped r ap idly during
the l ast t wo decades . St atut ory provisions for r e li ef and s e rvices for
unde r-privlege d pe r s ons had b een stre ng the ne d and broadene d. The old
poor r e li e f n.nd alr:ishouse provisions h a d b een p rove d ina dequate . 1/ The
r esults of t :1e Sta~ e Ch ild We lf;:i,re Depa rt me nt I s work in e xt e nding service s
to the unde r-p rivilege d h o..d b 8 come app a r e nt. Tne a dvant age s of the r e lative ly lib·e r a l allowance s to f amili e s by the Re li e f Administra tion had
b ee n d emons t"'n t e d. Conside r at ion of the s e earli e r d.ov 1;; lo p me nts is essenti a l for und,J rstrnding of the pre s e nt state public we lfa r e department.
Child Labo r Laws
Al abama wa s one of tho fir st st a t o s in the Union to e stablish
l eg a l prot e ction a g a inst child l abo r. 2.,/ The wo r k incide nt to e n a cting and
enforcing the child labor l aws gnve i mpe tus to the continue d deve lopme nt of
st a te l egisl,' 1.tion for th8 p rot e ction of c h il d life . .An early ch ild labor
l aw e n a ct e d in 1887 was re peal e d in 1894, but anothe r child l abor l aw adopted
in 1903 r e ma~_n e d on tho st a tut e book s . In 1919 it was p rovide d tha t the
enforcement .;;e rvice should b e admini stered by the n ewly creat e d St a te Child
We lfare DerJ~rtme nt. In 1935 a dmi nistra tion ,ms trans f e rre d to tho n e'17ly
authoriz e d Stat 0 De partme nt of La bor. 2_/'
Juve nile Courts
The n e xt l eg isl at ive onactmonts of p ri ma r y significance in the
social , -ork fi e ld '.,u r e thos e e mpho.sizir.:g the ne e cis for s e rvices to unde rprivile ge d childrGn. The orie inrtl st a t e - ui do provis ion for juve nile courts
in 1907 ·;1as s·tnigt ;-ie .'le d i ·n ~L90S ;.-.ncl. 1 915 a n d subseqJ..ent ly amende d in 1923
and 1931 to effect impro'1fe d profe ssiona l s e rvice a.vid close r coope ration with
the Child Welfare Dopartmunt.
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In 1803 t he first 11 poor l a'.1:7 11 appear o d on tr~e st a t e st;:i.tut o books. This
l au p rovide d for the cor.struction of almshouses or for the boarding care
in private home s of indigent ngo d p e r sons who ne e d e d nursir.g and me dica l
c .-,.r e .
At the first mee ting of t:h.e Na tio nal Ch ild Labo r Committ ee , held in
April 1904 in Ne'\7 York Cit y , Rev e r e nd E. G. Murp r.iy of Al abama '17as cho sen
secre tary in ~e cog nition of his h i sto ry of succe ssful uork in effecting
improved stat e l egisla tion in Al abama.
The law enact e d in 1919 and amende d in 1931 places the minimum age for
industrial and comme rci a l e mployme nt a t 14 yenrs, and tho maximum hours
of l a.bor f o r you.th 14-16 a t 8 per dc'l,y and, 48 per we e k .• .
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Child Welfnre Department
The Act of 1919 est ~blishihg the St nte Child Welfare Depa rtment
gave it authority 11 to receive children through the juvenile courts ruid to
place thorn in fomily home s under supervision, to advise TTith judge s, and
prob~tion officers in the stat e as to the care and prot e ction of children,
to r e quire r eports from courts and ins ti tut ions, to make surveys and use
other methods of fact-finding as to social conditions throughout the
state. 11 When the Alabama Children I s .A.id Soc ic:: ty dissolved in 1923, the
Child Welfare Depf'.rtment took over its acti-ri ties as ,;,ell, the reby becoming
the only public child placing agency in Alabruna.
Legislation providing for the orgaJ1ization of county child \7elfare boards was enacted in 1923. Some progress in child \7elfaro work Pas
made during the next f eTT years, but the rapiQ development of county units
carne aft e r 1927 i?hen a close TTOrking r e lationship TTas established with the
State Bo a rd of Educ a tion. At tha t time the l egislature appropriat e d $850,000
a ye ~r to the St a t e Board of Educ ~tion for a school attendance fund. It
TTQS agree d that the county child TTelfare units should be used to promote
school attendance, while the Department of Education would contribute at
least three fifths of the salary of each superintendent of child welfare
appointed in the counties.
By 1932, a ll but one of tho counti e s in Alabrona had a county child
welfa r e p rogram. The functions of the St a te Child Welfa r e Department, aft e r
the r e definition r e ~ilting from thG r evision of the law in 1931, may be summariz e d a s follo ws:1/
1.
To s e ek out, through inve stiga tion, compla ints from citizens, or
othe rrrise , the minor children in the st a t e who are in need of care
and prote ction and, as far a s possible , through e xisting agenci e s,
public or priva t e , or othor r e source s, to aid such children to a
f a ir opportunity in life .
2.
To make social survey s .
3.
To report on soci al conditions to the Gove r ,.1 or and to the people of
the state.
4.
To advis e with judge s and p rob a tion office rs and aid in imp roving
the organiz a tion and work of juvenile c ourts.
5.
To visit and. ins·pe ct a ll state , county, municipal, and other agencies
and ins ti t u t ions, public or priva t e ( including mc1t e rni ty hospitals),
which receive, place, or ca re for dependent, neglected, or delinqQent
minor ch ildren, for the purpose of de t e rmining t he a dequacy of f a cili ti. e s offe r e d.
1/ Summariz ed from .A..11nu13,l Reriort of Child Welfa r e Depa rtment, Septembe r
1934, P• 21.
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6.
To license annually all institutions and agencies (including maternity
hospitals) except those under s t a t e ownership and control, which care
for, receive, or place minor children.
7.
To establish a.c~d maint a in homes or other agencies for the care of
dependent, neglected, or delinquent minor children.
8.
To enforce the state child labor la.w.1/
9.
To solicit, receive, and hold
development of its work.
11
gifts of value" for the support and
The Child Welfare Department was governG d by the St a te Child
Welfare Commission, consisting of three e x-of fic io memb ers (the Governor,
the St a t e Superintendent of Education, and the State Health Officer) and
six additional members appointed by the Governor with over-lapping terms
of six y ears.
This commi s sion appointed the dir ector of the departme nt
and had power to s e l e ct the other t) mploye e s and fix the ir salaries. Unde r
the rul es adopt e d by the corn.mis s ion, the director nominat ed members of the
st a ff subj ect to t he approv:=w. of the comnission.
The Department included f O'.lI' divisions: the Division of County
Organization, Division of Child Car e , Division of Institu tions, and
Division of Child Labor. The staff W[lS comp os e d of the dir e ctor, tho
administrative ass i s t an t, the supervisor of each of the four di visi ,J ns,
a phys iciM and a home fi nd er in the Division ::if Child Car0, and a fi e ld
staff serving t his division a nd th8 Ccrnnty Organiz r->,tion Division. In
1934 t he Co un ty Or gnniz a ti::in Di vi sicn h ::td ,", fi e ld staff of five 11,nd the
Divi s i on of Child Car e had four visitors.
In J :1nu2,r~' 1933 , when tho Al <'.l b QJT1n, Relief Admi n istr n,tion was set
up, p r n.ct i cA1ly the entir e stnff of t he St o.te Ch ild ~7e lf!U' e Depe.r tment,
e xcep t t he Division of Chi ld Cnr e , r nd all ccunt y superint endents, ex c ert
six, wi:. r e l ent tJ the Re lief Admi n i s tr n ti on . During the following months
most of t he child wolfri,ro services Wl..'-r e neglect e d L'l the concentration on
emerg0ncy r e li e f.
0
In April 193,; t he St ri.te Ch ild i'fo lf!,r c:: C:mmission begn.n to r ecl n.im
sJme c,f the sto,ff [1,11d to r ebu ild both t ho str-.t e stnff and the county ch ild
welfAre uni ts. This r e21·geniz ~ti on wns genGr nl1y effected over the; s t n.t e
by the L,11 of 1934 .
One r ef'_s-:-n f ~r E1.:-:k ing t he officia.l 1 ·:an of stri.ff hP.d be6n to
d e t er the cJun ty ch ild v,e lfctT e sun0ri n t ende:·"t s f r 'Jm l eaving the stc.t e to
take b e tt er p !lid pss i t irms with r elie f :::1clrr.L1istr a tio ns nlr e r> dy functi oning e ls ewher e . The 1934 r e:i . rt of t he Child Welfare DErp,':.rt me nt des crib e s
the situn,tion o,s f J llo ws :
1/Vfuc- n the 19 35 Legi s l n,tur e tr c::!,Ilsferr e d the r esp::::nsi bility for enforci ng
the- ch ild l ab Jr l (~W to the St·,,t e De ,:mrtmen t of Labor, t he Sf'_me perso:1.
who [ldm i n ist er e d t he l egnl pr1visiJns unde r tho Ch ild Welfare Depar t men t
c~ntinued t o c2rry t he r e sn0ns ibility.
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At t h e tine th0 Al ,1,b:cna Rulit,f Aclni ni s tr n ti :m nns
orgo..niz e d, 1 2 c ~unty ch ild wt? lf nr c) superi n t endent s h :• d
a ccep t e d p1 s i ti ~n s in st n t L, s wh ur l, r e li e f 0.,d1.1 i n i s tr ,"ti ·us
h a d b egun t ~· fu nc ti .')11 nnd who r e s nl nri es v11c: r e n : :J t o nly l n.rge r
but uer e pn.i d i n cr,_s h . At t hn.t ti r.10 , r.1n.ny Al r,b ,,nn. c c unti c s
Yfe re .-,:,yi ng srclt'.T i l:'S F"ti1".l. GX p8DStj S with wnrr :3.nt s . On the
r e co nrn:,nd; •.ti :m of the d c,pr>rt r.1ont, pr a ctica lly 0.ll county ch ild
He lft'.r e su pe ri n t e nde nts r✓e r o n n.d o dir e ctors :::Jf r e li e f. Only
6 cow1 ti es r 8t o..i n ed spe ci ;-1.,l c:::Junty ch ild wolf ar e workers ••• t1
In no.king t he lo a n of st 1.ff, the Child We lfru- e De p :1.rtne nt nlso
h nd r uc:::Jgniz od t h0 . . ._dv 31lt ngo t0 the st r•t e ') f p l r•.c i ng the n.dn i nistr n. ti on
of r e li e f in t he hrcnds of rer s ons a lr e,..,_dy conducting similar work in the
coun ti c s , a l t ho u gh by so de ing the child vrn lf.·rr e s ervice s wer e bound to
suff e r. The 19 34 r ep:, rt e xpr esse s t he Dep nrt1:ient I s vi ewp0int r, s follo ws:
11
Tho nee c.1. f or ene r ge ncy r e li e f in J an unry 19 3 3 W t'.S npp n.r 0nt.
The furt he r n eod f J r :1r-iving r eli ef . -td.rrli n ist er od on a s oci nl
b ;-,.s i s vies :--1 so :,.ppr- r ent t o both t he Ch il d We lf ~r e Dcp:•rt ne nt ," nd
t h 0 Re li -~f Acl..:1ini s tr ,-:-.ti ·:m. AJ.ab .-:nn w;,_s cert ['.i nly on e st c..t e i n
t he Un io n w:ii c:1 hnd rt pu b lic s ::i ci 1:..l s8 rvice u nit in p r r.cticnlly
e ve ry c:;UJ.1t y Y✓h ich c 'Juld b8 i r1r1G di ;-,.t e l y nu s t e r e d int o t he a dn ini s tr -'lti-J n of r e li ef. It is b e li eved t hri.t r e l ie f in Al n.b nr.1n hns
b een ndni:rli s t er c, d s uc ce s s full y Ftnd wi se l y t hr :)Ugh t he u se of
t hese n.lr E::ndy es t :1.b lisl1ed. public s:; ci a l s e rvice u n it s . But it
i s cl ::: f'.r that r e li e f in its e lf, ho wc·vor well a d.'7 ini st er od , c a nnot
n ee t t he n c.ny n ee ds of dep end en t, nt '1_;h , ct e d, nnd de li nquent ch ilclr c,n , childr en vr i t h ne nt r,.l n.nd phys i c:11 ho.ndi cri,p s, ch ildr en li v i ng
in h one s vrho r e gr o ss innor a li ty p r t:v ·1il s , ch il dr 0n with out hJnes ,
and o t he r ch il dr en who s e c<Jnctiti 'Jns call for soci :,.l ser v ice , b o t h
r eri.udinl r'.ncl p r eventi ve . 11
St :,,t 0 Pro v isi 2ns f or Us e of Coun ty Fund s
Wh il e p 1°o•ri d ing f') r t he C~1ild i7e lf ,"r 8 DGnnrt mmt, t ~1e st nte ~1nd
bro adened t h e p 8l" □ i ssi ve pG1ve r gr <1n t e J. t o c:::Jimt y C ') □r; i ss i :me rs f ') r t he u se
of coun ty fu:-1ds to nee t sp e cific t y ·,3 s of r ul i e f n e e d s . In 192 3 the st f'.t e
g r clllt e d -per o is s i on t o t l-ie c Junti e s t o use t he ir fun ds for t he p;-:,yr.ie nt of
b e:n.r cL f or ch il dr en u n cl.e r 1 6 i n f n.n ily hcoes ·-·ppr · •.rt.:.('_ b: t h e St ,tt e Child
We l fnr e D ep n.rt □ ent. I n 1 927, it was nc~de ill ego,l t o p l ., ce , ,_ ny chil d u mle r
1 8 ye ," r s of f'..ge i n ,, n r•.lrrnhJu se . In 1931, provisi·:m w,cs no.de for County
1
Courts of Co nui ss i oners or County :Sonr d s of Rcvcriuel , t o ext en d r e li e f to
childr e n unde r 1 8 yenrs of age .
1
Al s o, L.1 1931, p ro v isi on wa s ::111.cle f or coun ti e s t o uee t 11 energ c-ncy11 nct:; ds J f i nd.i g,m t pt.; rs on s i n their own ho nes , with t he qu:1lifi c rttion t hn.t t1 i n c rcse o f t uD}i'.) r c:1.r y r e li ef on c1.ccr:-un t of illne s s , su ch r e li e f
c rcnn: t b e e xt t;nde d be3rond ;-:, r t.,t".so nn.b l c:, l engt h of tin e . 11 I n counti e s with
nc n.l r.1 s h ~use s, t he connis s i::me rs we r e per n i tt cd to n.pp l y count y fund s to
the suppo rt 'Jf i ncligc nt s c.t n sun ne t E~xce e di ng $ 8 a □o nth.
i/ co,:mty
g Jverni ng bccl..i es i n Al n.b ro:-,2. nr e c ;-, llC:d County Co u rt s of Co nn issi :; n e rs when t he j u dge 'J f p r o1::ln.t e c:mrt is an of fici n.l nenb8r cf t he
group. The g ove rni ng b :Jdy is n. Coun t y Bo a rd of Re v enu e nhen the judge
is not offici t,lly n. r.1eub e r of t he g r1up .
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In November 1932 an act was passed empowering and authorizing
the governing body in any county, with the approval of the State Child
Welfare Department, 11 to make other and f urther provision for the care of
the poor and needy of each county. 11 This act permitted the extending of
poor relief to aged in t h eir own homes on a more permanent basis than
before and the granting of temporary relief to families in which children
presented special r elief needs.
The Emergency Reli ef Program in Alabama
The first grants by the Re construction Finance Corpora tion to
individual Alabama counties were made in September 1932. By the early
part of 1933 all but three counties in the state had appli ed for and obtained R.F.C. money for emergency reli ef.l/ It was all locally administ ered, the county officials drawing lib erally upon the s ervices of their
r e spe ctive child welfare workers for help in e stablishing their reli ef
offices in accordance with the requir ements of the Fe deral office.
The Alabe.ma Relief Administration to administ er R.F.C. funds
was es tablished by offi cial proclamation of the Governor on Decemb er 31,
1932, and held its first or ganization mee ting January 1, 1933 . The first
r elie f granted to famili e s through the Alabama Reli ef Administration was
given in February 1933 . Counti e s r eadily r e sponded to the opportunity to
obt ai n money for r eli ef purpos0s and qu ickly s e t up the ir own r elief organizations. Although they wer e expe cted to ma tch the stat e gr ants a s
ne;,,rly a s pos sibl e t h is was not mandn,tory. All rur nl cow1ti es wer e soon
disbur s ing mor e money for r eli ef in~ month than they had ever befor e
spent in a ye ar for the car e of depende nt persons.
The person s el e cted by the Gover nor to s erve a s dir ector of the
Al abama Reli ef Ad.mini str2.tion was r et a i ned by the succeedi ng Governor. He
ha d b ee n dir ector of the Al ab 2ma Industri al Development Bo ard and r egional
fi eld worker in t he r eli ef program of the R.F.C., prior to his appointment
as stat e administr a tor. He sebme d to appr e ci a t e the import :,n ce of the contribu tio n to be m0.d.e by the social work division, for he deve lope d his
stat e progr wn in rmch a nay as to afford full op:portuni ty for this d ivision
to function. · W'.nen county r eli ef pro grr:uns wen . s et up ho sought persist ently
to prot ec t and fm·ther t he int er es ts of t he unemployed for whom the programs wer e es tablishe d. He me t the oppos i tio n of local officials who had
political r athe r t han social int er ests and succee ded in wi nning the support
of ma jor political groups .
The dir e ctor of the Relie f Admini s tr a tion coop er evt ed with the
Child Welfar e De:pn.rt mont in its r eorgani za tion effort i n 1934 . The counti e s
wer e no longer r equired to co ntribut e to r eli ef funds, but t he ir contributio n to t he newl y r ees t ab li she d child welf ,1r e pro gr Rms was r ognrded by the
st11,te r el i ef administr e.,tion a.s 11 l ocn.l pn.rticipation. 11 Lo,t Gr, t he adm inistr a tor g.'lve hi s suppJr t to t he pub lic we lfar e bill n.nd ur gt:. d the memb ers of
his stPlff to expl:::~in i ts pro visio ns , i n the ir ccnt ;,ct s wit h the gene r al
public.
l/I t i s not eworthy t hr:,t t he prob8,te judge s up for r 0- el oction i n t hos e
thr ee counti es wer e o,ll de f eat ed because of their oppos ition to applying for R.F.C. fund s .
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-7Effe ct of Fede r a l Supe rvision
Dis ap:p roval of Fe de r a l adm inistra hve st 8.nda r ds and r egul atio ns
for r e li e f WQS express ed from many qua rt e rs. In some areas the minimum
rat e of pay was conside r e d too h i gh for any group of r e lie f l abor. Othe rs
would accep t the r a te of 30 cents an hour for whit e l abor on r elie·f p roj e cts
but not for Neg ro l abor. The administrative orde r tha t ass ignmen ts to
wor~ p r oj e cts should be ma de without r egard to r ace me t with opposition
whe r e the numbe r of proj e cts was limit e d. The standard of adequa cy r e commende d by the F0deral administration and a dopte d by the Alabama stat e administra tion wa,s a lso oppos e d, particularly in rural a r eas. Of a ll Fe de r a l pol ici e s the one causing the most r es entment was the unpre ce dent e d
pra ctice of extending r eli e f to st rike rs.
The commissione r of the n ew Department of Public We lfa r e told
t he ob se rve r t hat in t wo y ears of Fe de r Rl supe rvisi on tho state h ad ma de
not abl ~ advMco s in s oci a l t h inking, a lthough mo.ny deep convictions r ema i ne d unmove d. In his O})inion, t o e ffect r eally fu.."ldarnent a l changes ,
Fe de r al supe rvision should continue .
He cit e d a situa tion in one of t he l a r ge citi e s of the stat e
which h~d a con se r rati ve Pub lic W0lfar e Bo Grd. Wh8n the co al minors struck
in t he f a ll of 1 935, the Bo a rd to ok the position that the Fede r a l gove r nment would f orc e it to f ee d t he strikers; and anyway if t he Bo a rd f a ile d
to do so, the r e n-ould be ri ots and ki llings . Tho strikors we r e f ed, he l pe d by more l ocnl money than had eve r befo r e be en suosc ribe d f or 2,ny
l ocal di sns t e r.
Thd commi ss i one r said t ho..t he hi ms e lf in carryir.g out the new
public we lfa r e p rog ram us e d the threat of Fuc:.E.: r a l p r os su:i: e as a l a st
r e so rt i n deali ng with "stubbo r n politici ans ." He ge ne r a lly tri e d to
pre s ent Fe de r a l stnnda rds t o the publ ic as de si r able , and t o es t ablish
them t h r oughout the st a t e on the ir me rit s .
The commissi one r s ~id he ha d obs e rved t hat rura l c owiti e s r esist e d s t a te 2nd Fede r ~l supc, rvisi on Md guidance l e ss t ha n urb 2.n communiti es . He attribu t e d t hi s difference in part to t he fact t hat t he citi e s
for many years had bee n accus tome d to making t he ir decisions about reli ef
indepe ndently of stat e l eade rship, l/ whe r eas t he r e li ef probl em \7as new and
overwhe l ming to the rura l communiti e s . The commis s ione r added tha t in his
op ini on t he st ate ha d be en mo r e succe ssful in rura l t han in urb an a r eas in
e ff ecting non- political adm inistration. This was large ly due to the quality of pe rsonne l filli ng executive posi tions in rura l coun t i e s. His the ory
was that we ll educat e d, pe r s ona l ly att r active women with exe cutive abil ity
11
i mpre sse d 11 the rural collll ty offici a l s , who y i e lde d to t he ir j udgment .
Urban offic i a l s , on t lle othe r h81ld, we r e mo r e a ccustome d to t hi s type of
wom"' n and l ess in awe of them.
1./
Re li of vrork in the citi e s p r io r to 19 32 had usua.lly been administe r e d
by a local g roup acting independently of t he loca l unit of the ch ild
we lfa r e p rog r am . In r u r a l coun t i e s, loca l child we lf a r e worke rs we r e
lo oke d to as co- or 1iina tors of r e li e f wo r k and s e rvi ce s t o unde r-p rivilege d childr(.; n.
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Some of the othe r membe r s of the Department of Public Welfare
administrative and supe rvisory staffs adde d that t hey like d the f ee ling
of belonging t o a na tion-wide social mov ement which thoir position as ·
memb e rs of the F8de ral p rogram gave them. This comment came espe cially
fr om profe ssional worke rs who had a tt e nde d schoo ls of s ocial uork outside
t ho st a t e . They f e lt a r e spo nsibility for impa rting this f eeling to all
int e r e st 0d pe rs ons, in order to make the Fode ral p r og r am more acceptable
to the la3r and official public of Alabama.
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II. E s tablishme nt ei f t ho De p 3.rtme nt
ThG Al nbamp_ !kp a r t mL= nt of Public Wu lfu ro TTO..S es t ab li she d in
Se pt 0mb ,.: r 19 35 in n.cco r c.1.:-mc c:l ';7i th the p r ovisions of the Alabo.mn Dcp~~rt mc nt
of Public Wo l f ~r e Act npp r ~v e d Au6 us t 27, 1 935 .
Tho a i m of the Dopartm0nt , '1.G st a t e d i n t he Act , m1s t o bo 11 t h u
p r omr; ti on 'J f a 1mifi .:; d dev e lop me nt ') f the m ll f,:1..r e n ct ivi ti <.; s and age nci e s
of t h e state and of the lo cal government so that each age ncy and each gove rnmental in stitution s hall function as an inte g ral part of a gene ral
system. 11
Its dut i e s and r e s p onsibil iti e s
m e1~r
b e st ate d bri efl y a s follo ws :
1/
1.
Administe r or supe r vise all forms of public assi st a nce , includi ng ge ne r al home r e li e f , outdoo r and indoo r car e , and old age pensio n s ; pe rform du ti e s having to do wit h t he de t e r mina tion of n ee d and autho riz ation of r el i e f, forme rly t he r e sponsibil ity of the Alab runa Re li e f
Admin i s trat ion;
2.
Exerc i se a ll the powe rs, duti e s , and r e s p onsibi li ti e s of the f o r me r
St a t e Ch ild We lf0 r e Depn.rtment ;
3.
He l p c ounty or munici pnl gove r nme nts to orgo..~iz e the ir we lfa r e f u ncti ons;
supe rvis e t h0 s e we lfrlr c a ctivi tic., s ; c omp ile stn.t i stics and otho r i n f o rmation r clc"t i v e t o public we lfr,r o , nako surveys, and in o t he r ways asc e rt a in the, f o,cts wh ich caus e o r contribut e to the n ee d for we lfa r e
ac tiviti u s ;
4.
I ssue c e rtific ~t c s to o,ppl icants f o r st n.ff pos iti ons , who have me t
quo.lific ,..,_ti ons p r e sc r i be d by tho St qt G Boqrd;
5.
Ass ist o tho r dop ~r t m0nts , age ~ci o s , Dnd in s titutions of the stat e nnd
F e de r al gove r nme nt r e que sting he l p ;
6.
Act as t he c,go nt 0f t ho F odo r a l ccv e rnmunt i n we lfa r e matte r s , n.nd in
t he admini strc1.tion of any F e de r a l fund s g r n.n t od to tho sta t e f o r t he
Department;
7.
De si 6 no.t o c ou...v1t y dcp:wtmo!lts c1s i ts <-'.ge nt s t o p •J rf o r m MY of its
f ,mctions ;
8.
Ad.minis t :.,r "such we l f a r e: f unc ti o:1s ;:is ffiCl.3' ~1o r onft e r b e v es t e d i n it
b y l an ;"
1/
See Appe ndix A, Den~ rt me nt of P,i blic Wo lf ['_ r o Act, Se cti on 8 .
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9.
Provide a mental hygiene program of no n-institutional care in the
inter e st of preventive wo~k nnd general ment al hygiene a ctivities.
The law f urther stat e s, however, tha t 11 No power her ein conferr ed shall be so exercised as to impair or i nfringe t he powers, authorities, and function s of t he bo ards and officers governing or controlling
the Al abama Insane Hospitals, Partlo w St a t e School, Al abama J3oys Industrial School, St a te Tr a ining School for Girls, Al abama I ns ti t,1t0 for De af
and Blind, St nte Health Department, Juvenile Courts, and Courts of Domes tic Rel a tions."
In accordance with t hese provisions , the Department of Public
Welfare took ove r all duti es and functions of the Al abama Reli ef Administra tio n and of the St a t e Child Welfar e Department. The only excep tion
wa s the a dmi ni s tra tion of the stat e child. l ab or l aws, which wa s transf e rre d to the j u ri sdiction of t he St a t e Department of Labor provided for
in l egisl a tion approve d on Sep t emb er 11, 1935 .
·
Pr a ctical Oner a tion of the Department
The Department of Public Welf ar e Act placed supervisory and
advisory as well as adi11inistr n.ti ve r e sp ons ibility on the Department.
Definit e powe r was give n and a spe cific duty was imposed upon the Depar tment to 11 admini s t er or supe rvis e n.11 forms of public a s s istance. 11 It
appears the,t t he int ent of the Act wa s to es t abli sh Rn Rgency which would
have the supervi s ion of loc al we lfnr e admini s tr a tion and in addition
would have t he p ower to administ er a local we J.fare progr am if the local
agency f a il e d to mee t the n ee ds.
The l egal power s , du ti es , and rr::,s:·ionsibiliti e s of the form er
St 2.t e Child Welfo.re Depar t ment, t aken over by t he St a t e Dep n.rtment of
Pub lic Welf ar e wer e gener Pl.ly sunervi sory in na tur e . Ho wever, the Depar tment Is r e l a tion to t he local prob a t e courts in r egard to adoptions
was advisory i n chara ct er whil e it had administr a tive r esponsibility with
r espe ct to wards of t he St a t e Dep artment ;md of children brought into the
st a t e wit hout bond.
In actuc3,l p r :-,,ctice th0 D0part mcnt did not al ways assume the
type of r e sponsibility spec ifi ad i n the l aw . It s policy was gener a lly
to exerci se l ess tho..n maxi mum aut hority. Members of the st R.t e s taff E> Xpl a i m, d t hat communiti e s lo ng a ccustome d to low st ~.ndro-ds of li ving , impo sed. by mini ng companies or mil l s , s t ubb ornly def ended the ir mee.gre provisions f or so cir"l v16 lf C1r e and s tr ongly r (c; s i st ed s t atG i nterf er ence . The
St a t e Dt,p<'..r tmr:;nt t her efo r e gern,r A.l ly e s t ab li shed r el a tion ships with lo cal
uni ts or i ndi vi duc:•.l s under super vision or car e , in ac cordnn.ce with whnt
app0n.r ed to the l ocal wo r ker to be most hel pful as we ll as cons is t ent
with go od pub lic welf nr e wo r k . Thus the I' 8pr esent nti ve of the Department
11 ;:,dvi se d ·,'l'i t h 11 a County :Board of Public W
ulf ere on v1hich nll five county
commissioners we1·e serving , and go.ve alm'.) s t no supervi sion with r egard to
the lo cal p ro gro.m , nlthough offeri ng sup er v i si on on soc i al wo r k p r :,,ctice
t o t he lo cal direc t or. The stat e s t aff s eeme d to f ee l t ho..t if the Department l.:!Xer cised it s full powt:-r s b cf '.)r e it mn,de a t hought f ully pl anned
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effort to help the communities appreciate the need of protecting handicapped groups, its whole program might be c?.ncelled through organized
opposition on the part of the communities.
Financial Support
Since the Depar tment of Public Welfare Act and th~ state Public
As s istance Act met the requirements of the Federal Social Security Act,
Alabama became entitled to receive Federal funds for Old Age Assistance
and Aid to Dependent Children, The Department of Public Welfare became
the agent to administer t hese f unds.
Aft er enacting the l aw , the st a t e l egi slature appropriated $99,000
for administrative expenses and for the care of wards of the new department. This r epr ese nted only a provision of $15,000 for ad.mini strati ve
service in addition to the amount alr eady appropriat ed for t he annual expenses of the old Chi ld We lfare Depar tm ent - appro ximat ely $84,000 .
The Federal government through the F.E.R.A. furnish ed the bulk
of the funds for t he State Department 1 s act iviti es through Decemb er 1935 .
The DE:partment took over the administra tion of a grant of $250,000 which
the F.E.R.A. had made to the st a t e t hrough the Alabama Relief Administration in Sep t emb er 1935 for r eli ef and a~~inistration on a t emporary basis.
An additional $537 ,500 was advanced by the F.E.R.A. to the Department of
Public Welfar e in Octob er. Except for ab ou t $12 , 500 r e s erved for administr ati on, this money was to be advanced to counti e s on a four-to-one
matching basi.s to meet r e li e f needs until DE: cemb er 30 , 1935 . The a dvances
were mado under an agreemen t t hat the county units of the DepM t ment of
Public Vfo lfare would acce71 t r e sponsib ility for r eli ef to all class e s of
unemployable perso ns , and extend help to em":•l oyabl e p er sons pending assignment to W.P.A. Most of the counties me t t /1,:_,s e t erms through November and
December.
In J anuary and February 1936 , funds from Fe der al and state
sources wer e r a-p idly r e duce d and by March wer e compl e tely exhaust ed. In
January and Fob~·uary , however, some $200 , 000 wa,s made available for r elief
from St a t e gasoline t2..X funds, ~inc e t hese f unds could not be appli ed
dir e ctly to r e lief, the F.E.R.A. was r e imburs ed with t his fund for expenditur e s for work r eli ef under t he 1935 ro ad-building pro gr am . The F .E.R. A.
then tr an sferr ed t he r efunds to t he St a t e Department of Public Welfare.
Some funds wer e s till avail able from t his source in February when a, special
session of the l egisl a tur e w2.s call ed to enRct new r e venue meRsur es for
s cho ol, h ealt h , and pub lic welfare pro gr ams .
Two bi ll s werG pl a ced bef or e th(_; l egisl.<:1.tur e . One would r enew
the one-cE:nt gasoline t ax di vers ion of 1935 with v-,hich stat e fund s hRd
been r aised to me e t Fede r nl gr nnt s-in- Rid for wor k r e li ef. Po.rt of the
proceeds of the t n.x for 1936 would be apDlied to me e t dir e ct r e li ef n eeds.
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The other bill asked for an appropriation of $700 ,000 to carry the relief
and service progr~~ to Sept ember 1936 and an appropriation of $1,000,000
for the succeeding fiscal year, direct from t he general funds of the
state trea sury. This would have satisf2.ctorily met the r equirements of
the Federal agencie s gre,nting aid for speci al groups of hondicc>.pped
persons.
The propos"'l to renew the gasoline tax met with great opposition and this bill f ailed to pass the legisl a ture. The legislatur e did
p ass a bill, v1hich the Governor signed on April 16, 1936, appropriating
$250,000 from the st ,?,t e tre :-,,s1.U'y for eP-.ch of the years, 1936, 1937, 1938,
a nd 1939 to b e used for public assistance and administration under rules
and r egulations of t he Stat e Eom-d of Public Welfare.
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III.
State Organization of the Department
The Board
The Departmen t of Puhlic Welfare Act provided that the State
Department of Puolic TTelfare should oe governed oy a State :Board of Public
Welfar e . The Governor should serve as chairman of the :Board and appoint
the six other memoe rs II on the basis of recognized interest in welfare work 11 .1/
It was stipulate d that at least t wo of the Board members should be women.
The regular term of Board members should be six years. They should receive
no compensation bu t should be reimbursed for expenses incident to attending
:Board meetings .
The functions of the :Board, according to the Act,~/ should be:
1.
To appoint the Commissioner of Public Welfare to serve as executive
administrative officer of the Department;
2.
In conference with the Commissioner to be responsible for the adoption
of p olicies, rules and regulat i ons for t he government of the :Board and
the Dep artment;
3.
To fix minimum standards of service and p ersonnel and to set salary
schedules;
4.
To decide with ref ere nce to the use of grants-in-aid by County Departments of Public Welfare;
5.
To approve the annual budge t of funds app ropriat ed by the state legisl a t u re for t ho State Departmen t and the budge t; of Federal funds allott e d
to the st a t e for t ho Department;
6.
To allocate furtcti ons among bureaus and dep artment al agencies.
The Commi ss i one r
The Act p r ovide d t ha t t he Commissione r should be appointed 11 on
t he basis of educati on, aoility, and experie nce in the administration of
public welfare and wi thou t r ego rd to residence or political affiliation. 11 £1
His sa,l ary, fixed by the State Board with t he BJJprovel of the Governor,
should not be more t han $3 , 600 a year.
The Commis sione r's duties were ,:: mtlined as f ol l ows :
1.
To pe rf orm all administrative and executive duties and responsibilities of the State Department subject t o the authority of the State
Board;
2.
To inte rpre t po lici es , rul es , and re £U:.?t i ons formulated oy the State
:B oard;
1/ See Arpe ndix A, Depa rtment of Pu8lic Welfare Act, Secti on 3.
~/ Secti ons 4 - 7.
'!!_/ Secti on 4 .
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To coordinate activities allocated by the State Board to the vari ous
bureaus;
4.
To submit to the Board budgets of state app r opriati ons and Federal
funds allotted t o t he dep artment;
5.
To publish annually a full rep ort of the operati on and administrati on.
of the Department with recommendations a~1 d suggesti ons;
6.
To appo int a direct or for each bureau within the Department and other
necessary personnel.
Bureaus
The Act provided f or thr ee bureaus t o be crea t ed within the
Dep artment: a Bureau of Family Welfare and Public Assistance, a Bureau
of Child 'ile lfare, and a Bureau of Mental Hygiene f r) r non-institutional
care. Other bureaus mi ght be set up as the Sta te Board f ound them necessary.
At the time of the survey the Bureau of Men t al Hyg:i,.ene had not
been set up , but t he Bureau of Family Welfare and the Bureau of Child
Welfa r e were functi on ing . A Bureau of Field Se rvice and a Bureau of
Acc oun ting ha d also been organized.
The Bureau of Family Welfa r e hRd three divisi ons: Adult I ns tituti on s, Gec1e r c1l Ruli of, and Old Age Assist a.nco . The Bure Pu of Child
Welfar e had f our divisi ons: Ai d t o Dependen t Children, Adoptions, Child
Ca ric1g I ns tituti on s and Agencies , and Fos t e r Homo Care . The Bureau of
Fi e ld Se rvi ce was no t depa rtmoc1 t alize d.
This or gan i znti onal plrm was wo rke d out by the executive staff of
the Al abama Departmen t of Public Welfnre i n c onf erence with staff members
of the Arnerica!l .Association of Public Welfare Officials, the Federal Emergency Relief Admi nistrati on , and t he Alabama Re lief Administrati on.]:./ They
r e j ec t e d a plan f or assigning s eparate field staffs to the Bureaus of Family
Welfare , Child Welfare, and Accounting in f avor of the plan of having one
field st aff se rve all bureaus. They felt that through ono fi eld staff tho
bure aus would be encouraged to work as a unit, whereas separate staffs might
inj ec t a fals e emphasis upon differences among the vari ous fields of endeavor. Thoy particul a rly wante d unity botwoen the family welfare and child
welfare services. It wa s furt her felt that cont a cts with official s and the
general public \ifould be more satisfactory if separate field staffs were not
assigned t o the several oureaus.
The functi on s of the Bureaus of Family Welfare, Child Welfare,
a nd Fi el d Servi ce were define d by the Departmen t of Publi c We lfare in a
bulletin i ssued in February 1936 . They may be stated briefly as follows:
1./
The r, rovi s i om of t he Ac t were als o l a r ge ly t he r esult of confere n ces
of membe r s of the agencies name d.
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A.
Bureau of Family Welfare
1.
Division of Adult Institutions
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
2.
Divisi on of General Reli of
a.
b.
c.
d.
3.
Make statistic?,l surveys of almshouses.
Ins~e ct almshouses t o determine which ones are filling
a need in the cou.~ties.
Establish minimum standards of physical care and comfort
in almshouses and promote the acceptance of such standards.
Supe rvise through the County Departments of Public Welfare
the investigati ons of ad.i11issions to and discharges from
c oun ty a lmshouses and other instituti ons for indigen ts in
tho c ounty.
Close 2..lr:1Shous es by devising be ttor methods of caring f or
r esiden ts of the s e instituti ons.
Discourage tho placing of adul1,s in instituti ons , either
1mblic or pri va t 0 , if these people can bo more c1dvan tageously
carnd f or in frunily homos.
Make plane. for the care of needy individuals whose care is
not provided f or in adult instituti ons, by old age assistance,
by aid t o dependent children, or work relief.
Interp ret policies f or all f orms of assistance as set up by
the State Board of Public Welfare .
Answer all complain ts r eeardi ng County Departments of Public
Welfare and state policies of c1 :::sistance.
Refer all reque sts for inf ormati c• n t o the p r oper agency.
Division of Old hge ~ssistance
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
Determine t he needs of old age assistance in hlabama by means
of surveys.
Establish policies through rules and r egul a tions for the administration of Ol d hge hSSist ance .
Check all r enorts and anplic a tions on Old h ge hSSist ance that
a r e sent in from County De~artment s to determine if the person s
recommended are eli 5 ible for assist ance.
Inve stigate cas e s whe re anneal has be en made to the St a t e Board.
Di r ect t he supe rvision of r ecipients of Old hge hSSist ance in
order to snfequar d t hem fr omex:ploi t a tion, ei ther by r el ative s
or by freudul cJnt 0rganiz ntions .
hdviss: County Depa rtments in th e a :lmi ·:1istra. tion of Old hge
1,.s s ist a nce.
Digitized by
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
9563
- 16 B.
Bureau of Child Welfa re
1.
Division of Aid to Dependent Children
a.
b.
2.
Divi s i on of Adoptions
a.
3.
·b.
Pres cribe "reasonabl e II minimum s tanda rds f or the conduc t of
a ll agenc i es a:ad institutions r ece iving or c a ring for dependent , negl ected, or delinquent minor childre n.
Li cense al l s ocieties, age nci e s, 211d ins ti tut ions, public and
p riv a t e (including maternity hospitals) except those u..nder
state ownership and c ontro l, r e c eiv ing or c a ring for depe nde nt,
ne g l e ct ed or d e linque nt minor children.
Division of Foster Home Ca re
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
C.
As sume r esponsibility f o r consultant c a se work service on
all adoption petitions fil e d in t he st a t e .
Divisi on of Child Ca ring Institutions and .Agencies
a.
4.
Ad.minist e r grants-in-rl ict to the state under t he Social
Secul'i ty Act.
Establish po lici es and principles and formul a te eligibility
regul a tions in order tha t the p ublic assistance to dependent
children under the provisions of this Act may be administered
equit ab ly and in a uniform manne r throughout the state.
Re c e ive and. c a r e for children c ommi t te d b y the 67 juvenile
court s .
Assume direct r e s:pon s i bili ty fo r about 500 war d_s , cared for
in private family hodes.
Supe rvis e the work of finding and inves ti gating fost e r homes
fo r the care of wards .
Adminis t e r the boarding home l aw .
Assume r esponsibi lity for licens ing 1Jrivat e f amily home s for
t he boarding of unre l a t e d children.
Bure au of Fi e l d Se rvice
1.
Act as a liaison b etween the othe r bureaur, and the County Departments of Public Welfar e .
2.
Supe r vise al l fun ctions of the State ar~d Count y Departments which
are performe d by t he County Depart :ne nts, such as o r g anization,
cl1i ld and f2m ily we l far e wo rk, and g e ne r a l office admini s tratio n.
3.
Fur;.1i sh consultatio n on cas e work p roblems t o the county directors.
Digitized by
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
9563
-17-
The Staff 2.ncl It s I n t er- Rel,1,tio nshi ps
As indicated i n Figure 1, 2;3 per sons fillin g social work
p ositions were on t he state s taff at the ti me of the sur vey. These
i ncluded t he Commi ssioner, his aclministr ·,_ti ve a ss ist o.nt, the dir 8c tors
of t he Bur e aus of F c~mily We lfare, Child Welfare, 3.nd Field Service,
one a ssistant in the Bureau of Family ifolfare, s even in the Bur eau
of Child Welfa r e , 2.nd 10 in the Bureau of Fi e ld Ser v ice. These 10
in clude d nine f ie ld super visor s and a case consultant.
The st aff members of the Depart men t of Public '\'ie lfar e we re
in the p ro cess of dl! ve loping work ing r e l a tion shi 1J s whe n t he study of
the s t a t e organi zation was made. The admini s tr a ti ve assistant and the
dir ector of t~1e Child We lfar e Bur eau h o.d worked to ge ther for s e veral
y ears as supervisors of diff e r e nt phas6s of the former child we lfar e
p r ogram . The direct or of tho B1.1 reau of Fi e ld Service h ad worke d in
county agenc i e s c"Luring both the r el i e f anci child welfare a d.mini s trations and the dir ect or of the Fam ily Welfare Bure au had served as a
county child Yre lfare executive and s t ate superv i sor of children's ins ti t u t ions i n t he Child Welfare Depc.1rt ment . The famili a rity which
the se workers h ad. wi t h asr,e cts of the p r ece d ing p rograms of relie f
and se rvi ce served to s tr engthen the confiden ce of the state and local
pr ofess i onal staff s in the ad.ministration as well as to l enJ continuity
to the p ro gr am .
The divi sion of resp onsibility betwe en t he Commissioner and
the adrninistrat i ve assis tant was not strict ly define d a t the ti me of
the sur vey . The;y- a ppear ed to be settling one probl em a.t a time , waiting
for exp e ri e nc e and t he needs of the pro c .rrnn to e stabli sl1. more cl e ar cut
l ines of r esp onsibili t y . The Commis s ioner he l d dir ect i·es;)ons ibili ty for
A.11 decisions r e l ative to gran ts-in- a i d to counti es , the s e lection of
s taff members , anc-:.. th e de v e lopment of p oli c i es affect ing 8 ither of
these t wo aspect s of the job. In the s e ma tt e rs the administl'ative
ass ist an t ser ved as his cl os e cons·,_1lt ant. The admini st r a tive assistant
also e dit ed and is sue d instr 1ict ion s on t he procedur es by wh ich the
-policies Yvere to be c':l:c ri ed out, ;:md served as a cl earin,.:,: hous e for
t he executivC:: anC:. superviso ry worke r s who brought to her attent ion the
n eeds of counti e s , ins ti tut i ons , or gr oup s of pe r sons. In con sidc, ring
su0h n tSe d s she h r·.d t o ~ons1..1.lt with t h e Cormniss io ne r. At times she
s e rved as t hG II go- b c t w,, en 11 for the Commi ssioner and the staff, usua lly
about specific ~Jro blems of an administr a ti ve n ;:i.tur e . At ot her time s
the Comniis s ioner followed thG p olicy of i nv it ing member s of the fi e ld
s taff and sup ,;r visory gr01.ro to co nfer with D1ember s of the execn ti v6
group on lo cal p roblems or of t a l k i ng to t he whc l e stcff as a group
ab ou t 6 cnor c)l adJninistr a t i ve mat t Grs.
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
FIGURE 1.
STAT E OF ALAOA ~A DEPARTMENT OF P~~L IC ~ELFA PE
z
0
~
STATE COARD OF
PL:JLIC i,E LFARE
~
(Gove rno r-Cha irman)
I
mo
l/) - ·
--l <.Cl
ma-:
;;oN
z~
COMMI SS IONER
C cr
z-<
<
m
ACIAINI STRAT IVE
ASS ISTANT
;;o
l/)
~
I
I
BUREAU J F FAMILY WELFARE
(Di rector, 1 AssisBnt)
'lF r~~Jl' NTIN',
TFI , ii() Al,,, '>L'~VEY.,
Qt fiU,l
-----7
I
I
I
I
I
___I.____ ; ___I.____
z
0
~
Divi sion o f
Old Ag<>
Assista nce
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
Div,,;;ion at
D, vi s i on cf
Accoun t i ny
St'lti st ics
1nd Su r vev s
mo
l/) ....,
--l <.O.
m :::;·
OJ
z::::;;
co
z3
I
I
,.---L-- ..
I
I
I
I
I
Divisio n of
Aid to
Deo en dent
Chi 1d ren
I
I
I
I
I
l,
''
~
~
',,,,, r
I
I
J__ _,
r __
I
I
I
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I
L -
I
---- _ _ J
I
I
I
I
L, -
-
-
-- _ _
J
r- - --- -
I
I
I
I
I
I
-
-,
I
I
Di v i si on of I
Foster H0111e I
I
Ca r e
I
I
L - --- -
I
--.J
OUREAt.: OF FIELD SERVICE
(Di r ecto r, 10 Field Rep re senta ti ves)
;;o
~
I
lL-----------.-----------'
<
m
l/)
I
I Division of :
I Division of 1
I : Ch i 1d-Ca r i ng 1
I
Adopt i ans
1 I Instituti on s I
1
I
I
~
(Director, 7 Assista nts)
'I
I
I
I
;;o
Division of
General
Re li ef
r - ---------
I
I
Di vision of
Adu It
I nstitutions
(Almsho uses)
BUREAU OF CH ILD WELFARE
I
Schoo l Attendan ce
(Joint Service with
Bo a r d of Educat ion )
I
r---------L--.-----(1/
l
I
I
COU NTY DE PARTMENTS OF PU BLIC WELFARE
Divisioft :>f Social
AF-1239
Researct'I
9563
-19-
Likewise the direct or s of t he Child Welfare and Family We lfare
Bureaus and t he ir r eS1)ective staff members were s till working out staff
inter-relationshi ps , when the survey was made. The extent to which the
services of the spe cializ ed state staffs were made available to the
count~r workers denend.e d l a r ge ly upon the ext ent to which each field r epresentative understood the two pr ograms and conce ive d of us es for the ser v ice s.
For t h is re ,q,son the clirectors of t hese t wo bur eaus were seeking to develop
a close working r elationship b e t weG n members of the field staff a nd members
of t he ir r espect i ve staffs. They p lanned to hold individual conferences on
specific problems as we ll as joint staff meetings during the weeh: of each
month in which the field staff was in the office.
The dir e ct or of t he Bureau of Field Service conceived her job at
the time as lar gely one of help ing the field staff guide county admini strators in or gan izing office routi ne , making statistical and financial reports,
familiarizing county workers with the varieties of s e rvi ce the state staff
could offer, ancl helping the field workers organize their work in such a
way that the greatest p ossibl e amount of time might b e g iven each county in
the ir districts. She interviewed the field rep r esentatives individually as
they came in from fi e ld trips and r eviewed with them the -proble ms they met
in the fi e ld and other problems tha t she considered imp ortant from he r revi 0w of corr e spondence b c tw J e n tho counties and the Stat e Department. She
tri ed to impress upon her staff members the i1n-0ort anc e of working out p roblem s in conference wi th members of the Ch il o. We lfare, Fai'Tiily We lfare, and
Accounting Bm· eaus . The field repr esentat ives conferred directly with the
cas e consultant on the staff about case work pr obl ems with which lo cal
workers needed special assista.rice.
No definite patt erns were ado p ted by the execut ive of any bureau
for conferences wi th workers on the state staff. The conferences attende d by the ob server were informal and indicated. that inter e st was concentrated on the }_)robl e m a t hand.
Training a nd. Ex~oG ri ence of Staff
The Stat e Boa rd of PulJli c We lf ar e at the time of the survey had
issued no formal descrip tion of minimum qualifications for pe rsons serving
on the state staff. As signments to the majority of posi tions in the Department seemed to have been mad.e enti r ely on the -oasis of train ing, na tive
abili t y , an(l e}..1)erien ce in so cial wo rk.
All but t hr ae of the social work staff were colle ge gr aduates 8 .nd
these three, hud hacl f rom a year and a half to two years of academ ic vmrk of
colle ge grade ( Tp,~Ole 1). The admin istr a ti ve a ss istant a.rid. one fi eld worker
had Mas t e r I s deg::cees in social work from accredited schools of social work.
Thr e e others had Easter 's def:;rees , but in sociology, English, .lnd e ducation,
r a ther than i n soci a l work. This gro 11p included the Commis ~ioner, whose
traini ng and past experie nc e had been in the field of education.
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
9563
- 20-
General Educa.tion of Me mb er s of StPtte Staff •
by Typ e of Personnel
Tab le 1.
Gene ral Educ a tion
Exe cutives
Total
Colle ge--two ye a rs or lGS S
Coll ege gradua ti on
i
Master's degr ee
I
Type of p t::, r s onne l
Vi sitors
( Di visio~
Supe rof Foste r
visors
Horne Ca re)
Field
Represen tatives
5
5-
4
9
1
1
3
-
1
3
]_
5
-
-
6
2
I
·-
Sixt een of the 23 had had courses in soci al wor k at recognized
s chools of soci al wor k . ill of these had s tudied at schools of social
work outside of the sta.te as well as in J..l abama. In addition to t wo with
Mas ter 's degrees, eight had bad at l east t hre e quart e rs of graduate work
and exc ep t for v1ri ting their t hes es or t aki ng special requir ed course s
had met the r equirement for Master 's degrees (Tabl e 2).
Table 2 .
Professi onal Training of Members of St a t e Staff,
by Type of Personnel
rp
.
.
P rof es s ion2.l _ra in1;1g
Tot al
Exe cutive s
II
5
I
I
Graduate w0r k
Mast er 1 s de 6 ree
6 quart e rs
3 s eme st e rs
4 quart e rs
1 ~rear
2 quart ers
1 s eme st er
6 weeks
Special student
5 qua rt e rs
3 quarter s
In stitute ( 2 six- v1eek
pe r iods)
Red Cross course
No p rofessional train i ng
I
I
Type of Per sonnel
Vi sitors
I
I Sup e r- (Divisio n
visor s of Fos t er
Home Ca r e)
1
I --
I
I
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
l
-
I.
I
I
-
I
1
'
1
1
I
I
4
-
1
'
5
I
I
1
1
-
-
I
2
I
1
2
Field
Repr es en t atives
9
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
-
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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9563
-21-
Of the whole staff, all but one had had experience ·in social
work positions, as visitors in city agencies or as county workers und.er
supervision, before taking their present assignments (Table 3). Si x t een
had filled p ositio ns as supe rvisors in the JJ.abama child welfare or r eli ef
programs. Fourte en h&d had e:iq;erience in teaching and supervisory work
b efore coming i nto th e fi el d of social wo r k .
Table 3.
Profess ional E:xr eri ence of Memb ers of Sta t e Staff,
by Typ e of Pe rsonnel
Nu.mber of Years
of
Professional Exp erience
·T·voe
1-·
0f
p ersonne 1
- -- ---
Visitors
( DiYision
of Foster
Horne Car~
Field
Re:)_Jresentatives
4
9
4
4
1
2
--
...
-
1
-
-
j
Execu-
Supervisors
I tives
I
I
Total
5
J..s Supe rvisor§:./
1 year
2 years
3 years
4 years
5 years or more
!
.b.s Visitor Only
1 year
2 years
3 years
8 y ears
I
!
I
3
-
-
-
-
1
-
-
I
None
2
-
5
1
3
1
-
,.
-
-
-
fl/ JJ.l
persons with superv isory exp e ri ence had also ha,d from one to
five years of experi enc e a s visitors.
The Commis sioner, prominent in the fi el d of education in the
stat e , had indicat ed strong inter P. st in public wel far e administratio n
a l though h e had not b efore been i dt:m tifi ed wi th social wo r k progr ams.
His r ecognition of tho:.: importance of consul ting profes sional social ,,orkers on the staff r ega rding al l poiici e s, an(l of observing the s tr➔nda1~ds of
professional practice, had done much to de v elop unity of purpose and confidence i n the administra tion OE t he part of stat e and county staff members, loca l board members, and int erested citizens.
The f our sub- executive s, servi ng a s admini stra tive assis t ant
and as di r ec t ors of t he three social wo r k bureaus, hn.d all had a t l east
three quart ers of work in gr aduate schools of social work . Two had
Master's degr ee s, one in soci a l work a nd one in English. JJ.l four had had
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
9563
-22-
several y e ars of public social work exp CJ ri ence in .A.labama, serving in
various positions, including visitor, c ounty agency exe cu tive, state
sup ervisor, and sta t e execu tiv8 . The a ge s of the Commissione r and the
four sub-executives ranged from 28 to 42 years.
J..mong the assistants in the thre e bureaus were five classed
as supe rvisors. ill of these had B.h. de gr ees. Two had had at least a
full year of work in a graduate scho ol of social work and one or t wo y ears
of experience. Two we r e gradc1ates of t he h.labama College for Women at
Montevallo, having ma jored in so c iology a nd t a ken, as a part of the ir
under-graduate work, a course in cas ewo rk with supe rvised field work.
Both of these had had thre e y ears of experience und er sup ervision in the
.h.labama programc The fifth was a ma n with a B•h• degree who had had two
ye a rs of experience in the eme rgency r eli ef program a nd two six weeks'
cours e s in cas e work prior to t ak ing his p osition a s an assist ant i n the
Family Welfa r e Bur eau . The s e super visors we r e y oung , th e ir aver ag e age
b e ing 26 y ears.
\
Th r ee out of four visitors in the Divisi on of Foster Horne Care
extending c2.se work s ervice to the wa rds of the St a te :Jepa rtment of Public
Welfare, we::.·e college gradu a tes. Two we :re graduat e s of t he ilabama College for ~i · ,.nen at Mont eva ll o , having majored in s ociology and taken the
under- gr ach1at e cours e in case work with sup ervised field work. The third
college gr aduat e had bad t wo qua r te rs of wo rk i n a gr aduat e school of
social work • .h.11 t hr ee wer e u nd er 2 5 years of a ge and each had had two years
of expe r ience as a visitor bef or e t aking h e r pre s ent assignment. The
fourth visitor was an old er worke r who had had e i ght years of exp erience
und er supe rvision in the f ost e r h ome work of the hlabama stat e program
and ea rli e r exp eri ence in Red Cro ss wo rk as we ll a s in teaching. Thes e
visitors were espe cially int e r e s t ed inc:as e work with children, and
planned to take furth er training in that fi eld.
Ei ght out of nine field r ep r e s ent a tives - eight women and one
man - s ervi ng unde r the dire ct or of Fi el d Service,1/ were c ollege g r aduates. The exc ep tion was a gr adu ate of a t wo-ye a r acad emic cours e who
had h ad fiv e summer s cho ol cours e s in soci al wor k , t wo of them in a school
of soci al work, and ei ght y ears of expe ri ence in socicl work under sup e rv1s1on. .b.11 nin e h ad h 3.d s on:e work in p rof essional schools of social work.
One memb er of the fi eld st aff h e:.d he r !-iias t er ' s de·g ree from a gr adua t e
school of soci al vrork. Fou r ot he rs h2d had a t l ee;,st a full y ea r of graduate
work a nd sever al hG.d had one or t wo s emest ers. Only one had had a s little
a s a six vve ek:s 1 cours e in a professio m··. l school a nd this worker WFL S leaving the staff soon in ord er to continue h0r professionFtl edu cation.
1/The numb e r is of t en gi v ~n a s 10 be caus o the dire ctor s e rve s as fi eld
supe rvisor f or the t wo large c ity a r ea s. h ca s e c onsult ant, also on
t he Fi el d Servi ce st af f , is cl a ssi f i ed a s a sun er v is or.
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
9563
-23-
ill ni n e field worke rs had ha<~ a t l e ast t1"'o years of experience in
social work in J.J.abama before tnlcing t be i r present a ssignments. Four had
had experience in both child welfare and r e:; lief administra tion work, one
had had only child welf a re exp e rienc e , and four harl hr1d only r elief expe rience. The nine had an ave rage of 2.7 yea rs of experience as visitors or
as directors of cou!'.lty progrnms u nder sup e rvision, pnd an average of 1.6
yr-:ars of experie!'.lce a s sup ervisors before t aking positions as field repres ,-.m tati ves. Six of the nine ha:1 teaching eXDerience. Th e field workers
ranged in a ge from 26 y e ars to 46 years.
The cas e c ;~ ns1.'..l tan t on th e fi eld staff had had four quarters of
work, inclucling supe rvis en. fi eld wo rk in a graduate school of social work,
and one year of GXJ) ,,; ri on c e as a visitor on the stat e staff.
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9563
-24-
IV.
County Public Welfare Uni.is.
Lega l Provisions
The Department of Public Welfare J..ct of 1 9~5 provided t hat each
county should establish a County Dtip2rtment of P1,_blic Welf a r e which should
op erate under a County Board of Public Welfare.l/ The County Department should
consist of the County Director of Public Welfa r e and such employee s as the
State and County Boards d eemed necessary. The County Boards of Public Welfar e should tak e ov er the rights and duties of the former County Boa rds of
Child Welfare.
The J..ct provided that the County Boards should consist of seven
members, not less than t wo of them to b e women. Board members should be
appointed by the governing board of the c oun ty fr om citizens of the county
"on the basis of recogn1zed interest in the public welfare 11 • Regular t e rms
of Board members were s e t at six yea rs. Members should receive no compensation, but should be r eimbursed out of the general funds of the county for
expenses involved in att ending Board meetings.
The duties _o f tl1e Board were stipula ted as follows:_~/
1.
Appoint a County Director of Public Welfare to s e rve as executive offic er of the County D3partment in ac co rdance wi th qualifications prescrib ed by the Sta t e Board, without r egard to political affiliations. ·
2.
Fix s alary of Director Qnd staff in c onformity with th e s a lary schedule
p r escrib ed by the Stat e Board.
3.
Formul ate genaral poli ci os , rul es, and r egulations for the Department.
4.
Pass upon the activities of the County Director.
5.
In conf er ence with the County Dire ct or fix adequate tra veling expenses
for the Coun ty Director and his staff.
The dutiAs of the Coun t :r Directo r were specified in the J..ct as
follo ws:~ /
1.
Meet regularly wi th the Coun ty Bo8rd.
2.
J..dvis e the County Board in regard to th e activities of the County Departmen·
3,
P erfo rm a ll administ:::·ati ve and executive dut ies and resp onsibilities
of the County Depa rtment, including:
(a)
(b)
(c)
reli ef t o persons in need of assist ance;
family welfare s ervices;
care of d epe:iden t, ri egl ect erl , ri8linquent and othe rwis e handicapped children;
1/ J..pp endix J.., Department of Public Welfa r e J..ct, Sect.ion 10
2/ Ibi d ., Sect ions 1 2 , 13, and 1 4 .
~/Ibid., Sections 13 and 14.
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NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
9563
(d)
investigation of applications for admission to and discharges
from county institutions providing care and treatment for
indigents:
( e) furnishing :r'eports to the State and County Boards c oncerning
activities of the County Department and concerning the status
- of the welfare functions within its jurisdiction;
(f) if appointed by a "court of c omne tent jurisdicti'on 11 , performance
of the work of probation officer of the juvenile court and of
agent of the court for making investigat ions pertaining to the
commitments of pe rs ons to or discharged fr om state institutions.
4.
App oint with E,pproval of the Coun ty Board t he necessary staff, subject
(exc ep t for cleri~al staff) to qualifications of training, expe rience,
and efficie ncy prescribed by the State Boa rd.
The J..ct also nrovi ded t La t the County Board of Educati on and t he
governing board of the county sh ncl d have au foori ty to arrange for th e
joint s ervice of public welfare and school attendance by the Director or
one or more members of hil staff, as was previously provided und er the old
Child Welfare Board .h.et.l
The County or.City Board of Education should
have the same proportion of the j oint worker's time as the amount appropriates by the County or City Board of Education bore t o the tot al amount
ap:9ropri 2t ed by local ~ffici E1.ls for th e joint s er vice .
Selec tion of Board Members
By February 1936, every county had a County Board a nd County
Department of Publie Wel fare orgrm ized unde r the provisions of the J..ct.
These were wid e diff e re nces b etween counties, manifesting the variation
in the ways in which c ounty commission ~r s i nt e r p ret ed the provisions of
the ~ct. In one county, the Board of Commissione rs had so great an int e rest in the power c ent e red in the administra tion of r elief, that it appointed
its elf as a body to s e rve as five of the s even members of the County Board
of Public ~elfa re. In contrast, s ome Boards of Commissioners refrained
from appointing any of their own membership to t he Boards of Public Welfare
because they 11 wanted to be as f 2.r r emoved fr omreli ef as possible"•
In the majority of counties, the commissioners discussed the
selection of members for t he Board with the field r epreseatative before
they approached any prospective memb e rs.RI The commissioners longest in
office and most experienced with the administration of social work tended
to s elect former members of the Child WelfGre Boards for membership on the
new Boards of Fublie Welfare. The field r epresnta tives from the st a te
sta£f gene r ally discussed with the commissi one rs the qualities the state
desired in Board members and encouraged the appointment of former Child
Welfare Board members who bad been helpful in th~t program •
......,
~Ibid.,
,
.,
Section 15: ~
-g/hppendix D. Field ~resmtative•s Report on :Y..ieits to Elmore County.
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- 26 11he st a te could exe rci se no l e , •;al authority ov e r t he s e l ec tion of
:Board memb8 r s . Hence it w2 s p osd ble for cornmi ssione rs to s e l e ct p ersons
who re p r ese n te d the ir own int Ere s t s , wl, ich mi gnt not b e c onsistent with the
-Des t i nt e :-!:'osts of a public we lfare program . HO\-:-evo r, st a t e r epr esentatives
2.J. l i ndi c a ted. t hat they b e li eved t he ir wise s t -po licy w2.s n a t t o ob j e ct to
p ro·pos:tls mad0 b y commissione rs so long as t hey ,,7 ere l e ga l, e v en though
suc~1 p ro po::; als appe a r e d de struct i ve of the b es t int e r es ts of t he p rog ram.
The y t hough t t his was a sounde r p olicy t han t o enfo rce st a t e standard s by
withholding f unds or as:.:;uming admini strative cor:.t rol of the l ocal p ro g ram
be fore the state had hed ti m0 to e x t e nd its influence t h rough a dv i so ry and
supervi s ory s e rvices . Al l fteld workers interviewed exp r esse d the op inion
t hat in some count i es und_e r thei r supe rv is ion the commissione rs would be
like ly t o re ,1,li ze u :l. ti raately t hat some of their actions were unwise.
Orga niz ation of County Units
No specific pat te r n f or the ort3an iz at ion of work in l oca l uni ts
had b e en de s crib ed o r rn c omme nded oy t he s t a t e super,isory staff. Individ1.1 al Dire ctors we re wo r k ing out plans in confe r ence wi tl:.. t hei r field
supe rv iso :::-s. Usu2.,lly t hese p a tte rn s we r e de termine d by the ne e ds recog niz e d as inherent i n the loc a l si t 1 1a ti on . In five c ount ies one vvorke r
s e rve d b ot h as e:;:ecu tive and visi tor. Fi ft y -four counti e s had r, Dire ctor
a nd a t lea s t one v i sito r on the st 3.ff. In e i ght counties the sta±'f was
compo s ed of a Director and t Ho or mo r e vi s itor s .
T'.'fenty of t he county uni ts we r e affiliated wit h t he scho ol a tt e ndance prog ram in such~ manne r ~s to as swne r espons ibility fo r the school
he r c ount i e s, t he scho ol attendc1nce
at t e ndance work . In mos t of the ot
I
worker, admi nist r ative l y se parat e f r om t he Departme nt of Public We lfare,
work e d ver-y- close l y wi th the Depart meilt staff, usually s ha ring office space
and s eeki ng supe r vision f r om the publ:rc we l fa r e worke r s .
Pr acti cally a ll Hoi:-ker s, except t he exe cuti ve s in t he l a r ge st
counti es , carr·i e d. r e s pon sib ili t :r for a ll type s of nee d, sinc e most divisions
of r e s3:Jo n s i bil i t y amo ng wo r k e rs in t he a ge nci e s we r e ma de on a t e rritori a l
basis r athe r than on t he b a sis of t he natur e of the ne E: d p r ese nt ed . Possible excep t i on s uere tJ:-.e counti e s in which a memb,:ir of the Depa rt me nt of
Public We lf aJ.~e staff c .ci.r r i ecl t he schoo l at t endance wo r k . One wo r }:e r often
handled t 11i s work f or t he e ntire c oun t y and as sume d l e ss resJ,onsibili ty
f o r othe r type s of c a s e s . A f ew County Dire ctor s , with mo r e t han ave rage
trai ni ng , c xpe ri E:nce , and sense of r es--pons i bi li ty f or se r vi ng fam i lies,
assi gn e d t he Vvo r k of e stabli shi nc: e li g ibilit y for r e li e f t o the l '3 ss traine d
and expe ri e nc e d work ers on t heir st aff s , whi le the y met t he nee d for spe cial
services themselve s.
Selec ti on of Staf~
~he Act declared it the duty of t he State Board of Publ ic We lf a r e t o fix "minimum stana_arcis of servi ce and p e r sonne l and to set sal a r y
schedul es , b ase d up on e duc a tion, t r a in ing , p r evious expe ri e nce, a nd ge ne r a l
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-27efficiency which must have been attained by persons selected for the
positions to be filled in ~he St nte Department and the County Departments of Public Welfare. 11 1/
In accordance with this provision the State Board of Public
Welfare, immediately after its organization on Sep t ember ·4 , 1935, issued
a des cription of q_ualifications for worke rs to be employe d in county
units, as follows:
11
Qua lifications for Personnel of the County
D epar t □ e nt of Public We lfar e
11
~ a lific;:_i,tions for personnel of County Departments of Public
Welfare are presc ribe d by the St ate Board of Public Welfare. Qualifi cations of individua l s must be app rove d by t he Sta t e Board and c ertific a t e s
issued to Dir e ctors of Public Welfare c:ind visitors.
11
1.
"II.
For the Dir ector of Public We lfa re of a county, the following
qualific a tions shall be prescri bea.:
1.
Graduation from an A-Gr ade College.
2.
One year's experience in social work under supervision,
and t hr ee year s of exp erienc e in s ome work wit h p eople;
social work or t eachi ng experienc e preferred.
3.
Defi nit e training in social work. A minimum of three
months' t rai ning in a schoo l of social work or in
r eco gniz ed c ours e s in socia l work a.t an A-Grao.e College .
The foll owing qualifica ti ons are p r 0scri b Gd for visitors:
1.
Two y ears of coll ege wo r k or the equivalent; college
degr ,·. e pr ef ern,d.
2.
Three years' experience in some work with p eop l e ; so cial
wo rk or teachi ng experience p referred.
3.
A minimum of s ix weeks ' tr aining in soc i al work , or in
lie .1 t hereof, one year I s succ es s f ul expe rience in social
work under supervi sio n.
1
4.
Ability to dir •.re a car, and a c ar available .
lfAppendix A, Dep artment of Public ~el far e Act, Secti on 4.
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"III.
"IV•
"V.
The Commissioner of the State Department of Public Welfare
shall pass upon the qualifications as to general efficiency
of the personnel sel ecte d.
No relati ve within the fourth degree, affinity, or consanguinity,
of any member of the County Board of Welfare or County Com.missi oners Court, or like go verning body, or of any other cormty
officer, shall be eligible to employment by the St a te or County
Board of Welfare within the county in which the relations hip
exists.
Those persons who have had at le as t four years• experience a s
child welfare worke1·s in Alabama for the past four y e ars shall
not be disqualified from holding off ice on account of education
r equirement, training, previous exp orionce, and gcner~l effici ency.
"Any ex ception to the above rul e s can be made only by the State
Board of Public Welfare. 11
These qualificat\ons were similar to tho s e se t up in 1927 by the
State Child Welfare Boardlland in 1933 by the Al abama Relief Administration
for workers in c ounty uni t s.~/ In the f ew r e spects in which they differe d
from the earlier standards they were some time s more and sometimes less
exacting.
Tho 11 one ye ar 1 s exp eri ence in social work u nde r supervision" was
a qualification whi ch had no t been requir ed of directors in county r eli ef
agenci e s or of workers in chi ld welfare u nits, but three y ea.rs of experience
in social work or in t e achi n.:; under supervision ha d b een a r equir ement under
both of the p revious a dministrations.
A minimum of three months' training in social work was more exacting than the training r e quirement for ciir ectors under the ?.eli ef Administration which mere ly stated 11 defini te tra ining in soc ial work 11 wit hout
specifying a period of time. On the other han d, the training r equirement
was l ess exact ing than tha.t se t up in 1927 for workers in County Child We lf a r e Departments , who wer e o~cpe ct e d to have had one year of training in
11 social wo rk, schoo l at t endance c1nd r elat r: d courses ".
Ho wever, this requir ement was waived for ap}')l i cants who ha d had 12 weeks of approved training, provia_e d th~1t t hey would continiie the ir trai n ing until they had comple t ed the requir e d ye m· .
Grad.u a ti on f rom an A-Gr ade College" ha d al so been pr e scrib ed for
dir ecto rs of county relief agencies but r ep r esentea an advanc e over the
general educational req1;.irement for worke:::-s in c ounty child we lfar e uni ts,
which was 11 gr a.duation from a s tand.aJ:d collego 11 • This wording had permitt e d
11
1/Available
in .Annual Report of the Alabruna __9 hild We lfare Dep artment,
Sept ember 30, 1934, p . 12.
~/Qialifications for Soci al Servic e St aff of the County Re li ef Agency of
the Al abama Relief Administr a tion. ]ulletin issue d by tho St a t e Re lief
Administr ation for tho fi e ld st af'f.
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the State Child Welf a re Board. to G8 t its own stancla:cd for colleg es while
the wording a.doptea. by the two lC1tt..r omninistr EJ tions restricted coheges
to those tr.at were membe rs of the .At-ne rican .Associ a tion of Co l lege s and
Universities.
The qualifications for visitors in County Departments of Public
Welfare vvero prb.ctic 9,lly id0ntic11.l with tho form or qualific a tions for
r e lie:; fi e ld social wo r !-rnrs except in one pr..rti cular. Fo r the po s ition
of relief field ,vorker a person with thr oe years of CX9c ri1..mce in teaching or other 11 wo rk with :'.')8 0I)le 11 c ould qualify \1i thout having had any
social work training or expe rience.
The s t atem3nt -barring rel P,tives of cou...YJ.ty offici a ls from employment in the agency ha d ap-,Jlied in the Relief .Administration qualifications only to visitors and not to directors. I t was specifically stated,
however, in the qualificn.tions se t up -o:r the Relief .Aami n istration that
"The Director of Social \'lork o: a co mty relief a ,e;ency shall be an out-ofc ounty person. 11 This stipulation was orni tt e d from the Dep artme nt of Public
'Welfare qualific a tio ns .
1
The qualification or r ecommenria ti on of e ach of the administrations of social work that a 10 0.al person should not be a ppo int e d dir octor
of the local progrrun was froq_u •Jn tly wa i v0 d. At the time of tho survey only
47 of the 67 Directors of the County Departments of Public We lfare we re
from outside the county • .Although exnct figur e s were not on r e cord, tho
state e.dministra ti vo a s si s t n,nt indicat e d th-it this was a l a r ge r pr oportion
of non-lo cal appointments thnn vms the c a se unde r t he Child. We lf;;.re Department.
The re were s ome i ndic r•,ti on s th;-,,t tho counti e s h1,.d b e come gro..du a lly more r (, s pon sive to state le a de rship in t he selecti on of s taff in the
ye 3.rs since tho St a te Child Welfar e Dcpnr t mont was first set up. The personnel filec of county staffs r eve nl e d c onsidornble local acceptnnce of
the sto,te stond.'.lrd thn.t 2..pp·:l int oc s to county p osi tions should hr1-vo s pe cializ e d e&lc~-::.tion e.s well cs expe ri ence . It was int er e sting to note tha t
more visit or s on rur al coun ty st u.ffs h 2,d some p r of e s s i on3.l training than
those ass i gned t o urban c ou nty s taf fs. Of 69 r u r nl c oun ty visitors , 47
ho.d from six w1:: eks to ·J no full schJol ye o.r of -;;r of essi onal tr aining, 11.s
c d ,,i th 38 of tho 65 urba n visitors ( '.i:n.ble 4) . On the other hand,
comnar
.,
fi v3 urban visit or s h'1.d hnd ns much as on e full schoo l yo,~r of p rofess i onal e ducp_tion , who r en.s only one rur n..l vi s i to r ha1:l h[!.d_ a s mu ch as one y ear .
The st a te d:ire ctor of the Fi e ld Service Bur eau s t a ted tha t more
rural county executives of the DepartCTe nt of Public Welf a re had from three
months to a full y ear of p ro f essio ,1al education thru1 was true of county
executives of the former Child Welf nre De::,artment, but exa c t figur : : s wer e
not available.
0
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-30Table 4. Profe s sional Tra ining of St a ffs in Urb an
and Rural Counti f1 s, .GI by Type of Personnel
Professional
Training
J.
Dire c tor
-Urban
Rural
Total
9 months
6 months
41- months
3 monthsii./
6 weeks£,./
Les s than 6 weeks
..rvi so r
.)
S,ne
Urban Rural
3
64
7
1
1
10
13
14
23
1
-
-
4
1
2
-
I
-
-
I
65
69
5
1
-
-
1
-
3
12
18
27
-
5
Vi !'·-; itor
Ur ban Rur a l
18
28
22
~/Urben counties inclucle Jeffe rson, Mo bile, and Mo nt gomery . The
other 64 counti e s were consider e d rural.
b/Includes t wo urban supervis ors, thr ee urban vi s i to r s , and fi ;re
rural vi s itors re por ttJ d as having had 11 more than" thr ee months
of p rof es si onal tr a i ning .
Q,/Incluctes four rur a l dirsctors r eported as having had II l ess tha n
three months " of p ro fe s s iona l tr a ining .
A revi ew by the sta t e supervisor of the Bur eau of Field Se r v i ce
of the experi enc e of count y worker s i ndicat es tha t of the 67 D~r octo rs in
the s t e.t e at the time t. r.c study was made , 40 haa b een workersl/ in tho p revi ous Child Wel f;-,,ro Dep 8.;."tm unt, an d 50 ha d ha d oxpcr i e ncc in tho Relief
Admini s tr a ti on . Of t he to:.al , 1 7 had had on l y child wel fe..re o:x.--por i e nce ,
27 had ha d only reli ef exper ie nce, and 23 ha d hD.d both typ e s. Of the
visitors as si gned to the county st ~f fs of the Depar tment of Public Welf ar e ,
85 percent ha d had reli e f experi e nce only .
1/usually a combination of e xe cuti ve and visitor exp er i e nce .
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Current Social Work Practic e and Plans fo~· the Future
Curr ent soc ial work pract ic e s of the -ure :1.1.-. s of Family
Welfare, Child Welfare, and Field Service wer8 studi e d in this
survey. The Bureau of Mental Hygiene had not been set u p and the
Bureau of Accounting wa s outside tho province of the study.
Problems common to all lJureaus were the training of
pe rsonne l and the devising of methods uf communication among
staff mem"'oers. Members of the executive and supervisory staffs
were considering vari ous ways in which county directors and visitors could exchange kno wl e0ge and opinions on social problems,
availability of res ource s, probl ems of adm in istrat ion, and
professional s tandards of work. They c ons ider e d tha t the b es t
method of accomplishing this exchanE,e was by means of an adequate f i eld staff and a training p rogram.
? r ovisions for Training
r:i:he fact that Alabama :persons with professional tr aining were ava.i l abl e for positi ons on st at e and county publ ic we lfare
staffs was chrn to the training p r ogrc:lm a.p'!') roved by the Al abama Child
Welfare Depart me nt in 1924, ar,d. l a t e r sup1;lement e d by the training
program of the Re lie f Admini stration .
Unde r the sponso r s hi p of thJ St a te Child We lfare Bo a rd,
e s in social work ho.a. b nen off e r e d at Alabama Coll ege
ours
c
r
summe
for Women a nd a.t the University of Al a bama f or a numbe r of y ears.
The bo ard es t :.ibli s hed a polic;y of givi ng a c ortific a t e to a person who he.d tn.ken a three months I c ourse in soci a l work, which
qua lifi ,:; d. the holder for two y ears of omp l oy mcnt under the p r ogr am
wi thout fu r the r fo r mal e duc n.tion. Ho w1J11-.· r, er:ip has i s ho.d a lways
been pl a ce d by the state staff u~on the i mportance of county workers teld n.g ful1 p rof essional traini ng a.t one of the g raduate schools
of soci al work .
The Re li ef Admi n i s tr a t ion in t u rn establ i she d a training
program c1..nd slightly r e lE.:.x:e d fo r me r 1,Jersom.e l st a ndards , due to the
ur gent n eed for more pers ons t ha:'.1 c ould form or ly qualify . It cooper ated wi th the St o.te Child vleJ.faro Dep:.u: t ment i n the organization
of short cours e s in social wo:i:-k G.t the Uni v crs i ty of Alab ama and
at the Alabama Coll ege for Wo;non in tho summe r of 1934.
The Federal Emergen cy Re li ef Admini s tr 2.tion p rovide d
scholarships for sol oct e d count y worke r s , pe r mitting attendance a t
a gr aduate s chool of social v;o rk for a t l ea s t on e quart er, an d in
most case s for t wo qua rt e rs.
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The De:.)artment of Pu1'lic Welfare ha.d :10t indicated,
at the time the study was made, just what program or p rovision
for formal tr a ining it would adopt for state and lo cal staff
merr.bers. Interest was expressed in a training program which
would he1~D the social worker s to qualify for membership 'i n the
America11 Association of Social Workers. The short conrs e s
offered through the University of Alabama had been recognized
by the American Associ~tion of Social Workers but credit toward
membership ha d. not been extended for cou rses offered by the
Alabama Colle go for Vlonen r-.t Montevallo.
Bureau of Femily Welfare
At the time of the survoy, tho work of t:1e Bureau
of Family 1Jelfpre w2.s b oing c ondnct od -Dy the Director, one fulltime assistant, and one part-time assi s tant (a field r ep resentative whose di strict v:as within close r a nge of the ste.te office
and who gave about one third of his time to the Bureau). The
Director had had a general course of preparation in a graduate
school of social work , but all her experience as a staff nember
of social wo rk agencies had b een in the field of child welfare
services. Both her assistrults, however, h.s_d had considerable
experience in the faI'.lily c ase work field.
Lack of funds h~.d p reventod the development of the
Division . of Genor2..l Relief called for in t he statement/issued
by the Department of Public Welfare in February 1936.1
The
full-time assistant, howeve r, was taking charge of correspondence regarding inquiries and com"9laints, which was listed as
one of the functi ons of this Division.
The Director and the part-time assistant, with the
aid of the field repres0nt at ive s, had mQde con s i oerable progress
in conducti ng the work of the Divisions of Adult Institut ions
and of Old Age Assistanc e .
Old Age Assistance. Tho closing of tho almshous e s was
proccediri.g ra1) idly. In anticipation of the developmcmt of a n
Old Age Assi s ·cance pr?~r8.II1 in Alabama in coop or ation wi th the
Social Sc curi ty Boar~/, r emoval of inmutes from almshouses
had. begun in the summer of 1935. Twelve almshouses in the
1/
?:,/
See P• 15.
Prior to tho enac tment of public we lfar e l egisla tion.
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state had been closed by January 15, 1936, and 12 more were
reported ready to be closed as so on as the visitors could make
satisfactory plans for boarding home care for the inmates.
The Bureau staff had a.irected a surv8y in November
1935 of all persons in the entire state who might be eligible
for Old Age Assistance. This survey indicat e d that 63 percent
of the almshouse population in the state was eligible.
The major pn,rt of the work of the staff was the nwiew
of applica tions for Old Age Assistance. App lications totalling
34,460 were received by the 67 county office s during November
and December 1935. These rep res ent e d 35 pe rcent of ~11 persons
within the eligible age group (over 65 years of age) in the
state. By February 6, 1936, a total of 19,793 applications ha d
been inve s tigated by county workers. Of these, 9,177 cases ha d
been reject ed, 5,396 cases had begun to rec eive Old Age Assistance, and 5,220 had been approved for Old Age Assistance by tho
county departm ent staffs but wer e waiting revi ew and approval
by the State Department and the l~cal governing bo di es. This
last group was to be recorr~ ended for Old Age Assistance if and
when additional fund.s were wade available. There were still
14,667 applications not yet inve stigat ed by the County Department of Public Welfare staffs.
Field representatives of the State Department directly
supervtsed the work of tbking appli cations for Old Age Assist ance.
The state office of the Bureau of Family Welf are re (: ei ve c. all
applications which had b~Gn investi gated. and approved by county
departments. Its first r eview of applications usually r e sult e d
in the return of a large number to the counti es for more compl e t e
and accurate face s heet and history data. When returning apylications,tentatively rejected a s incomplete, the Bureau iden tifi e d
and discussed the defici enc i e s, by letter, and offered sugge stions or definite instructions a s to how imp rovements might be
made.
The state staff anticipated that r e sourc e s might be
made availabl e through Fe deral, state, ana local aaministrations
during 1936 to permit tho a ccep tanc e of a t l east 10,000 cases
for Old Age Assistanc ,3. Ten t a tively, the Ste.to I) epar tment was
recommending that t he first case s a ccepted should be tho s e otherwise uli gible who v~ere on relief or in alms house s in 1935. The
next group to be g iven considerati on might be those in the eligible age group with. an i n come of less throi $100 a year in
1935. Those with inc ome s of $100 to $360 a year would be considered l ater.
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Pl a n s for t he Future . Ho exten s i on of t he p ro &;r am
of the Bureau of F ami l y Welf-;,;e was anticipc:tted in the ne a r
future. If more f uno s shou ld. be mF,,d.e avail abl e f o r additi onal
staff it wa s p l anne d to u se suc h pe r so n nel to i mprov,:: the
work of the divisi ons a lr eady f unctioning r a t her t ha n to
deve l op o t he r di vi si on s .
The closing of t he a lmshou s e s gF:.ve i mp etu s to a :9lan
for converting the b es t of t he phy s ic a l eouip ment int o district
hosp it al s or nur s i ng homes . Loc a l and stat e heal th nnd we lfa r e
n.genci os had l ong b0cn int e r ost r., d i n suc h a p l an ;m d. the :po ss ibili ti Gs of putting it i nto eff oct wo r e u n d e r dis cu ss i on among
health autho r it ie s a nd r a:oresont ntive g roup s of public of fici a l s
a t the ti me of the survey . The Bur eau s t aff wa s r eady to
c ooperate in p r omo ting thi s p l an .
Bu r eau of Child Wo lf nro
The Divi s i on s of Adop ti ons , Child Cn ri ng I ns titutions
ood .Agonci c s, and Fos t 1.? r Home Cn,ro wore eu.c h f 1mctioning under
a s u perviso r (~.t t ho ti me o f tho surve~r . No su1Je rvi so r h ~d b oon
n amed fu r the Di vi s i on of Ai d t o Depen d.e n t Chil dre n an d t he
Dir ect0 r of the Bureau was c ar r ying t he r esyrnsi bi l i t y for the
work of the division.
'!1he Dir e ct or na,d been id.enti f i ed wi th the f orm e r child
welf ar e p ro gr am f or s eve r a l year s and showe d an in timate knowle dge
of the hi sto r Jr of so ci a l wor:{ i n t he 67 count i e s. Throug h t hi s
exper i en ce she ha d be come aware of the resi stc11co of the public
of Ala b ama to some t ypes of soc i a l tho 1.ght and ac ti on. She said
s he wa.nt od to de v e l op :9revont i ve p r ogr runs of wor k in t he c hi ld
we lf are f i ol d a s ,-.-ell as to i mp r ove case vm r k so r v i ce to chi l dren
u n d er core of t ho D,3par t mc n t, bu t she realiz e- a t hat t ho oppo rt unities fo r d0Yo lo1)mcnt of tho chil d. we l fa r e pro grC!lll 1.?o r e
li mi t c d by tho amount of funds and ox rJo ri on c ,:, rl -p c-rs on nol a v ai la ble, as well as r,y t he a.t t i t ude of the general publ ic.
1
Aid. t o Denend.ent C_hi J._9:;·en. The Divi sion of Aid to
Dependent Chi ldr en was 1:1.bh, t o f ur-c t. i on t o a li mi t e d extent by
me an s of t he g r c1nt-i n- aid. g ive n by the Fednral Eme r gency Re li e f
Admini s tra t ion i n li ou of Social Secur i t y funds f r om Sep t embe r
1 935 t o J anuar y 19 36 . Thi s grant e na blf:,d cou n t y u n its to ex t en d
ai d to dependent c hildr en i n thei r own :nomt_; s as appl i cants wo r e
f ound e li gibl e . In J e.nuP.r ;{ l '.) 36 , however, only 6 ,1 07 c ase s
of d ependent c hil dnm we r e r e c e i ving drl . The fu rthe r dev el opment of t he p ro g r am was retr- r dG d. by J.ack of fund s .
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The division i s su Gd ti.10 following stateme nt in Februray 1936 to guide county s taffs in e s t r-i,b li s hing e li,g ibility
of dependent children r-in d in determining amounts of aid to b e
given:
11 A.
Definiti on
11
1.
Un:ie r the Soci a l Secu rity Federal n.nd state laws, the
ter:'.l 1 n eec1 y a.ependent child 1 means a child under the
age of sizte e n,
11 a.
who has been deprived of p a rental support or
care by reason of the d e a th, cont inue d absence
from the home, or p h;y s ic a l or mental incapac ity
of a parent;
11 b.
who is living with his f at her , mother, grandfathe r, grandmother, brot her, sister, stepf a the r, step-mother, step-brother, step-sister,
uncle, or aunt, in a place of re s idenc e ma intaine d by one or mo~e of such rel a tive s as his
or their home.
11 The
t erm 1 .Aid to Deyienaent Chil dren' means
money payments with respec t to a de~endent child
or depenc..ont children.
11 1!.
Und8r the st at e r egulati ons tho f ollowing def initi ons
shal l apply, b earing in mind alwRys tha t no case shall
be a cc o:p t od unless ther e is a v e rification of n e ed.
11 a
.
De a th of a par e nt.
11 If
the fathe r or mother i s dead an d after a soci al
i nves tig a tion it is de t e rmi n e d th:;t the living
parent ,J~mno t p ro ,rido care in o, manne r compatible
with de c oncy and heal th.
"b.
Conti nued nb s e ncc of a p a r en t fro m the home .
11 If
the f a ther or mothe r or both have d e s 0rt ed, or
a r e in pris on , or are divorc e d and parental sup po rt
for the child is not p r ovide d, t:hc de t e r mim1.tion
r egarding c orti f ic a ti on shnll be bas o a. u p ~n the
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same consideration as in the case of the death
of a pare nt. In the case of desertion, sufficient eviden ce based upon a t horough investigation by and report from the juvenile court
must be shown to prove that the deserti ng
parent intended to d.esert and that his or her
whe rea:bouts cannot b e ascertained or support
enforced.
11
c.
Physical or mental incapaci ty of a parent.
11
If the head of the family has a phys ica l or
mentcl,l handicap which unfits him or her to provide support for his or her children in a manner
compatible with decency and h e alth, such establishment of the handicap to be d e termined by a
written s tatement from a n :putable physi cian
and by previ ous empl oyme nt history.
11 :S.
Re s i dence Reouirements
11
The n ee dy depe nde nt child
11
11
11
C.
I.
II.
must have r es ided in the state for one y ear imme diat ely
p r eceding t he appli cation for aid., or
mus t hG,ve b een born within the state within one ·:/e<",r
immedi a t ely p receding the application, if t he mothe r
has r es ide d in the state for one year imm ediat e ly
p r eceding the birth.
Property Cons ide r a tio n
veri fi cation of a ll financial asse t s ( p rope rty, in sur ance ,
cash, e tc.) of the parents and the childr en , and a v erification of all p ossible r esources among the r e lati ves must
be made befor e nee d can be finally determined,
11 A
11
D.
Home Environment
The par en t or enumerated rel at ive must be a p roper and fit
person to bring up the children . Only b y a tl10ro 1 1gh social
inve sti gation can t h is f act -o e de t 0rm ined . The county
dir ec tor should be co nvinced tha t a id would save the children from n eglect or avoid the break i ng up of the home.
11
11 E.
Aid
11
I.
The amount of aid. payab l e for any child shall bE: fi xe d
with due r egard to the resources of th e family, to
funds availabl e for such a id, and to the family 1 s
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normal standard of Jiving in each case. It shall be
determined by a budget for each family set up by
the count:t director of public welfare.
11
11
II. Aid shall be paid in cash if reimbursement is expected. Assistance orders for food, medical care,
household necessities, etc., may be given but are
not reimbursible from state and Federal funds.
III. Aid for an individual child ceases when he reaches
the age of sixt e en. 11
Adoptions. The work of the Division of Adop tions consisted e ntirely of consultant servie!e to the field staff who
supervise d the social investi gation of all adoption petitions
filed in the state, the Al3,bama state agency assuming full
resp onsibility for social investigati ons surrounding the adoption of minor ·children. The supervisor I s worfr consisted of
revi ewi ng adoption cases submitted by county workers for advice
as to the social implications involved. She was graduated
with a major in sociolo gy from the Alabama College for Women
at Montevallo in 1932 a.TJ.d had worked for a few months in the
Girls Train~ng Sch ool a~1d for a ye 2J.' as a county superintendent of child welfare und.e r supe rvi s ion, before coming to the
state staff. She was particuJ.2.rly i n tere s ted in the legal
aspects of the e.doption p rocedure and vvas of much assistance
to field r epr esentative::.; anci county workers not familiar with
the technic1:.:,l a s-pec ts of the job. A.ware of the social implications in _each cas e studied, she advise d fi e ld representative s
of the nee d for imp roved case work service in cas e s submitted
for review.
Al tho ue;h Alabama I s a.d op ti on law requires a social
investi gation by, or under the di r ei::t superv ision or~ the State
Department of ?ubli c We lf are , the court is ultimately responsible.
· Thus, the ext e nt of p rotecti ve and pr event ive services given in
behalf of _a child depends lar ge l:r upon the quality of the
professional relationship betw~en i ndividua l local workers and
the court. To im:)ro ve the quality of this r ela tionsh i p by
developing tho understa.:'lding a nd abi l i ty of lo cal worker s was
the resp ons ibi l ity of the :;:)i vi sion of Adoptions.
Chi l o. 0R,ring I ns titutio ns a nd Age ncies. The Division
of Child Cari ng Ins~i tutioci s and ,A.r;e11cies also had only one
social worker ( the sup e1·visor) er:rployed. at the time of the survey.
She was a 1933 gr r.1du.a t e of the Al abama College for Women. She
had worked for a few months as a visi tor in the Red Cross office
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in Montgomery, and for over two y ee.r s as a visitor in the child
care division of the former State Child Welfare Department.
In p lanning the work of the division she followed the
example given by the Director of the Bureau, of acting on the
principle tha t the responsibility of the Division was lar ge ly
one of leader ship , rather than direct supervision. Her plan was
to keep superintendents of institutions informed about the
improvemen t of institutional programs for child care.
As mi ght be expected with so limited a staff, f ew of
the 28 ins titutions under the su-oe rvision of this Division had
been visit e d s ince the organization of the new progrmn. Also,
little at t ention had be en given to the thr ee state institutions
for juvenil e delin quents and four in s titutions for hQndicappe d
persons which wer e given consultation s ervice only! The supervisor was studying the histori t=: s of each of t he institutions as
a b as is for developing the pro gTmt1 of the Division.
During the previous y ear all but two of the ins ti tut ions
under supe rvision had been given licenses after the annual study
of the in c- ti t u.tions I prog.cams. The two that wer e not li cense d
were privately endowed institutions f or dependent chi l,jr en. Due
to their me a,ger r esource s they provided l ess than the minimum
phys ical equip:. • '. r. r equi red for space and. prot e ction, and E,ave
insuffici ent supervi sion and inade quat e individualized. educa tion.
The State BuT eau of Child We lfare was r eady to hel p t he boD,rd s
of thes e i nstitu tions make other plans for the childr en under
their cal~e , if they were unable to develop ade qua t e r esour ces
with whi ch to meet minimum standar ds .
Mini mum s t andar ds of ade quacy for child car ing i ns titutions in Al abama wer e fi rst des cribed in F ebruary 19 29 by the
Alabama Child Ylel iar e Department, a.nd had since bee n r evised a t
int ervals. \in1at constituted II adequacy 11 , however, varied among
institutions , accor ding to their size and resour ce s , and the
stand3rcls of li vin 5 dee me d defen s i b l e by the ir st affs and boards.
Tl1ere we:re some i ndicati ons t hat freqnent conference s
re gardi ng acknowl edged need of insti.tutions bet wee n the worke rs
visiting t he in s titutions,l,7 t he i ns t i tutio n staffs , and member s
of the boards of dire ctors of r e spect ive institution s , over a
per io d of yec'.rs ho,d s er ved to effe ct somE: i mpro vement in st andar ds . For i ns tc?.nce , five ins titu tion s had opened th e ir i ns titut i on scho ols to chi ldren living in t he ir own home s in the
adj acent communi t y , t hereby extendin& a br oadening experience
to the ch ild1·en of the institution.
1./
Memb er s of the fi eld s t aff usually vi sit ed ins ti tut ions in
the ir respec tive districts.
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Also, the superi n t end ent of one of the well-support ed
p rivate instituti ons f o r the care of a.ependent childr en had been
working to wm·d ext ending fi na,.-r1c i a l a,id to chi ldren in their own
ho mes r 2.the:r- them accent ing a ny additional c!1il clren in the
institution. His p lan- was event ual ly to r educe the p op ul a tio.r;i
of t he ins t i t ·J.tion by estab lishing s oine of t he children on
allowances in hones wi t h t he ir own ,:ia r ent s or clos e rel a tives .
The d e v 5lo v:,1ent o:: t h is :plan involve d the empl oymen t of a case
worker b y tl·1e :i.ns ti tut ion to se r ve the children under care or
acce1J t ed f 0 1· fin nncial 3.s si st ance .
Y
F o ster He me C1=1,r e . The Division . of Fost e r Home Car e had
a staff of fiv e socb.l worh; rs at the time of t ho sur v ey. The s e
in cluded the supe r vis or and. four v isitors. The supervi s or, a
g r adua t e of an accr ee..i t tJ d schoo l of social wo r k in 1935 , had
h ad more than a y ear of chiJd welfar e exper i e nce unde r supervis 1.on pri or to comp l e ti ng he r tr a inin 6 , as we ll as short period s
as an agency staff me mb e r while t ak ing her tr a inj_ng. She was
par t icu l a r"1.y int eres t e d in case work and the sup" r vision of case
work for chi l d:r- e n.
Ne ai·l y 400 cases were carri ed by t his Divis i on . Of
t hes e chi lcb:en 1.53 we r e in bo arding home s, 161 we r e in fr ee homes,
?..nd · the r emai nder were in b oarding s chools , or with r e latives,
with or wi t h ou t, m,,_ intenrmce , or j_n wo r k home s •
. 'r he Di visi o n was working toward th e boardi ng nome as
the ideal type of foster car e f or cni ldren r e ared outside their
o ','ffi ho mes .
The four visit or s on the staff were r e spo nsible for
case worl-:: s e rvic e t o 23'.) chi ldren in b oar ding home s or free
h omes in th8 vicini ty of Mont gomery and Bi r ming ham , Y1he r e t he
majority 0£ waTds we re placed. ~ /
Case work s e rvice to an
additional 121 cases , lo ca t ed in outJ.ying .~oun ti e s in the state
was given by_ the district f i eld r t:pr 0 s E,n tati ves . The number of
foster home cases car ri 0d by individual fit:ld workers varied
fro m 5 to 27 .
1/
?:_/
A ca:.,e worker was empl oyed in 19 ~35.
All figures were t .3.ken from J ;:muary 1 936 r eports.
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Of the total ward s under care , 22 were cl ass if ied as
t emporary commitments. The sitnnt i ons from which the se children we r e t aken u r esent e d p o sGibil iti es for the e v e ntual r es toration of t he ir homes. A de t ai l ed r e vi ew of case h istori es by
the supe rvisor of the division sugges t e d t he p o ss ibility t hat
more skilful ca se work service in t he fir s t contacts wi th the
famili e s and \'/ith memb ers of the community might have p r e vent e d
the crises which r e sult ed in t empor a r;y commitme nts.
According to the history of one family, the a dults
had told the local social worke r, early in the ir contact with h E: r,
that they wanted help in moving ou t of a neighborhood whi ch they
thought was having a b ad influe n ce o n their childr e n. To t h is
r e que st t he wo r ke r s on the cas e mad8 no r E:: sp on sc . When t wo
ve ry young boys of the family wer e a rr e st e d for st ealing , tho
judge w2-s forc ed by pub lic op inio n to commit t h8m to t ho
r eform at ory . The St a t e Department of Pub lic W0lfar o r e ce ive d
t he boys as we.rds o n a t empornry b o.s i s to srwe t llem from the
r e form rctory experi ence and to o ffe r an opportuni t y to the olde r
memb e r s of t he family to imp rove home conditions.
The super visor r ef err e d to t h i s situation as oxompl a r y
of the n ee d. fo r imp rove d case vrn r k service in ench locnlity. She
was not willi ng to asse rt, howeve r, t hat improv8d case vvo r k would
r e duce the nwnb or of e ithe r t e mpo r a ry or per manen t cRses coming
unde r stat e gua.,rdi a nship. On tho contr nr;y-, with mor e fu...'1ds
avail ab l e thc>.n i n the pas t a nd wit h mor e n.c ti v i ty s ti mulat e d
for the p r o t e c ti 0n of child li fe , t he number of c ase s coming
unde r co.r e mi ght i ncr e ~,. se , n t l e o. s t for o, p eriod.
Pl::11 f ::i r Pr e ven ti v e Ch ild Vfo lf n.r G Sor vice . At t h e
time of t he survey the Di n , ct ci r of t he Ch ild We lf nr e Bur ec::,u
had submi tt cd o., p ro1?0 s Gd :ril nn f or p r e ven ti vc chi ld vw lfnr c
servi ces t o t he membe r shi p of t he st nt e bor,rd of the Women ' s
F e der a t ed Clubs , o,ski ng f 0r a car e ful r 0vi cw and o, st nt cmcnt
as t o t he rm: : ,_c;ur t: '.Jf app r ov ri.l t hey w0uld b t:: ·,1il l ing t o give
it. She ho,d obs tJ r vcd in the p2.s t t hat unLw'J r n.b l e r e~1c ti 0ns
of s e c ti ons of t he g0ne r rtl public t o practic e beyoad t hei r
c ompr t! h ens i o11 or s t iind ,crd of vr1,l ues s : f11e times t hr eat ene d t h e:
exi st 0n cc -:: f the p r r:; gr ~Jll . Pr ::igr runs bu ilt in c0 ope r 11.t i'.Jn wit h
t he F cclc:r o,l gove r nmi:.: nt sspe ci n,lly mi ght b e lJ : ked upo n as
11 superi1!1n-:: sed . 11 • E'or
t hn t r e as'.)n sht" be l i e ve d_ i n -pr o s en ting
he r p l .:cns t r, l :-'y .gr '"lup " for r evi ew ,i.n d n.ppr oval b efo r e t ,·Jd ng
ini ti ,. ,_l st ep s t J c.:,,rry t h em f 0r wnr d .
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The Dir 0c t c r' s t wc orin c~nt e r s ~f in t ~r cs t ver e :
( 1)
im1Jro veme nt of case work p r ac t i c e b y i ncreas i n 6 co nsultation s e r vice ; and ( 2) ~r e vis ion for speci a l t rained l ead e rs h ip for communit y or gani ;ation wor k in ~r de r to h e lp rural
communiti es b ui l d p r e v enti ve p ro g r a ms . In he r op inio n thes e
g o a l s cou ld be a ch i eved for t he e ntir e s t a t e only a ft e r the y
had b een d e,no ns tr a t e d in a fe w ax eas . The p l an which h er
Bur eau h a d appro ved a n d which she had subm itt e d to l a y gTo ups
and to othe r s t a ff me mb e rs in the Departme nt f or r e vi e w and
a ppro val was as follo ws:
Four r u r a l ar eas p r esen ti ng a vari e ty of rur a l
probl em s wou ld be u s ed. a s d e monstr a tion units (Figur e 2).
E a ch of t he fo u r a r eas wou l d be r epr esen t e d -by fo u r cou nti e s,
each c ounty, as f a r as :_possible , r ep1· esenting a fi e ld r e-pr e s e ntati ve ' s d i st r ic t (Fi t;ure 3 ). Each g ro up o f fo u r coun ti e s
would share t he se r vices of a child we l f ar e worker espe ci a lly
t rai ned i n co mmuni t y or r:;an i zat io n wo rk , s ince s t ress wou ld
be p l ace d up on t he deve lop men t of r e creat i onal f ac iliti es as
a d e ~s rr ing i nf l uence on j uven il e d e linquency. One of t hese
s pec1D-l ·worke r s wou l d b e a Negro who wou l d be ass i gned to t he
di s t r i c t i n which t he Ne gr o p opul a tion was d enses t JJ
One c oun ty i n each o f t he fo u r g ro u~s of f ou r count ie s
wou l d b e given t l1e se r vice s of a spe ci a l ch ildr en ' s case worke r
who woul d a_evo t t:: full time t o i nt c= nsive case work wit h ch ildr en
i n t hat co unt y . One of these spec i al case wo rkers would be a
Neero e..ssigned to t h r.-'. same d i s tr ic t in which t he Negr o worker
was assi{;n ed. t o p r e vent ive co rnm1L.'1i t y or .gani zation work . Each
o :f t h8se cas e worke r s wou l d be given a speci a l r e li e f fund
u p o n which to d r aw for t he sunr or t of tr 0atmen t which mi g ht not
be f i nance d by the gene r a l pub lic ass i stance funds i n the county.
Specia1 co. SG c onsul t an t s ~-wul d opc r n.te throughou t t he
whol e s t i'-,t e as msmbe:c s o f t h e; stat e f h ild staf f . These case
co nsult ants , t wo wh i t E:· a.'1d on0 Nc ;Q' o, woul d b e tr a i ne d case
work ,:; r 2 vri th e x peri e nce in child we 1 L ,r 8 work . They wou ld
a.cco mpe.ny f iv ld r ep r 0se nt P.ti v o s i ,1to c oun ti es i ndi cati ng
spo c i n.l nee c'I. ac1d dG sir e f or i n tonsi v u sup e1·vi s io n of t h e lo cal
case -.-;ro r l:: -pr o gram f o.r chil:ir o1 . 'l'hes0 s ne cial co n s ul t ant s wou ld
b e i n a p o siti o n to remain f o::.· lo n 6 e r per io ds of t i me t han t he
fi e ld rep ru sb1t;:..ti ves wi.1.0 c , ,r d .e d 2,dmini s t ro..ti v e r espo n. s ibili ties
for t ho coun·i:, y.
They would €;i ve thei r en t i r e ti m0 i n the
1/
Th o dis tl·ict in Y:hich a NE:.gro WP,s to be ass i gne d ., s spe c i al
worke:.: was the ," .re,,. in whi ch Tu sk egee I ns t i t u t c i s lo cat e d.
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counti e s to the c ase TTork as:1-1e ct s of t ho l oc E1 l p r ogr c1...rn , on0
whi t o \7o r k e r s e rving the northe rn h a lf of the s t a t e , one
uhi ta i7o r k c r in tho s out h e r n half of tho s t r,te , nn d t he No1-~ro
i:mrko r se rving the e ntire st n t e as fi o ld r op r escnt a ti v as ,nul d
2,rk f '."l r the ir assis t :.1.nce in cas e Hork s or v i co t o c h il d r e n
(FFigur o 4) •
..Additi on.o.l p r ov i s i on \7.'.1.S mn,do , und,3 r t ho pl:m, f o r
the e mp l oyment of a psyc?-.. i n. t ri c s o ci a l \70 rkor t o se rve the
Buroo.u of Child W,:c l f cr1·; as s:re ci nl c o!'.sul t nnt. Th is wo rke r
,rnuld s e rvo t ho Div i sion of F os t 0 r Home Ca r o i n pn rticul n r,
but h0r se rvic e s r;roul d. b e [Wailr.~b l u t o t i1e sp,J ci n.l c h ildre n I s
caso rro r k c rs and c ornmuni ty TTo r ::o r s se rving tho d ornon s trati on
units.
Tho s p rms o rs of t ho p l an h :-.d. cons i d (, r ed t ho f a ct
t hat t he p r o~r arn f or s pe ci a l s erv ices t o crippl e d childre n in
Ala bama \70..S ndmi ni s t o r od by t ho Dop o.rtmont of Educ a ti on, a nd
the prog r om i nv ol v i ng a ll ma t e rnity and child heal t h service s
uas nd.mi n i s t c r <", d b;r t he Departme nt of Health. They had po int e d
out tho impo rt n.nco of os t o.blish ing a close u orking r e l a ti onship
be t r1e 1J n tho Departmo:1t of Public Wo lfo.r a and t he s e ot her
depar tment s, in or de r t o o f fo ct c oo rdinat ion of a ll TTO rk
dire ct e d t ouard tre a t me nt r.md p reventive p r ogr ams f or ch ild r en .
Ano t h e r p r t:i blcm ,;fit h ,1hic r1 t ho Diro ct or TT[I. S c once rne d
a t t ho t ime of t he s 1.1rvoy TTas tho dovc,l opmon t of r oL1.ti on shi p s
bot rro on ho r sk.J'f and the Bu r oau of F io l cl. Se r v ice st c.ff uh ich
uoul d. f ac ili t a t o mn tunl exchange of kn0·,7lodgo and o x:_po ri c nce
ab out t ho p r og r am .
She v L urn ~d fu r t i.10 r t o s i mp l i f y thu ad.mi n istra tivo
p r ocedur e of each of t ho f ou r div i sions 0f he r Buroau as a
st op tou o.rd uni f y i ng t hG socin.l \7o r k p r obr ar:1 f o r oac l1.
count y age n cy .
Bureau OT F i vld s ~rv i ce
Tho Dire ct o r of t r.e J3ur 0au of Fi e ld Se r v i ce came t o
t h ~ s tat o s t aff t \7O mon t hs bo f n r o tnu s t udy Has oc:~de . Wit h a
b a ckg r ound of 1 2 y e a r s I oxp•:.3 r i,mc o i n oduc ·1,ti0nal uo r k , l ::1r g oly
in an e xecut ive capaci_ t y , she had ho.d a ;y'onr of g r a duat e s t udy
in o. s choo l of social n ork be f o r e b ogin:.1i ng ho r so ci a l "ITOrk
expo r ioncc by so r v ing D.s 0-ssi st a n t ch ild Helf a r c su pe ri n t e nde nt
in a ruro.l cou n t y . Ln t o r she s o r "J"e d 2,s r,,n i n t r:ko TIO r ko r of a
juvenil e c ourt i n onu of t h e l a r g0s t .Alr1.b n:.1L c i ti o s. Re turning to t he rura l c0u n t y ,,,s d ir,J ct 0r :-if r ol i cd , sho b u car.1e r:1o r o
f &"lili o.r ,1 i t h t l1e job of a dn inis t .:., ri ng a c ounty p r ogr am t o
meo t l o c nl n ee d s and of i n t 1;; rpre ti ng t he l ocal a n d s t a t o p r ogr am
to t ho community.
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- 43 FIGURE 2 . DEMONSTRATION AREAS FOR SPECIAL CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
MARION
WINSTON
CUlLMAII
PICKENS
TAlLAPOOSA
CHAMBERS
CHOCTAW
MOBILE
ALABAMA
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A
NORTHWES°MR~~fi:J IVERSITY
R-
- 44 FIGURE 3 . DISTRICTS OF FIELD REPRESENTATIVES FOR SPECIAL CHILD WELFARE SERVICES
ALABAMA
~
Carried by Di rector of F,eld Service Bu reau
Div i sion of Soc ial Resea rch
R-397
1235
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FIGURE 4.
ORGANIZATION CHART FOR SPECIAL CHILD WELFAPE
SERVICES IN ALABAMA
Bureau of Ch i l d We 1 fa re -
-
-
-
-
-
Bureau of Fi e 1d Servi ce
\
\\
\\
\\
\\
Di rector
Di rector
\ \
\ \
\ \
------------\
Psychiatric Social Worker
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
I
\
Ten Field Representatives
\
3 Case Consultants
2 white, 1 co 1ored
To serve entire state
I
I
I
I
\
\
\
\
'--
-
-
4 Demonstration Areas
of 4 Counties each
(Genera 1 Ch i l d Welfare
and Community Organ ization)
3 white workers
1 Negro worker
I
I
I
4 Chi 1d ren' s case
workers in 4 county
departments
3 white, 1 colored
Division of Social Research
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The cas e consultant o n the f ie ld s t a ff had had nine mont h s
of experie;.1ce as a visit or in the Di v ision of Chi ld Car e of the St a te
Child We J.far e Deppr tment b e fore taking t his -po siti o n i n Oc tober 1935.
Case s we r e refe rr ed to he r through s everal channe ls. Fi e ld r e·pr e s entati ves sought co nsult a tion service on diff icult que stions rais e d by lo cal
worke rs. Local worke rs als o wrot e dir ec t t o the case con sult an t. All
i~quires ask ing f or case work servi ce i n ·oehalf of case s k no vm to ou tof-stat e a ge n c ies wer e direc ted to the lo cal worke rs t hro ugh t he case
consultant. In r e f erring such in quiri e s she offe r ed guidan ce to workers
needing help in giv i ng the r eques ted s er vice .
Because her office wa s n ear th e Montgome ry County J uveni l e
Court, sh e was giving consider ab l e consul t a t ion se r v ice to a n ewly appoint ed j udg'? and to a nEw probati on offi cer with li mit e d tr a ining and
experi e nce, although t his s ervi ce was no t inclu de d in t h e ori ginal p lan
for h e r work . Th is ser vic0l_/ d eve loped i n r e sp ons e to r e ques t s for h e lp
from both t he judge and the p rob at io n off ice r. Wo rk on case a ft er case
r e v eal ed t hat p robl ams of de linque n cy could b e handl e d by t he Department
entir e l y ou t side the court .
Assignme nt s of areas and counti e s to the nine fi e ld r epr e sentati v es wer e madE.: to s ome e xt e nt i n cons ider a t i on of tr a i ning and experi e nce
n ee de d for meet i ng probl e ms pe culiar t o c ert a in a r eas . All but t wo fi e ld
r epr r., s ent a ti ve s ,'Jer e natives of Alabama. The worke rs n a tive to the stat e
wer e assigne d to part s of the s t a t e oth er thar. t he ir 11 home 11 t er :ci t or i es .
Ano ther f act or consi d er e d i n A.ssi ,c~ning fie ld r epr o s e n t a ti ve s was f amiliar...
i ty with t h e d.i stTi ct t h rough earli er f i e l d s ervice ex:_oeri ence with e ithe r
t he r e lil;f or ch ild. v,e: l fo r e ad.m i n istr a tio ns . Fi ve of tho fi e l d r epr e sent nti v es ha<l. hr1d such p r evio us experi en ce .
Di vs io n of Time of Fi e ld Repr L' sont a ti vcs . Generally , the f ield
r epr e s ent atives we-r e i n t ht i r ciis tr ict s t hree weGks of every month , and in
t he offi ce f or cons·1.lt a tion ser vice , for r e cord a nd r eport work , and_ for
ge ne r a l s t af f meeti:::i.gs t h e other week . T:!:lr e,:., or f 0 1ir r epr e sent r:i.ti vo s who s
t e rr it ories Wbr o wi t h in clo se r mge of s t .'.1-t (:; hec1dqunrh·rs worked dir e ctly
from the str>.t e: off ice , making day tr ips or ove r- n i ght tri p s to the i r count i es . All coun ti Es in each wo r ke r' s dis tr ict nere visi t e d at l eas t once e
month.
0
eve n div ision of ti me among ::ounti es i n each worke r I s distri c t woul d hc,_ve give n c,n ch coimty a mi n imlJ.m v isit of bt:- t nuen t wo end t wo
and ::i half dnys onch m::mth. Ho weve r, t he r•.: wer e ot her fac t or s mo r e or
l ess de t er mining t he expc ndi t ure o f tim C; . Some lo c;-.l,l wo r ke r s n e8 do d
mor e h e l p than other s in es t Rb li shing the ir ndmin i s tr a tive pr o gr ams , s ince
some vmr c: l c,s s 2.bl e than ot he r s t o foll ow i nstr uc ti ons cont a i ne d in bull e tins. Wc1:kers also vari e d in t hG ir ab ility to cop e with such f actor s
as p r e ssur e fr om or gan i zed l ab or or po liti cal gr Jups . Coun t ies var ied
in t he i r r e sou r cos and nr. ility t o r n.ise f u.'l.ds with r.h i ch to ma tch stat e
and F e der al gr 2..nt s .
.AJ.1
1/See Appendi x B, Agr eeme nt W:J r ke; d Out bctwo e: n Mon t gome ry ·Juv en il e Court
and County Department of Pub li c We lf:.1r e , which r esult L'd f r om l 0adersbj.p
off er e d by case c onsult an t.
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Probl ems Rai se d by County Wor !'::e ~_s. I n t he cours e of t hi s
survey brief ob ser vational v is it f wer e mad e to county pub lic welfare
dep a rtmen ts in six counti e s with six differ ent field r e-pr es entatives.
Sup~,)l e,nent a ry dat a abou t the history of t he s ocial work p ro c;rams in each
county we r e ob tained from the s t a t e offi ce befo re and afte r t he visit.
During t he conf e r enc e s b e t wee n t he field r epr ese n t a ti ve s and
t he lo cal wor kers it was not e d that whe r eas the local . worker s gene r a lly
beg.:1n by discus sing .::~Jm i ni str a t ive ma tt er s , 3.ll sooner or l nt er dir e ct e d
the dis cus~d o n t o cn.se r1ork "Dr obl ems with wh ich t hey desir e d h e l p .
ImmcdL -_t e de cisi o ns , howe ver, had to b e me.de o n such matt ers as:
( a) p r epar ing Old .o,,ge .A.ssis t a nce appli c a t i o ns and submitting d nt a about
( b)
( c)
( d)
( e)
inve stigat io ns f or s t a t e r e vi ew and approva l;
p l ~ns for clo s ing a l illsh~1 ses ;
p ror,e r cl o.ssi f icatio n of caSE: s u nde r c:rrc; ;
ce rtifi cA.ti on of per s ons e li gi"b l e for t he Wo r ks Pro g r am;
prob l em s in de ve lopi n g t h e agency's mo n thly budge t.
WorkE r s asked su ch ques tions as : 11 Who,t c..dj ustme n t s shou ld b e
mRdc because of P, cut in t h e mon thly grnnt? 11 11 How shou ld t he cl ass ific:: tion of cr>,ses be corr e ct e d to mee t the r e quir e ment s of t hLc :-iccou nti ng
'bur e,,u ? 11 11 How mc:.ny pe op l o m~~y we ce r tify for the Works Pro gr cun? 11
The lo ccl workers wE r ~ puzzle d by the p rob l em of h ow to limit
the ir i n t :,ke t o t he numbt.; r n,nd t;ype s of c ,, sus t h n.t t he 2.cency was 0qui pp0d
to hr>.ndle . All r e_,)ort () o.. J. ~rgc nuinJ1:..; r s of case s n ee di ng he lp which t he
agency cou ld not give . They v:0ro r t_; j e cting t hese a t int ;,j,:e . Among th0m
we r e W.P.A. empl oye (.; s needing h e lp f or chr o nic me di c1;,l c, ,.r e rn d persons
wit h mc~;--..ge r nnd irr egul rr incomt:, , nt::e ding cl o thing , t empor :1r y rn e di cn,l
cnr o , or h e l p wi t h 1·Em t. The s ervice n eeds of f run il il, s on r 8li of roll s
we r (: s o gn:r t t h,"..t the l'.) Cr',,l Ho r k(:! r s c m.J.ld not und c.:r t rck:e to s erve f n:-!lilh:s
on t he Wo r ks Pro c r3.m . Th (• wo r k ci r s r, erc no t sur (.; t hr>.t t he b , .,_ sis for the ir
r e j ec t i on or :·.ccept.-·nce of r e s ponsi b i li t y wri,s sound . Th,:;y wer 0 n,',i r r .J of
t he n eed fo r a c~r uful ~n".,l y sis of cns0s und(.;r crre ~nd of crsds r e j ec t e d ,
und.e r t he gu 1<1.once ::, f nn t,;Xrn:, r ic:nc0d supt3r vi sor, in or d<:.r to d e t or mine
whnt p .rrt of the ir p r ,.c t i cc wr. s d efensi bl 0 i n t he ir communi t i Gs .
0
So me ncGds cf l o c:,_l w0r '.zEJ r s r:nd commu...'1i t ies w0re r e co gnized
e ld r epr (:_,se n t r•.t i v Gs with ski ll, oxp0r i e nco , r.nd suffi ci ent time
fi
only by
to bl come we ll n,cqu2-,i nted wit h bo t h w::: r kL':r :1,nd comm1L"'li ty . The mor e lite r a l-m inde d ,u1d conscit:,n t ious l '.Jco.l 1,;ror ko r s wc rr i e d :1b ou t dec ision s t hey
hnd m8.de i n 1rnusu2.l s i t un tions . They n e0 dod h e l p i n und0 rst r-::,nding the ir
own r e l n tionshi p tc tho job. So me whose li mi t e d e xp e ri en c e was l a r ge ly
in t h e emer ge ncy r el i ed fi 0 ld wer 0 f er rful n.1Jout d evi :lting i n nny p Drti cu L :.r f r 0m t h e i ns tru ctions i n the bull c.: t i n s . Ot h or s fr om t he ch ild we lf n.,r e fi 0ld we r e unu8c d to oxacting p olici 0 s in m:->.k i n~ ou t pr>,;:r:r olls a,nd
d uv e l op ing o, b ookkeL:ping sys t em.
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-48TyPes of Assistance Given. Much of the help given by the field
workers consisted in clarifying instructions given in bulletins, telephone
conversations, and letters. In large part, the fi e ld representatives gave
help in the form of answers to specific auestions. In a few instance s they
took time to enter into lengthier discus ; ions of ba sic principles involved,
relating a specific point to the broader end in view, the social philisophy "back of the bulletin. 11 However, time limitations p r evented f u ll consideration of any one subject.
Besides the questions of the local worke r, which were given
precedence, ques t ions ·.vere r a ise d by the fi e ld re p r esen tative. These
included inquiri e s about i1hat s e rvice s the loc a l agency was able to g ive
the juvenile court. How mu.ch did the local :So ard of Public We lfare know
about the Social Se curity program, the Child We lfare Bureau program, and
the range of r esponsibility of the state and county Boards of Public Welfare? What should b e the age nda for the next board me e ting? How was the
Board of Commissiom:J rs planning to raise local participation funds for
next a1onth? Had the worker met with any loca l service clubs? How could
the fi e ld r ep r esentative help the local worke r in ge tting a l eave of absence in orde r to attend a school of social wo rk?
The fi e ld represe ntntive s also serve d as li a ison worke rs b6t wee n
the loca l County Boa rds of Public Welfare , the loca l county g overning
bodies , and the prob a t e judge s. The county gove rning boQi e s found the ir
relation to the County Boa rds of Public We lfa r e , administ e ring a r e lie f
program, quit e diffe r ent from TThat it TTa s to t he Child We lfa r e Bo ards of
the earlier administra tion. County attorneys ent e r e d tho si tu'."ttion more
as "int e rpr e t e rs of the l aw "; mo r e money was involve d than in years _p rior
to the dopr ess iono The deve lopment of unde r s tanding be t ween t he se groups
and the loca l direc tors b oc amo an espe ci a lly important fi e ld of s ervice
:in countie s uhere the gove rning groups wcro conscientious and took a
spe cial int e r e st in the ir public functions.
Whe n the fi "' ld r epresentative had a s e cond. day to spend in a
cou.11.ty, she cou ld g ive more concentra t e d att ention to matt e r s of p r essing
importance to the loca l worke rs nnd agonc~r. In ins t anc e s obse rve d tho
additional time was devot od p rimarily to problems of an administrat ive
na ture . 1/
Guide for Obse r vin o: Loc--:i,l Boards. The fi e ld r op r c sEmtativos
togethe r deve lope d a gui de of points t o be ob ~c r vod in the s tudy and ev a luation of local bo :i,rd.s . This guiclo , conside r e d sugzes tiv e r a thur than
exhaus tive , was be ing t ent a tive l y u s ed by mornbe rs of t he fi e ld st aff:
11
Individu~l Memb e rs of County Bo ards of Public Welf 0-r a .
1. Insi ght ruid atti tudo to112,rd soci a l no r k .
2. Equipment-b a ckgr ound, e ducation, and home conditions.
3. Strengt h and influence in comMuni t y.
4. Pe rsonality.
5. Occupat ion and fin oncial condition .
6. Re ason for appointment.
1/
Soe .A.ppo ndix C, Suggeste d Outline for Fi e ld Ropr0sen t a tiv0 1 s Narrative
Report,
,u: and Appendix D, Reports on Fie ld Vi s it s to Elmore County.
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11
Pl o.ce Held by the Public WelL1.re :E oard i n the County-Wid.e Progr am.
1. Does the PWE hold the same p os it ion as t he Eoards of Education,
Health, et c.?
2. Are the members' op inions and influence as great a~ t hos e of
the o t~1er boards?
11
Resp onsibili ty Carri ed by the :Bo ard .
1. Is the resp onsib ility shared equ2lly by a ll bo a rd me mbers or
by the cho,irman alone?
2. Do boaJ:d members sha.r e in ma.l ci ng decisions, deve lop ing standards and p oli ci es?
3. Do they fe el a responsibility for the p rogram?
4. Does any one member dominate all othe rs?
11
Ph ilosophy of the Board toward Individua l Social Problems.
1. Aid to Dependent Childr en .
2. Old Age As s istance.
3. Relief for phys ically a nd mentally handicapped.
4. Ge ne ral relief for unemployed .
5. Deli nque ncy.
6. Depende ncy and neglect.
7. Community or ganiz a tions , e tc.
8. Soci a l di sease s.
9. Unmarried mothers.
11
Atti tude a nd K...Ylowledse of Public Vlelfar e Board toward Co-ordination of
St a te Pro gro,m wi t h P:co grams of Other Age nci Gs and Ins ti tut ions.
1. Works Pro gress Admi n i s tr a tion.
2. Re s 0ttl cme n t Admini s tr a tion.
3. St a t e 2J1d local Tiep:rr t ment s of ~duca tion.
4.
State nnd lo cal De}) 8-rt ments of Heal th.
5 . I nst itutio ns for d~penQent c~ildren; priva t e .
6. Institutions for d.e::linquont children, s t a t e , and local.
7. Institutions for the me ntally d ef ici ent.
8. Hospi t als Ecnd maternity i:10;;1e s .
9.
Ch il d 1J7Glfare Progr :::.rns ; s}_)eci:f i c 2.nd gene r a l.
11
Attitude of :;3oard to ward Count y Direc tor.
1. Prof ess io nally - Do the~, encourage her to continue her training?
2. Work.
3. P ersonal - Do they feel any re s:)onsi bili ty toward worker and
her per son<'..l adjust ment ? 11
Plan for Case Work Suner v ision. There was obviou s ne ed for
extending more he l p to loc""l workers wi th ca se work p1·oblems . To effect
some imp rovement iu this respe ct t he Commissioner a nd a ~~ in is trative
assi sta,.YJ.t had propo se d the adoption of a p lan for supervi s ion which was
used by the Alabama Relief Administration. The distri c t fi eld r epr esentative of the Al aba'Tia Relief Administr a tion had held. gro11p me e tings
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of the directors of relief in the ir r esJective d i s tricts a t lea st one
full day a month a t some central loca ti~n in orde r to direct instruction
about imp ortant aspects of the ad.mini strati ve job and to g ive op-portuni ty for discussion on administrative matters. Th e Commissioner and his
assistant hoped this p lan would make it p ossible for th e district re p r es entatives, when visitine; the counties, to give more help with case work
service, r emaining , if necessary, a week at a time in some counties and
visiting ot he1·s for s:1orter periods of ti me .l/
If t :1e :_._, le.n for sn ecial child welfare s ervices was a dop t e @
the fi eld staff won ld. be an integral part of that program. It was
:planned to d evel op inter-relationships betm,en the field staff and the
p rogram t hrough s t Ll.ff consul tat ion and o·oservation. The entire staff
of t he Field Service Bl1reau was corrmi tted to the . development of such a
p rogram, since it WC'.1ld p lace emphas i s u r on improving the quality of
case wor}:: service in all welf a.re abencle s and ins ti tu tions in the state.
1/Since this s t udy v;as co r.ip leted, the Di!'ector of the Bur eau of Field
Service reT1or ted t 11at the field r e~r esentatives were devi s ing we.ys in
which t hey could offer instruction to local staff me mber s . One field
r eprL:sent a ti ve had develo pe d a bibli9 .graphy for local v:orke rs from
which she gave def i nite assignments f or planned di s cussions when she
made h e r ;nonthly visit to the count:.. . Si1e r eport e d that the lo cal
worke r s v,erc r Gsr onding ea 6 erly to the plan.
'?:_/For de s cri11 tion of r,lan s ee p . 40.
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Appendix A
DE?ARTMElJT OF PUBLIC WI:L:B1 .AR.E ACT
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DEP .AR TM3:NT OF Pu:iLI C WELF.ARE ACT
(Ala.bama Gem,ral La.ws, Regulnr Session, 1935, No. 332)
An act to c1·eD t e a State Department of Public Vlelfcff e; to :provide for a State :i3oa,rd of Public Wel f a!'e for the gove rnment the r eof; to
prescribe it s p owe rs e.nd duties; to p rovi tle for the a-onoint::nent of a Commissione r as Exesuti ve Officer GllCl for t he ap~n oint ment- of ot her empl oyee s,
the ir cor1pensation 2.nd the mai ntenance and other expenses of the St a t e Department of Pub lic \7elfare; to tr a nsf er to the Stat e Departme nt of Public
Welfare a ll tho powers , duties, and obli gations now vested in and relating
to the Stat e Chil c'1. TTelf ar e Depe.rtmen t, excep t the administration of the
State Child Labe l" La a, wh ich m,w no w or h8reaft er be tr ansfe rr ed to the
Department of Lc:-.bor in the c, vent such department b e es t ablish0d; to transf er to the Sta.to Departm0nt of Public \7e lfar e all thos e o.uths having to
do p ri mar ily with the d0t 0rmi na tion of need and authorization of r e lief
now ·performed by the Al o,bama Relie f Administration; to emp owe r the State
Depa.rtment of Pu·olic We lfm· e to administer a ll :public assistance fun ds ,
Child We lfai"e fum-;.s , c?,nu. all funds ap ~::iropriated by the Legislature to the
State Dr:;pcirtment of Publ ic Welfare f or the pu:-poses for whic}1 they a re
appropriated; to aut ho ri ze the St a te Departmec1t of Public Welfare to act
as agent for and to cooperate with any F e der al or Ste.t e Agency or enactment now or he:"eaf t er :provided by l aw for the pur:ro se of rend0ring public
a ssistance and services throw;h any of the bureaus herein cre r',ted; to
authoriz e the State Board of ?ub lic We lf are to create such other bureaus
and divisions wit~1in the purview of this Act n,s m&.y be necessary for its
administration and to pre scribe r u les r,.nd regulations governing the same;
to authorize t he Stat e Board of Public We l far e to prescribe a 1iequate
standards of education, training an<
i 6XfJerience whi ch must have b ee n
attained by p6l'sons se l ec te d for t he posi tion s to be fill ed in each of
the bureaus a_-r1cL di visions of the State Depn.rtment of Public Welfare and
in the sever al co1_rn ty d&partments of publ i c welf-1Ie; to a.u thori ze the
St a t e :Board of Public We lf are to issue certificates to such person s as
may meet th<? quc:lii'ica.tions p r 0 scrib(;d. ; to p rovi d.e a men t a l hygi e ne :program of n on-insti t n tion::i.l care::; to autho ri ze the State Depar t r::en t of P,--1.blic
Welfn.1·e to collect stntistics nnd other info rmat ion rel o.ti ve to :pubJic
We lf:u·e and to maim surve ys and_ i n other w:\ys t o a scert a in tb:, f acts and
conditio ns which c:1,usC; or contTibut e to the need for public ass ist a,;.1ce ,
family we lf nx e , clu ld welf ro-e , f'_nd othe r w,.:, lf a r e act i v i ti e s; to creo ta
County Departments of ruolic we:ifare /::..DJ to provid.e for Conn t ~t boarde, of
pub lic welfare for t l1e goYerri:ncr.t t,~1e reof; to pr escr ib e their IJOWers and
duti es ; to transfe r to the ccunty b oards of _1::lUbli c we lf are and. t he county
depertf!'.ents of pubJ.ic welfa :-e a ll ri :1sLts, duti es , p o aer s and obligations
of- the pre sent cou:i.1ty chi l d WeJ.f are 0 0 2,:;:-rl~ ; to ;:,.u thori ze t he county departments of public welfare , ope r at i ng u :1d.e:c the covnty boards of publ ic welfare, to act as ag8nts for a nd to co ,.rpe1 'n t e with 2ny J! e d.e.ccl, State, or ·
County agency or enactn:ent now or berea:t't er provided by law for t he purpo se
of r end.er ing ~ublic asdstance , f-31;,i ly we l f',,r e serv i ces and chil d welfare
services; and. to repeal all l aws in conflict herewith.
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-52Be it enac t e d by t he Le c;i s l ::i.ture of Al c1.b ama:
Se ction 1. The t e rm II St a t e Department 11 as u se d in thi s Ac t
shall mean the St 2,t e De2:)art me nt of Pub l ic We lfar e ; the t e rm II St a t e :Boa rd"
as us e d in t h is act s h all me an the State Boar d of Public We lfar e ; the
term "Commis s ioner" as use d i n this Act shall me an the Commi ss ione r of
the St a te Department of Public Vle lfar e ; the t e rm II County Departme nt" as
used in this Act shal l mean the County Departme nt of Public '.7elfar e ; the
t e rm "Cou nty Bo a rd" as us e d in thi s Act s hall menn the Cou n ty Bo a rd of
Publi c Welfa re; the t e rm II Coun ty Di:r e ctor 11 a s us t d in this Ac t sh all me an
the Dir e ctor of t he County Dep artment of Pub lic We lf a re; the t erm II he 11 or
11
s he" as used in t h i s Act sha ll b e int e r p r e t ed to me a n he or she or him or
h e r.
Se ction 2. The re i s h e r eby cr eat e d a State Depa rtme nt of Public
We lfa re with sub or dina t e bu r e aus and_ divi s ion s whi ch sha ll op er a t e und e r
a St a te :B oard of Pub li c Wel fare and consi s t of a Commis s io ne r of Pub lic
We lf a r e and su ch othe r off i cers and empl oyees au t h ori zed to be ap p oint e d
unde r this Act an.d. rpee t ing t b e qualifica tion s p r es crib e d by t he St a te Boa rd.
Sect i o n 3. The St a t e Bo a rd of Public Welf a r e h e r e by cr e a t e d
shall co ns i s t of t h e Go ve rnor a s Ch a irman and si x memb e rs, not l e s s t han
two of whom shall b e wome n, appoi n t e d by t he Go vern or with out r e g ar d to
politica l a ff i l i a ti o n , -but on t he b a si s of r eco gn i zed i nt er e s t in we lf a re
work. The memb e r s of t he St a te Boa rd sh a ll b e appoint e d as f ollows:
Two
for t erm s of t wo y ear s ; t wo for t erm s of f our year s; a nd two for t e rm s of
six y ears. Ther eaf t e r each me mb er shall s erve for a t erm of s i x y e a r s and
until hi s successor i s anpoi n t e d a nd aualifi e d. Vaca n c i es shall b e fill e d
by the Go ve rno r f or any ~nexpir e d t er~. The St a t e Board sh a ll mee t a t the
St a t e Cap itol wi t h i n t h irty days a ft e r t h e a p pr ova l of thi s Act. The St a te
Board sha ll h old me e t ing s a t times and p lace s to b e pr es crib e d by rul e s of
t he Stat e Boar d or as maJi- b e des i gnat e d by t he Chairman. Th e p r e se n ce of
fou r me mb ers a t any r e gular or sp e c i a l me e ting shall con s t i t u t e a quorum for
the transa c t i on of a ll 7.Jus ine ss . Me mb e r s of the St a t e Bo ard shall r ece i ve
no comp e n sation f or t hei r s er v i ces oth er ti-a n the amo unt of thei r tr aveling
and ot h er e xpe n s e s a c t u a lly paid ou t whi l e in att e n dance on t he mee t ings of
t h e St at e Bo a r Q or 9 u s i ness of t he Stat e Depa rtme nt.
Se c tio n 4 • . I t shall b e t h e du t y of the St a. t e Boa rd to app oint a
Commi ss ione r who shall s e r ve as t he e xe cuti ve and a dm i n is tra ti v e off ice r of
the Stat e Depa r t ment. Su ch a Co mmi ss ioner sh a ll b e Qppoi n t e d on the b as i s
of e du ca tion, abi l i t y , an d e x per i e nce i n t h e admin i s t r 8.tio n of publ ic welf a r e and with Jut r egard. t o r e side nce or pol iti ca l a ffi li a tio n . The Commi ssioner sha ll s e r ve a t t h o p l s a su r e of t h e St a t e Tio a rd and h i s sal ary sh a ll
b e fi xe: d b y the St a t e :B oa r d wi th t h e ap p r o va l of t h e Go vernor, not to e xce e d
Thirty si x hundr e d dolla r s . Th e State :B o-::i.rd, in conf er e nce wj th the Commis s i on e r, sh a ll b e 1·e s:po ns i 'tl e for t he E!dop tio n of p oli c i e s , r u l e s a nd
r e gul a tion s fo r i ts g ov er mnen t and. f or t h e go vernme n t of t h o St a t e De par tme nt; a ll a d.mi ni str a ti ve end. e x e cuti v e du t it:., s a.ni r e sp ons i b i l iti e s o f th e
St a t e Depart me nt sha ll b e p erform e d. by t h e Commi s s ioner, sub j e c t to the
au thority o f the St a t e :Bo 2Td. Al s o the Commis s i one r sh a ll b e r esp o ns i b le
for t he int er p;:e t a tion of p oli ci es , r u l e s and r e gul a tio ns for mul a t ed by the
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State Board and for t he coordination of the activities allocat e d by the
State Board to the v a rious bureaus . Tl1e State Bo a rd shall have t he powe r
and it shall be its duty to fi x minimum stanclards of service and pe rsonne l,
and to set salary schedul e s, bace d u 1_Jon e d.ucation, training , p r evious experience , and gene ral efficiency which must have b een a ttained by persons
select e d for the positions to be fill ed in the Stat e Depart ment and the
County Departments of Public We lfare he re i naft e r creat e d. Provided, howev e r, the State Board shall not disqualify those Child We lfa r e Worke rs from
holding office , if they hav e had at l east four years e xpe ri ence as a Child
Welfare Worker in Alabama for the past four years p rior to the passage of
this Act, on acc ount of e ducation r e quirement , training , previous expe ri ence
and general e ff ic i ency.
Se ction 5. The State Board sha ll have t he authority to de cide
with r ef e r ence to the u se of g r311t s-in-aid, to County Departments of Public
We lfare here inaft e r cre at od, for particular purposes according to the availability and ade quac3r of the f aci liti e s unde r the control of t he local authoriti e s to admi ni s t e r such gr a..nt s-in-2-id.. In a dminist e ring any such funds for
€rants-in-aid to local a~t ho riti e s t he St a t e Bo a rd shull hav e the following
powers: (2) To r equire as a condition for r e ce i ving gr ants-in-aid t hat the
County Depar tment of Public We lfare sl1all b ear a fixe d p ro portion of the
total expens ·~s of f u rnis hing t h0s e s e rvices . These prop ortions shall be
de t e rmine d i ,1 a uniform way throu ghout t he Stat e base d upon such cons ide rations as the amount of fun ds availab l e to the St a t e Department and tho r esources of t he sev<J ral loca l g ov0rnment s .
Se ction 6 . The Co:i-,mis s ion0r shall submit to the Stat e Bo ard for
its app rova l an annua l bud.ge t of a ll funJ.s appropriat e d by the Legislature
to the St a t e Depart ment for the S:)')0 cific pur1,ose s for which they ar e appropri a t e d and 2.l so a budget of F0de r a l f u nds wLich may be allott e d to the
St ate by the Fe de r a l Gove rnment f or t he purposes of the St a t e Depart ment
according t o t he r egul a t ions of tho Fe deral authori ti e s, he shall publish
annually a ful l r eport of t ho ope r ation and admi nist r a t ion of the St a t e
Depa rtment, toge t he r with r e co:runonda t i ons and sugges tj_ons and sub mit such
report to t he St a t a Bo a r d. . The Comrr:isr.ioner , subje ct to the app roval of the
State Boa rd, shall appoi nt a di recto r of each bu r eou and such ot he r pe r sonnel a.s may be ne cessar y for the offici unt pe 1·formn.nce of t ho duties prescribed in t his Act.
Section 7. ':he r e shal l be croatc J. within the Department a :Bureau
of Family We l fare a nd Pub lic As si sta nce , a 3ur,mu of Ch ild TTelf a r e , a
Bureau of Me~t al Hygi Gno for non-in s tituti on~l care , 2nd such othe r bureaus
as the St at e Bo a r d mg,y find to be; ne ccs s :,,r y fo r t ho eff e ctive a dmini s tra tion
of the State Depart ment. Tho St a t e :Soar d. s:iall kwe the powor t o a llocat e
and r e- a llocate f unctions among bureaus and department a l ager,ci cs .
Sec tion 8 . The c:'. i m of t he State Dopartment sha ll be t he p r omo tion
of a unif ie d dev8 lopment of t he We lfare, a ct iviti es and age ncies of t ~e State
and of t he lo cal govo r nm8nts so th~t each agency and 8ach gove rnment a l institution shall fun cti on ns ~,n int ·,gr n,l part of a go nor a l system . In orde r
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to carry out effectively these aims it shal l be the duty ?.nd res p onsibility
of the State Depart men t to:
(1) Admini s t u r or supervise a ll forms of
public assistance including general home r e lief, outdoor and indoor care
for pe rsons in ne e d of assisto.nce, and olc_ a 6 e l)en si ons, a l so including
thosA duti es that have to clo primarily with the det e r min '.lti on of n ee d 811d
aut:i.orization of I'el i ef now :perforned by the Alabama :ct.elief Administration.
(2) Exercise all the poTTers, duties and responsibilities now vest e d by law
in the St a te Child We lfare Department which are he reaft e r to be p e rformed
by the Bure au of Child Welf a r e in the St a t e Department of Public We lfare;
take posse ssi on of all p r ope rt y , books or records, files and other document s and 1-1&:pers b .::; lo ·'l.c<sin~ to the State C:iil d Welfare Department. Whenever
reference to the St .1,te Child r/'e lf9 r e D8partment is made in any law of the
State such reference shall be d•'oemed to app ly t o the State Department of
Public Uelf 2r e . (3) Provide service s to county or municipal governments
including the organization and. sup i:3 rvi :: ion of counties for the effe ctive
carryi:1c out of we lfare fun ctions , the co,npilation of statistics, and other
information relative to public we lfi'...re 8nd t o make surv eys and in ot he r ways
to ascertain the facts whi ch c ause or co~1tri -Dut 8 to ti1e nee d for public
assistance, family we lfare , child TTe lfaro , and other we lfa r e activities.
(4) I ssue certificates to such applicants as may meet the qualifications
prescribed by the St ate Bo a,rd. (5) Assist othe r dep artme nts, age ncies and.
ins ti tuti orn: of the State a nd Federa l e ove rnme nt, when so reques t e d, by perforrninb s e rvices in conformity with t he purposes of the State Department.
( 6) Act as the age nt of the Fede ral Government i n welfare mat t a rs of mutual
conce rn, ;md in the administration of any Federal funds grant ed to the Stat e
to aid in the fu1·t ht) r ance of any of t he functions of the State Department,
and be empowe red to mee t such Fec.en:-1 s t a..'11.d a rds a,s may b ,:_; established for
the administra tion of such funds.
(7) Des i <;nat 2: County Departme nts as its
8£ent s un(le r its n1l e s and re gul a tions to perfo rm any of the State Department's functi ons. (8) Administ e r such wa lfare functions as may h e reafter
be VL' St .:. d in it b;y l aw . ( 9) Provide a me ntal h3rgi en e program of non-institutional car e in the int e r es t of p r ev e ntiYe work a,.v1d ge neral ment:tl hygiene
activities. Provide d., however, that no power h e r ein co nfe rred shall be so
exercisAd as to i rn.pair or infrin6 e the powers, authorities, and functions
of the Boards and. Office r s governing or controlling ti1e' Alabama Insame Hospi ta.ls, Partl ow State School, Alabama :Soys Industrial School, State Training School for Girls, Alabama I ns titut e for Deaf and Blind, State Health
Dep a rt ment, .Juv enile and Courts of Dom-=::· stic Relations.
Section 9. The admi nis trat i.o n of the St a te Chi ld Labo r Law, now
execu.ted u;r the p r ese nt State c:1ild We lfare De partme nt, is h e r eby transferr ed to the Departme~t of Labor in the ev e nt su ch Depart ment b e e st ablished.
S·3 ction 10 . r:::'he re shall -D e established in each count y a County
Depart u1e nt of Pub lic Welfare which shall operate under a County Board of
Public We l fa:cP and shal.l consist of the County Dire ctor of Public Welfare
and such er..ployees as the Co1.m-!;;7 Boe,rd. anci. the St a t e :Bo :1rd d e em necessary
for the e :i:.'fic ient p e rformunce of ti:;.e Welfa r e se rvices of the County. The
ri ghts , powers, duties and r esponsibilities now ve s t ed by l aw in the County
Board of Child We lfa re a.re he r eby transferre d to and •,re sted in the County
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of Child Welfare, whose ri ghts, powers, duti e s and r e sponsibilities are
hereby transferre d, shal l be aboli shed . Whem,v e r refe rence is made in
any law of the St a te to the County Child We lfa re Board such refe rence
shall be dGemed to appl y to t ha County Board of Public Welfare. All
property, books or r e cords, fil es and other document s and papers b e long ing to the County Ch ild Wel.f are Bo a rds are h e r e b~v conveyed and transferred to the County Boards of Public ~elfare.
Secti on 11. The County Bo a rd of Pub lic Welfare shall consist
of seven rnemb 8 r s , not less than t wo of whom shall be women, selected by
the County Cour t of Commi ss ione rs or Caunty Bo a rd of Revenue or other
governing body of the County from the citizenship of the county on the
basis of the ir r e co 6 niz e d int e r e st in t h e public we lfare, provide d that
in counti e s in which the r e are citi e s having a population of sixty thousand or more, a cco r ding to the l as t Fe d.e r a.::. Cs n S1., s, the city cornmi ss ion or
othe r g ove rning body of tho. city shall h ave equal authority wi t 11 t he County
Bo a rd of Re\·e nue o r other governing body of the Count;? in se lecting the
membership of the Co-unt y Board of Public ire lfa r e . Memoe rs of t he County
Board shall serve for t e r ms of six ye ar s. Me □b e r s of the Cou nty :Soard
shall be appo:!.nt ed as follows: Two f o r terms of two y ear s , two for t e r ms
of f our 3re ars ; and thre e for t e r ms of s i x years . The r e aft e r each memb e r
shall serve fo r a t e rm of six years and until his suc cesso r is appointed
and qualifi ed . Vacancies shall b e fill e d for the une xpire d t e rms in tha
s::une manne r as t h e ori~in~l appoi ntme nts we r e made . The Cuu...11.ty Board
shall mee t at the County Se at within sixty days, o r a t the c a ll of the
Commissione r, aft e r its nppo intme nt and s hall e l e ct f ro m among i ts membe rs
a chairman and a Secret a ry to s e rve at the p l easure of the County 13oard.
The County Board shal l ~old. mAe tt ng s u..11.de r rules to b e estab l ished by the
County :Soard in confo r mity wit h the r egul at i on s of the State Board and
such additional meetings as mu.y be c a lle d by the Chai r man . The p r e s e nce
of four memb e rs a t any r egular or special mee ting shall constitute a
quorum f or the tran sact i on of a ll business . l!Iembe r s of the Count y :Soard
sha ll se r v e without compe ns a ti on f or t he ir s e rvices as members -but shal l
b e r e imbu r sed out of the g e ne r a l funds of t he Cou nty f o r the amount of
the ir tr ave lin6 a,,.11.d othe r expeEses actually paid out whil e in a tt e ndanc e
at the meeting of the C01mty 13oard.
Sec t ion 1 2 . It shall b e the duty of tne County Board of Public
Welfare to e,ppo int a Count ~r Dire ctor of Pub l ic Welfare who shall b e the
executive o f fic e r of t he County Ilepartme nt meeting the qualificat ions prescribed by t he St a te :Bo a rd, and the c1.p pointrnent shall be made without r egard t o p olitical effiliation s . The t enure of t he C:ou:,1ty Dire ctor sha ll
b e at the p l e asure of t he County :Soa rd. Tne sal '.3.I;f of the County Dire ctor
shall be fi ::ed by the Coun ty Board in confo r mi ty with t he salary schedule
as pres crib e d by the St ate ]30 3.rd.
r egul a rly
rules and
to a dvise
partment.
Se ction 13. It shall oe the dut~r of t he Co :.1. 11ty Dire ct o r to mee t
i.-ri t h t he Count y Bo a rd which s r,.al::.. formul ate ge n e r a l po l ic ie s ,
regulations . It s hal l a l so be t he cluty of t h e County Dire ctor
th0 County Board in r e,;ard. t o the a ctivities of t he County D8 All a dministrati v e o.nd executive duti es an d r espon s ib iliti e s
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of the Co1.U1ty Department net inconsisLnt wit h the rules and re ;;ul a tions
of the St a te BoarJ. si1a.l.l be p,J rformc d by t he County Director, subject to
the approv c•.l of the Count~/ Bo ar:l . rrhe'.'>e du ti es anll re sponsibiliti e s s hall
inclua_e reli e f to p . : r sons in need of a~:si stance; t he pe rformance of family
welfare se rvics s, the care of depen,i cnt , neglected, delinquent and othe rwise hanclicappcd childre n, an ,i such othe r child-care a cti ;i ti es as shall be
delegatea_ to it b;7 the State Department of Pu:blic Welfare; anc1 the investig::i.tion of a,1-iplico.tions for ad.i:1i s::;ion t o anc'l. disch arges fr om county ins ti tut ion s p:-tovid.ing care and treatment for indigents. :;: t shall be the duty of
t he Courity De1_m.rtment of Public Welfare to furni sh to the County Board and
tl1e Stat e :Ooard such reports c once r nine; t he activit ies of t he Co-unty Departme nt and conce rnirn~ the s t Dtus of the welfare functions within its
juri sdiction as the Co .mty Board 2nd t he St a te Depart ment snall r equire .
I: appoint-8 d. by r-,, court of co mpete nt jurisdiction, the Count:r Department
of Public 7Tolf are shall, thr -:rng::1 its Dir e ctor and his assis t a...n t s hereinaf t e r -provided f or , pe rform u..r1der t he sup e rvi rJ ion of such court, the function s of: ( a) A p robation of~ice r of the court h evin~ jurisdiction of
de pe nr4ent, neglected, de lino.uent and. otherwise hanJicapped childr9n;
(b) Age nt of the court for making i Eve:;:; ti sat ions p,s rtaining to the commitment of persons to or ,i i sch2,r ged from State institutions.
1
Sec-cion 14 . The County Dire ctor, wit h t '.18 app ro val of the County
:Board , sli_all appoint such s t a ff as may be necessary t o administer all welfare activities within its ju::: i sclict i on and to perfo rm a ll oth,3r duties
r equi r ed. of him . Such appoint!T'.'3.1ts, with the exce~ot ion of t he cle rical
st2ff, shall mee t t he qualificatio ns a s to tr ~in-_i_ng , experience a nd efficiency which are p r s~ sc.:-ib <:: d. by t he St a.tc. :Board. The salaries of the staff
shall b e fixe d by t he County :P.oard. in eonfo r mi t y with the salary schedule
p rescri bed 1iy the State Board . Adequate traveling expe ns e s for the Count3r
Director a.11.d his s t s.f f whi:'..e in pe r ~orinance of their duties sha.l~ be fixed
b;r the Co cm ty J30 .q,1'd in conference with the: County Di r ec tor. Tne County
:Board o:: :ilcvonu e , Court of County Comw.issi one rs, or othe r gove r n ing body of
the County o.nC.. i nco r p ora t ed municipalities within the County sha ll make
joint a p1-, ror,ri2,tions for office space, s1J.:pp l i.es , and for the maintu rance
of the f 1. .nc,cio n s to be _pe r fo r med b y th-2 C'Junty De1-,,.i,rtme nt of the Publ ic We lfar e , a.nd. sLa11 mu.t 1.allJ' p L,,rti ci p1:1.t ~- in t rw ·b Jn e fi ts the r e of, but the amount
to be ap1) ropriat ed by said gove r ni:if:: bo,l:r of the Count:r and by e ach rnunicipali ty ,,ha11 be subj e ct to t he a!rprovc1 l of t ho Sa.id gove r n ing bo d,y of the
County and the p0,rticipn.tin 6 r.:mn~ ,~ i s,ali t y or muni cipo,l :;,. ti es . When f e deral
and State f1.,nds are a vailabl e fo :;_· u se b y County :Soards, they sha ll be allocat ed b~r the: State Boar,3... Dua C') nsio.e1·c1.t i..0Y1 ~hal l be g i ve n in the a llocation
of thesP. f nndG to po 1n.::.l a t:i.on , extE·nt of n8ed. ,,n(i t i1e f 5 n a..11. ci q,J. concU tions of
the County.
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1
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Section 15. The Count~, :Oo a r c_ of Edu c a tion and the Cou nty Board of
Reve nue or othE:· r g ov,~ rni ng bo:\y of t he co1..J1t ;• shr,11 h'we authorit y to arrcmge
for the .~ oint se r vice of -public '!rel:r-,r e and 3chool attenlanc"' by the County
Director o:;: i'tl1Y mc:mb0 r or rnenb t:: r s of hi£ st a:i.' f in the same rn~.nn-:? r ,ts he r e t ofore p rovided in the County Chil d We lfare :Boarc'c Act. Provided. that the
County o r City Board of Education shall have comr;l ete charge of the s e rv ices
of the pe r sons emp lo ~red for the ,~o i n t servic •'l of School Attendance and Welfare
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- f:,7 f o r the sa'TIE:! pro:r_)o rt io n of the joint worl(e r 1 s time as the amount app ropriated by the county o r cit y Board of Educ a t i on bears to the total a mount
app rop ri a.t ec. by the local county or city 0ffici a lc for the joint service.
(Art "l. cle 4 , Se ction 143 - 152, Code of Al abama, 19 23.)
Se ctio:p. 16. 'iTh.enev e r t here is any liti g atio n :pe nding t o which
t he St ate Chila.. We l fa r e Department i s a par ty whe the r J>laint i ff or de fendant the St c1te D0part me nt is h e rein sub s titu t e d for t he State Child
Wei.fa r e Depa.rtr.:ent and the liti gation may proceed a s if be gun ori g inally
by or agc:..in s t the Ste.t P De 112.rt ment.
Se ction 17. 1'or t he !Ilai nt e nance of the du ti e s a nd obli gations
of t he . State Dep a rt me nt app roy.>riations shall be made out of the ge Y1e r a l
funds of tJ.1e St a t e for t he v a rious and sep s.rate a ct ivi ti es of the State
Depa rtment .
Section 1 8 . It is he r eby a.e clared t o be t he Leg islative intent
that if this Act c a nnot take eff~ct in it s entire t y b e c ause of the de cision
of any court holdi ng uncon stitut ional the inclusion herein of any part
p a ragraph , word, or phras8 , t he rema ining p r ovisions of the Act s hall be
g i ven full forc e and ef:ect as comp letely as if ths p a rt he l d unconsti tutional had not beon included he r e in.
Section 1 9 . All l aws arvi parts of laws, whethe r ge ne r al , loca l
or special, in conflict with any of the provisions of this Act .:3,r e hereby
expre ss l y r epeal e d.•
Section 20 . NotLing i n t his Act shall be cons trueci to trw'1sfer
t 11 Stat e or C0unty Public We l fa r e Boards a ny funct.i. nns , r e sp onsi bili ti es ,
duti e s, or service s no w authoriz e d -by law to be p3 rfonn e d -by St ;:-.t e, County
or Cit7 Boards of Educ a tion. No r shall t h i s Act g ive a ut h ority to St a te
or Co1.;.n. ty Public Welfare Bo a rds f or the a dri1ini s trati on or supe rvision of
t he ad::-n i ni s tratio n of any St a -1:. e or Fede ral app r opriati on s, grants, aid s ,
g ifts, or l oans n ow b eing ~~~ ini s t e r ed o r whi ch may he r eaf ter be adminis t e r ed b y t he St ate "Soard. of Educ a t i on and l o cal s cho ol au tho ri ti e s .
.ApprovtJ d Au gu s t ?.?, 1935.
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Appc::ndix B
AGIDJEMENT WORKED OuT :B~TW'BEN MONTGOl:rE.RY JUVENILE COURT AND
COUNTY D1PARTMENT O~ PTJJ3LIC WZLFARE
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AGREEMENT WORKED OUT BETWEEN MONTGOMERY JUVENILE COURT AND
COUWTY DEf ARTMENT OF HJBLIC V7ELFARE
On January 23, 1936, the Juvenile Court judge, the probation
officer, Juveni],.e and Domestic Relations Court, and the director and case
worker of Moµtgomery County Department of fublic Welfare, met in conference
for the purpo~e of working out relationships between agencies whose social
work practices' ~~Y at certain points overlap.
The following policies were agreed upon:
Inter-Agency Folicies Involving Juvenile
and Domestic Relations _Court _and
!✓iontgomer;t Countv ..Department
of Public Welfare
January, 1936
I.
General T~~ Cases To Be Handled by the Juvenil e and Dom estic Relations Cou!:_L__ Montgomery.
a.
The Dependent Child. Cases involving dependency should be handled
by the Juvenile Court when insufficient guardianship, controversial
custody, or any matter involving a legal docision, is the principal
contributing factor. This would mean that the court would handle
cases of dependency referred to it by the County Department of Public
Welfare since all cases of dependency should be initially referred
to and investi gated by the County Department of Public Welfare.
b.
The Neglected Child. A neglected child is one Vih ose parents, through
ignorance or wilful neglect, fail to provide proper care for the
child. Such cases need first the A,ssi stance of R family cRse work
agency which c nn provide long-time service. Neglect in many cas es
is brought about by inadequate finr-i.ncial support. T~o types of
cases of neglect in which the Juvenile Court may render service are
the following:
1.
The deserted or ab?.n1.on ed child who is ,~,i t hout custodial co.re
becomes the responsibilit y of the Juvenile Court when it is
necessary to estRblish custody. The Count ~r Department of Public
Welfare should have the responsibility of □ Aking Rll investigations rel~_tive to possible plans for such children. The
County Department should give the court the benefit of its
findin gs when the time comes in the case to establish custody.
2.
Foundling children are the joint responsibility of the Juvenile Court and the County De p:=irt:nent of Public Welfare. Such
children need the security and protection from exploitation
by the public, which only an agency like the Juvenile Court
cnn give them. The children should be held by the court while
an investi gn.tion is m[l.de in '.IV hich the County DepP..rtment of
fublic Welfru-e cru1 give valuable as~istance. As a general rule,
a foundling child should never be placed in Rn unrelated home
in the county where he was found. The St ~te Department of
fublic Welf2.re will always assist a county court in making
plans for a foundling child.
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II.
c.
The Delinquent Ch ild. In itl a l r epo rt s of ext r e me delinque ncy
should be clear e d a nd i nve st i gat ed by t he J uv e nile Court. Probation which invo l ves spe cific and t e chnica l c ase work p r a ctic es
should b e brougnt into fu ll p lay wit h cases invo lvint; de linquencies 311d de linq·.1en t at titude s .
d.
Cust ody cannot b e tran s f e rre d wit hout due j udicial p roce ss through
the Juveni l e and Dome stic Re.). a tio ns Cou rt.
e.
A c ase of a. de s e rting o r a non- suppo rting husban d r epo rt e d to
tho J uve nil e and Dome sti c R0 l ations Court mus t, of c our se , be
handl ed t h rough the channe l s of t he c ourt. Such c ases , howeve r,
s h ould a l ways b e clear e d wi t ll the Depart me nt of Public We lfa r e .
Gene r a l TYJJ es of Case s To Be Handl ed by t;1e Mo nt go me ry Coun t y Department of Public Wel f a re .
a.
Cases of depende ncy shoul d b e cl ear e d and the initial inve s ti g a t ion made by the Depar tmG nt of P1.1blic We lfare . Cases of dep ende ncy are the r e spon Gib i lity of the Count y Depar tmen t of Pub lic
Ue l f a r e excep t in ca s e s whe r e f a ctors a r e invo lve d which r equire
a l e 6 a l dec is ion, such a s in suf fic i e nt gQardian shi p , controve rs i al cus t ody, e tc., in whi ch in s t ru1 ces t he c a s •_; s should b e r e f e rr e d to the J uvenil e Cour t . The County Depar tme nt of Pub li c
7 e lfa r e i n such inst ances shal l g ive t he court t ho b ene fit of
i t s finchnie; .
b.
C;..::.s ·. s of nogl e ct are t he r e spon sibi l it;v of the Count y Dopart m·:m t
of Public i7elfare . Initial invest i gat i ons sh ould be made by t he
Coun ty De~artment . If it is found t hat matte r s invo l ving l egal
de cisi on , such a s dese rtion, abandonment , etc . , whi ch nece ssit a t e s
e::;t abli shment of cust ody , a r e the par 8Jnount f eat u r e s , the n the
County Depor tment shoul d r e f e r the c e,se to t he J u veni l e aJ.1 d Domes tic Re l a tions Co u rt .
c.
Cases of de l inq;.1e n cy of ch il d re n may -be han dled by the Montg ome ry
County Departme nt of Pub lic We l fa r e wi t hin t he ir own c a s e l oad so
:far fl.S can be done wit ho ·.1t p r o cess of law .
d.
The Unma rr ied Mother . All cases invol7 ing unmarri ed mothe r s s ho uld
·be r e f e rred t o. t he Cm.1...YJ.ty Depar t ment of Publi c We l far e for inves ti.:;ation a n:i so ci al plann ing . If "!;he que stion of the s nrJaration of
the mothe r and chil d i s necessary t b .: case shou l d be discusse d wi t h
the St ate :Depart ment of Publi c We l-f';- i·e . I f t he St a t e Depar tme n t of
Publj_c 7.'e lfare agr ec'. s that the chi 7 a. should b e· s eparat s; d from its
moth8 r a nd if t ~1e Stc1.t E: Departme nt agr ees t o r e c e i v e t h e ch ild, t he
c a s e rr:ay b e pro s .:.=: n t ed to the Juve n ile Coui~t for he~ring 8.nd final
decision .
0
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e.
II I.
bU -
Whe n a f ami ly case b ecomes invo l v ro d wit h i ssues o f de se rtion
and non-support, t he cl ie nt may b e r e f e rre d t o t he Cou rt o f
:::lom8 stic Re l atio n s . The D.=:pa rt me n t of Publ i c We lfa r e should
as sume t he r espons i b il it y of a ,joint conf e r e n c e wit h the
Court of Domes t i c Re l :J tio ns 1::i v i ng the cou rt all the -be ne f it
of t he ir p a st ex-_pe r ie nce with t he f a rr.ily . The Court of Dome stic Re l a t i ons should , in a ll suc~1 ins t ance s , s e rvice the s e
c ase s as quick l y a s p o s s ible a.J1d g i \'·c r outine r ep orts of t he ir
c ont a c ts and deci s ion s to t he Depar tment of Pu blic Welf a r e .
Clear ance a n d Refe rr 21s.
a.
All case s initial ly r eported t o e it he r a gency sho uld
wi t h t he othe r be f o r e any ac ti on or inves ti g a ti on i s
If i t i s fo und t h a t a cas e rep ort e d to on8 a ge ncy i s
be ing han dled by t h e othe r a ge ncy, a ca s e co nfe rence
he ld r ega rding j o int or i ndi vi dual r e sp ons i b ;_ li t y .
be cl e a red
1-mde rt ,ilrnn.
:u. r eady
shou ld b e
b.
Up on r e ce i v ing a r epo rt of a case a nd it i s a ppar e nt t hat t he
c a s e s hou l d be h 2nd.l e d by t he othe r a ge n c;;7 , a p romp t r e f e rra l
sh ou.l d. b e ma de . The va lue of , c onfe r ence be t wee n age nci e s wh ich
may b e conce r ne d wi th the same c a s e ca nnot b e ov e r- s tre sse d.
Re cords s houl d b e r e a d c a r efully by both a ge nci F s .
}.,or il l us tra t i on, t he fol l owing c a s e s mi gh t se r ve as e xamp l e s
of i nte r- age ncy r e sp on si bi l ity .
1.
A boy is b r ow; h t i nto c 01.Ht on non- a t te n dance scho ol char 6 e . ( Case
cle a re d wi t h Departme nt of Pub l i c We lfa r e . No case r e cord foun d.)
An i nve s ti gat i on shows t l1at t he boy i s s howi ng a few p r e - de l i nquent
t e n de nci e s r e sul tini::; fr o:n n on - a tt enda..11ce at s choo l. The ch ild has
no t b e e n in schoo l "be c aus e of l a ck of clo thes . The c a se s hou ld b e
r c: f e l're d t o Niontg ome ry Count y Dep a r tme nt nf Publi c We l far e to b e
g i v·:m suc11 a ssis t ance as ma y b e ne ce ss e.::y . The case wo r ke r of t he
Cou...~ t y Dep a r tme n t shoul d wo r k wi th t he boy wit h the vi ew in mind of
h e l p ing him ove r come hi s de linque nt t e nde nc i e s. If su ch s e rvice
doe s not l e ad t o c orr e ction , the reat t e r may be r e f e rre d t o t he Juve n i l e Co~ rt whos e p r ob at i on of fi ce r may le nd val uable as s i s t 811ce.
2.
A v.roma n c ome s j_ nto t h e court fu"ld conpl a i n s t :'1a t he r t •_;;r o e l des t c h il-
d r e n cannot go t o s choo l b o ca-:::.se of j_ n suf f i c i ent c lo t :1i ng and l a ck
of f nod.. He r hus ban d is suppo sed t o b e wo rking on W. ? .A. proj e ct at
r a t e of $27 pe r rJo nth . For some r eason , he did not get r egul a r s a lary
and rece ive d a v e r y i::is i gnif ican t s,J.m fo r one week ' s wo r k ancl was cut
off. Woman sa~.rs the thr ee younge st c?li ldren a r e s t a r v i ng i n t he ho me .
Thi s ca s e shoul d b e r e f eo rr8 d immc, di a t e ly to the Mo n t gome r y County De pa rt me nt of Pub lic We l f a r e , who can cl o-1 r t h r ous h W. P . A. a nd. p r obab ly
a ssi s t i f t h e f ami l y i s suff e ring .
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A family under care 0f Mont bomc: r y Co mty Denar t me nt of Public 17elfa r e
has s everal ch ilc..re n wh o may be po tential problem c h il clren. Later,
one of t n e ch il dren b e co J11.e s too troubl e some . The p r obation of ficer
of the c ou.rt could be asked to r encler se rvice on thi s case and t he
p robation off ice r P,-nd ths- visitor to r:;ethe r c--1·.J.l d work out a soo d solutiort fo r this parti cula r c h ild.
4.
A mot~1e r n i th three y oun g ch ildren i c r -:: c e i ving a s sistance from Montg:ome r ~r Count y Dopartmont of Fublic We l fa re. She ge t s dissatisfi 2d
2,nd l 0av e s t he childre n. The first r c: s p onsibilit;7 should be that of
:t-~ontgo:r:1o ry County :Departme nt of Publi c We lfare i"!hi ch is thoroughly
fanilL-,r with t he C 8S8 , the relativ e s, othe r r esources, e tc. Lat e r,
if Montt:;omer;y County Dep art me nt of Public Welfa re c an.not work out plan
afte r eJ.nau.sting all re sources, t he Juvenile Court s h ould ass1.une res po!lsic i li ty f o r t h e deserted ch ildrsn .
Copy of lv!inutes of 1.1eetin6 at Wnich Ag r eement b e twe e n
County Agen ci e s Was Adopt e d
Cn Fe bruary 25, 193 6, the director and c ase wo rke r of tne Mo nt g ome ry Cou...11.ty Depart m:mt of Public Welfare E1e t at Juve nile Cou rt with t he
jud:::?;e awl p rob a tion office r. The above paper invo lving int e r-agency p olici -3s between. the Juve nile Gou.rt and Mont gome ry Co;mty Depart ment of Public
~e lfa r e w2s r ead and discussed. A p oint that was particu l a rly stressed a nd
mutually a ~r eed upon was that the r e sponsibility for initial investigations
in case s o.f neglect anil depe nde ncy should b e assumed b y the Montgome ry
Cou..11.ty Department 0f Pub lic Welfa r e . If it is fou.rJ.d tha t s uch case s of
n eg l e ct and depen dency h :1,v c po ints in tht-'n whi ch r e quire l egal decision,
the n they TTill be r efe rred to t he J uvenile Court for dec ision. Initial
r epo rt s of s- xtreme de l inque ncy si1ould b e cl ear -sd and inv es tigated by the
Juvenile C01.:,rt. Case s of delinquency of children may b e barnll ed b ~r the
Montgome r y County Depar tme nt o f Pub lic We lfare ·.vi thin thei r own case load
so far as can be done wi tnout p roce ss of law.
'i'he b r ou_p dis0us sed the wisclom a nd impo r t ance of the court 's takin6 i mme dia te juri siict i on in cas e s of dsse rt Pd, abandoned, or foundl i n 6
c h il c1re!'l, ·.ri t h t he :.Iont c;ornery Cm::nty Dq:iart rnen t of Public Helfal'e shari n g
a joint r esi1on s i .b ility i n workin[ out :n lan s fo r these ch il d r e n.
Spe cial emphasis w·:t::: plac e d on the po lic~r for urnr.arri e d mothe rs t hat is, the unmarr ie d mot he r i s the r e s\:ions i bi li ty of t i1e ~fontgomery County
De part ment of Public Welfar e :for initi a l inveP,ti 6 ations and :p la:1ning.
In t he matte r of cl ea r :=i.nce and r e f 8 rrals, bot h age nci E;s r,e r e
urce d t o cle ar eve r y cas e ini t i al ly r e p o r ted to e it he r agen cy before any
action i s 1.mde rt 8l:en on t he c a s e .
The que st io n of s c:1001 a tt e ndan.ce was discuss e d in t his ne e ting .
The school attendance offi c e r for :v1ont Gome I"J Cour.ty handles case s of school
non- at t e ndctJlce in the f ollowinG m8.Ilno r:
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1.
Case s involving children of f ami l i ~s r e ce1v1ng s e rvice or assistance
fro r-1 the Montg omery County Dep a rt me nt of Public We lfare are refe rre d
to t ha t agency .
2.
The r es:pon s ibi l ity of c a s e s involving childre n whos e famili e s have not
come to the a t t e nti on of 3, s o ci a l age ncy is a s sume d by Miss Goldthwaite .
If t he school att e ndance offi ce r car.not work out a s a tisfa ctor3r pl a n in
su ch case s and she b e li e ves they are matt e rs for the judGe of the Juve nil e Court, she the n r e f e rs the c a s e s to the court. If the r e is any
que stion a s to wheth 2r t he fami l y wit h who m the school att e ndance office r come s in contact through the childre n is r e ceiving a ssistance from
t h e Mo n t g omery County Departme nt of Public We lfa re or the Juvenile Court,
she refe rs t he c a se for advice to the Depart me nt of Public Welfare or to
the court. The fact wa s stre sse d that e ve ry e ffort should be made to
r e fer any case of scho ol non- a tt e nda nc e to t :C1e age ncy, if an y , tha t was
assuming r e sponsibility for the farr.ily, s o that t he r e would not b e a
dup lication of wo r k wit h the f ar,iily. The judge agr e e d to discuss this
mee ting wit h t he school a tte ndance offic e r since t he que sti on of school
a tt e ndan ce was me ntione d.
The j u dge and t he di rect or o:!: t h e Dep a rt ment of Public Welfa re
a g re e d t hat if t he ab ov e ment i one d p olicie s :::.re c a rri ed out the efforts of
both a ge ncie s will count f or mor e , a nd t hat more forc e ful p lanning for the
f amili e s inv olve d can be e f fect e d if the r e is t he prop er a llocation of work
and cooperc,.+: io n be t wee n age nci e s.
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Appendi x C
SUGGE STED OUTLI NE FOR FIELD REPRESENTATIVE ' S
NARRAT I VE B2PORT
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ALABAMA DEPARTMENT OF PU:SLIC WELFARE
SUGGESTED OUTLIJ'.IB FOR FIElJ) REPRESENT.A.TI VE' S
NARRATIVE REPORT
COUNTY
DA'.l.1E OF VISIT
--------
WORKER
N.ARRATIVE REPORT
A. Purpose of Visit.
(Brief st a t ement)
B.
Outside Contacts.
1. Commissi oners or other interes t ed public officials.
2. Inter es t ed persons having no direct co nnec tion with Department of
Public Welfa re.
3. Works Pro gr e ss Administration officials.
4. Resettl ement officials.
5. National Ro-Employment Service officials.
C. Public Welfare Board.
Frequency of mee tings; ho w are meeting s attended; method of interpretation
used; particip ation of individual members on board program s ; attitude of
individual members to war d the p ro gr am in the county; or gani zation of board
i nto committ ee s; activity of committ ee s; note any change s of memb ership of
bo ard.
D. Finance s of Public Welfare Department.
1. Aa.equacy of funds tQ' mee t n ee ds of coun ty.
2 . Amount from pri vate sources.
( a) Ho w secui-ed.
(b) Purposes use d for .
E. County Depa rtment of Public We lfBre.
L Offi ce space an d equi pment.
2. Staff.
( a) Aa.equacy a s to numbers.
(1) Any changes in per sonnel.
(b) Di re ctor.
(1) Evaluation of dir ec tor as a case wo r ke r, l eade r of her boar d,
committ ee s, etc.
( 2 ) As a communi ty organiz er.
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(3) As an executive and leader of her staff.
( 4) Personality.
Attitude toward work, board; special likes and dislikes ;
strong and weak points; plans for future training.
(c) Visitors.
(1) Special aptitudes.
(2) Wea.lmess e s.
(3) Plans for futur e training.
(d) Basis for division of case load between dir ector and visitors.
(1) Aver 2g e case lo a d of eQch.
F. Office Routine.
1. Efficiency of organization.
(General staff)
2. Frequency of staff meetings.
(Methods of training us e d)
G. Files and Reports.
1.
2.
3.
4.
Order of filing case records.
Accuracy of cl earance.
Case r ecords --- cont ents of --- kept up to a.ate --- writt en we ll or poorly.
Da ily work she e ts, monthly r eports, card index , juvGnilc court docket,
adopti on regis ter --- how kept.
H. Case Work Service.
1. Types of major p ro blems.
( a) Services i nvoh·i ng fi n-m cial aid.
(1) .Aid to Dependent Children.
( 2 ) Old .Age As s istanc e.
( 3) Mentally and phys ically handicapp ed.
(4) Women without employment hi story .
(5) Temporary aid.
( 6) Other.
(b) Services wit hout financial aid.
(1) Children's c~se s --- namely:
Depende nt, ne s lect, delinquency, etc.
(2) Adult cases --- namely:
Non-suppo rt, des 8rti on , contributi ng to del inquency,
immorality, etc.
(c) Use of community r esourc e s in cas s work.
(d) Work with cri ppl ed children.
I. Community Organization.
1. Utiliza tion of social, civic or clrurch g roup s.
2. Use of volunt ee r workers.
3. Methods of publicity.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
Cooperation with heal th unit, farm and home demonstration c:tgents.
Recreational programs.
Types of committees and activities of each,
Attitude of private physicians regarding services at clinics.
J. School Attendance.
1. Joint service of straight school attendance?
(a) Status of non-enrollment or attendance, causes of poor attendance.
(b) Method of stimulating interest in school attendance.
(c) Use of teachers in work with problem children.
(d) Work with Parent Teachers Association.
·
(e) Cooperation of Superintendent of Education in program.
(1) His feeling regarding progress of present set-up of
attendance work.
K. Juvenile Court Judge.
l. Leadership qualities.
P• General ability as juvenile court judge; his understanding of program;
of court procedure, etc.
3, Attitude toward school attendance work and toward the Superintendent
of Education.
4. His opiniorts and criticisms of Director of Public Welfare.
L. Children Supervised.
1. Number of wards of Department of Public Welfare visited by Field
Representative.
Number supervised by County Worker and reports submitted to Field
Representative.
2. Number of children in adoptive homes supervised by Field Representative.
Number supervised by County Worker.
M. Investigations.
1. Foster Homes.
2. Adoption Cases Homos.
3. Other (children's cases, etc.).
N, Remarks.
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Appendi x D
REPORTS ON FIELD VI SITS TO ELMORE comrTY
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F.EPOR':rS OlT FIELD VI SITS TO ELMORE COUNTY
Septembe r 5, 1935
Att ena.ed Commi s s i one rs Mee ti ng :
At the re ques t of the :Soard of Commi ss i one rs, field rep resentative re a c hed
Wetumpka a t 10: 00 A. H. to discuss the organizat ion of a County Department
of Public Welfare. A}l but one of the Elmor e Coun ty Commi ss ione rs we re
present.
Finances:
The commission0rs hav-e agr ee d to put up $300 c as h for the month of
Sept e mb er . Al t hough $200 i s t he mi 11immn, they a gr e e d tha t the extra
amount will take care of addit ional unemp l oyabl e s. All were very much
int erest e d in the prospec t of inmr..t es of almshouses being p l a c e d with
r elat:ve s when a dvis able; howe ve r, Mr. H. pointed out t he fact t hat the ir
pla n of management . for the Elmore County .AJ.mshouse has b een v e ry satisfactory.
Attitude s:
Mr. H. hn.d studie d. t he r:1ateri a l a va ilable and had been to Mo nt gome ry to
talk with t he State Supervis o r of Soc ial Work of the Al a bama Relief Adminis t r a tio n . The field represent a tive talked with h im befor e the meeting
and he was interested but t ook little part in di scussion a t the commis s io ne rs'
mee ting as J udge H. did mos t of the talking. The fie ld r epres ent a tive r ead
and discuss e d the Public Welfare :Bi ll, advi sed them about t he members of
the Stat e Bo a rd and what service ma,y be r ende r e d by corn.mi s sio ner s in order
to be gin ore;aniz i ng ; qualific a tion s of per sonne l a nd eli g ibility for aid.
The commissionor s we re intorested but wishe d to b e g iven unti l t he fo llowing
day to submit a p l on of o r ganizati on 1'.Ild s ugges t ~1ames for County Boar d
membe rs. The c ornmi ssi oners r ead the material avn.ilable a nd expre s s ea. the
desire to study it carefull y .
Discussion of Bo&r d Memb e rs:
The field r e::_,re sentati ve po int ed out the value of app oi 11ti ng boa-r d members
who ar e especially i nterest e d in welfar e of :peop l e , and vrho will g i ve c areful thought and consideration to questions d i s cusse d with them by the
county a_irector. The field r epresenta t ive f ee ls tha t a great deal of
thought is go i ng to be g iven t his matter ju0gi ng fro m s e veral remar ks
made by the commissione rs. Ono of t he wo;0en who Vlil l bo a ske d t o s e rvo
on the Board is a p r act icing l awyer. A public spirited phys ici an who is
e spe ci a lly i n tereste d in pr ob l nms of this kind i s t o ~o aske d to _se r ve a lso.
Di s cuss i on of P e r sonne l:
The commissi c;m ers se emed t o thi nk that there wi ll be no doubt bu t that
Miss C, former child welfare superint end0nt, wi ll be asked to se rve a s
county director. He r work ha s be en 9n t i r ely satisfact ory to the county
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- 67 as forme r a tt enda n ce offi ce r and as 'l clli.l d W8 l f nr e supe ri nt c,ndGn t. The y
f ee l t hnt h o r t a ct nn d h e r c a r c· f ul conside r ation of cas e s c1,..rid t he j u dgme n t
she h ri,s s hown in handl ing p r ob l nms i n th(i county ,;ri ll rnnke h e r sc r v i c o s
inva luable i n t ho wo r k .
The y think shu wi l l b e tho only :pe r s on whoso
app lica tion ni ll b o g i ven c onside r a ti on by the Bo.::,rd.
Di s cuss ion of J o i n t Progr run :
The fi e l d r op r :J s e n t o.tiv ,:J d i scusse d wit h t he supe r int c ndo:r1t of uduc ation ,
the que st i on of hnvi:1.e:: o. j o in t se r v ice in t he c 01mt y . He f e lt t h ..-, t it
would b o n Ili se t hing t o hnve the j o i n t se rvi co . Ho f e l t thn.t ten dnys
out of eve r y mor.t h \,ould b e suffic ient t o nt t ond t o the a tt ondon c e Vlo rk.
He k n 0\7S t ho,t t he Gmno p ropo rti on of t h u v i s it or' s sri l n r y wi ll b e paid
by t he Board of Educ ,1,ti on as t he p r opo rti o n of time g i ve n thi s se rvice .
He e xpe ct e d t o t a l k vr i t h t he c om'.Ili ss i on e r s m1d with t he me mb e r s of the
Board of Educ ,1,tion b of o r e mo.ki ng MY fi ne.l de c is i on . He f e lt tha t Mis s
C's s e rvices as a t tena.anc e off ice r wo r e en tire l y satis f a ct o r y nnd i f
h e r duti es and r ospons ib i li t i c s a r c too he avy i n t his 1,7o r k , ho TTOuld
like t o hav e a vi si t o r wo r k wit h he r ,m o.e r he r supervision as a tt e n dance
off ic e r. I f t he j o int se rvi ce is t h.ou~h t adv i sab l e in Elmo r e County
the ir r es olut ion s wi ll be include d i n the p l a n t o b e submit t e d n ext day .
The f i e l d r ep r esentative t ol d the c omm i ss i on ers that i t was entire l y
up t o t he Co1-mty J302 r cl of Educati on 2.nd the county commi c:,sione r s as
to whe t h e r o r not they would have a joint se rv ice . TheJ,r p r .. _', r --:- Jd to
t a l k it ove r wit h the supe ri n t e nde n t of e duc a tj on and. tho e ducatio n
bo o.rd mer;ib e r s .
Conclusi ons :
A cop y of a p l an i nclud ing r egulat ions f o r e lig i bil it y f or a i d was l e ft
for t he commi ss ione r s , a l so a b l ank fo r m f or t he n ame s of t he Board
membe r s , the ir add.r s ss os a..'1.d t e r ms of off i c e . The s e wi l l b e fo r war de d
on t h e f oll owL 1g d,,W . The c omMissione r s wi ll de cide on th1:; dr:..t e ond p l a c G
for t he fir st boar d mee ting a n d wi ll no ti fy t ht; b oar d memb e r s.
F i e l d Rep r e s e ntative
* *··* * * * * * *
Sep t e mb e r 16 , 1935
Tho fi e l d r op r ese ntc.~.tiv0 ntt e ndod the f i r s t mee ti ng of the Elmo r e C0unt y
Bo o.rd of Pub li c Wolfetr e . Mr. H. sG r VDd D.s chc' i rmo.n. All t ho m2mb u r s we r e
present exc ep t on o .
Di s cuss i on of J o int So r vice :
Tho supe rintenden t of e duc .•1.tion was pre s e n t f o r t b.e :9urpose of di s cuss i n g
with t he 13::io.rd t ho qu e stion of hnvi nr:=; t he jo i nt s l' r v i c e f o r a tt e ndm1ce wo rk.
It nas r ocomrn.endo d t o him by tho State Dopn:rtmont of Educ a tion t hat Elmo r e
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County have a s epara t e atte!ld.ance worke r, but t he lo cal sup,, ri Y-~t endent
wi shed to assure the Board. t hat he r s':- li~8 J. the valu.: of two organizati on s
working tog-sthe r ana. he woul cl llke t o f <.J,• l that t he wo r ~:e r woul d be under
the SLFie r vis5.on of Mi ss C. who so eff::.c i e ntly se r v1:;d t he Dt.-pa rtmtm t of
Ed.u ca t io n ci,s att e ndance offic e r. He 8}:,ne c ts today to r ecomnend to t he
St a t,? :Je-par tue nt of Education, t hat Mi ss ] , a local pe rs on, who mee t ::-.
the q .1a~ iiicat io ns e x ce p t for suffj ci e nt fo rmal tra i"1inr:; in s oci al wo r k ,
se rve as att endru1 c e offics r. She has had only a six we-21: s cm1:;.-se in
casevi ork . He r e ali ze s t hat if :.,he is accepted it wil l be becaus8 t he
St ate Depart me n t of E~.ucat ion h as agr ee d t o t his.
0
]309,rd Ue mb0 r s :
Mr. H., memb e r of tle :Boa:::d of Co Hrnis s io ne rs, i s now serving as chairman of
the :Soa rd of Pu.bl i c We lf.?..:.' e . It i s v e ry evident from his manne r in dis cussinG the p roe r am that he i s ve '!:y !11Uch i nte r e s t e d. end ex-_pe cts to g ive his
t ime arid car oful t :i.ou,:;ht to s 8 r..ri :vi/~ t h o Beard and the count y . He is e age r
that t l"e Bo a i·d oe ke p t i n t ouch with chan.,:):J S in t he p ro r'~ ram , b e cause he
reaiiz eE , as o t he r me mb ·2 r s o f t he :Board clo , t h~t the:r wi ll be expe ct c:: d to
int e rpret the p ro g r am to the citize ns of t h e county. Dr . P. and Dr. H.,
pr oc ti cing phys ic i aris in t he county· , E..r e me1ube r s of the :Soard and take an
a c tive part in the di scw; sion of cas e s which mi ght be e ligi b l e and of gene ral
y roce dure of Tio r k . Mrs. D., a p e r so n who is very a ctive in public affa i rs
in Tall assee , a sk3d man y ques t io n s ind.i cat ing h::: r int e r es t i n unde rstan ding
the wo r k ar_d j 'J.st what s e rvice the :Bo a r d would b e expe ct e d. to r end.e r. Mr.
F., a me rchant of Ecl e ctic, l i ste ne d int ~mtly but had little t o say excep t to
wonde r wh~r a particul,qr family cou:i..d not be assist e d. Tr..e fa t he r of t he f amil y is in a 1.re t e r nns ' Hosp i ta.l and the family r 8 ce ive s an al lonance of $30 .
:pe r month fr om the Gover&1e .1t . The c;:i,se was di s cu:::sed and it appea r s t hat
whe n he unde r stands j ust why c ase s cannot oe a s siste c1 h e wil l be a valuab l e
pers on on the :Bo a r d . t~r. V. wa s not p r esent at t he n e eti ng . Tfr . M. came
lat e to t he r.1eeti11,-_; . !ii ss M. is acting D-s sec r etary of t h::i :B oard.
Offici 3,l Pe r sonne l:
Mi s s C., who h'.:ls b l::)en appo int e d as c o' mt y directo:::-, is sh owing a g r eat d eal
of initiative i n s t 2,rtin,:; t hi:: wor k . -:-; n t : l re l ie f fo ::.·ms can b e s ~cured
fro m the dis t ri~ t off ice and forms arc avail2,b l e from t :1e Stat e Dep a rtme nt
of Public We:!.far e , she has set up a sys t em of :i:'crms ,1~ii ch i nr~lud.e a l l of
the date. ne e;-:ssa.:qr for de ter:ni 1ing t :1° e li g i bi li t :r of .::t pe r s on. One blank
which was felt to ·be e rpe ci a lly valuah le was a ce rti fic n,tion b la."1k . It
was a form :) f r e comr:-_e ndatj_on t o be si e,ned. b~r a pe r son who had kncnm the
applicant f or some time . .An o t he r nas t hC:; c ,- rt ificate i ssu e d 'by ti, docto r
who had mad.e a recent phys ical tj xarninatio n of the ap_t-> li c A.nt . Mi :.-, s IL has
been s e l ect ed. a :, v is ito r. She ha s done go-:>cl. wo r k cs a visitor i n t ne
reli e f of fie: J , und I-FL,$ C. f <'-) 1 t she ·,vould effici e ntly s e r ve in this capacity.
Mr. M. is e'l_, accolli'.t ant. He has a lr,ca,i :r go t t e n in touc:h wit h t hu accountant
in t h:J .A.R.A. of fic e: ;.,,nd e xpec t ,, t o kee-o in t o 1.ch with t he st a t e a c countant.
Miss M. i s office sec r e t a :ry . '.rlie last t h r ee appoi nt :ne nts we r e r e commende d b3r
Miss C., dire ctor , and we r e accer t ao lt: to t he Co~.mt y Board.
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Finance s:
The c ounty has a.epo si t e d the $3 00 . a,sr eed u p on a s it s SE,p t emb e r partic ipatio n.
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A. Purpos e of Visit
Februa r y 26, 1936
To a tte n d a mee ting of the Elmo :ce County Bo a rd of F u.blic V:-e lf 2re .
The visitor on t he local staff 1,'lf'S r eque st e d by Mr . H'., chairman of
the Board , t o a;;k t he :t'i e J.d. re p resPntative to attend. the mee ti ng of the
:Soard since the county director wai~ i J.l and unable t o a t tend .
In confe re n ce the state commiss i one r and t he director of the Fi e ld
Service :Bureau de cided that it would oe advisabl e for tho fi e ld r ep r es ,:m tati v e t o atte nd the meeting althou3;h in mos t counti e s i t wa s consi de r e d best
that the dire ct o r should interpret the p r esent s itua tion to t he Board r athe r
than to have a r epr esentative of the state serve in that capacity.
B. Public Welfare Board Meeting
The meet ing was attended by Mr. H., chairman, Mrs. D., Mr . V., Dr. H.,
Miss M., Yisitor, and Mi s s ~J., s t eno g rap he r. Af t e r r eading the minutes of
the last meeting , which wa s he l d i n Oct obe r 19 35 , the chair~an reques t ed
the field r epr esentative to t a lk with t :ne Bo a rd about the pre sent s ituat ion.
The fi ~ld rep re sentative r e f e rred to the bul le tin issue d by t he State
Dep a rt me nt February 24 and expl a ine d the amou.21t av ailabl e fr om the sta t e
for t he: l as t half of February ; what proporti on of this wa s a llowed as t he
st a t e I s part toward. a dmi nistrat ion; the formula was e:;::pl ai n e d in detail
and the fact was b rought out that on:;_y the ol d age a ssis tance g roup and
aid to dependen t c hildren g roup were el igible for assist a nce from Fede ral
funds. The field rep r ese n t a t i7e exp l a i ne d. that the state had no fun d s through
which t o assist the ph~rsi cal ly a nd ment al l y handicapped, but· that it would
assist the g roup c omin€'. unde r t he cl a s sifi c at ion of t empo r a ry aid , i f the
county could P·'1Y one :fourth of the t otal amo1;..nt for this g r oup . The fac t
that add_i tionc,l Fe de ral fund s would be available if the county wishe d to
put u p mo r e funcl..s fo r t he t wo s e cu r ity group s was d i s cu ssed . In a cc ordance
wit h the bulletin the fi e ld re:pres ent etiYe brought out t he fact t hat no
state ::unds i:- rn r e avai l a ble a ft e r lfarcll l u yile ss such funds were provided .
Prior to t he :Bo a rd r,1 eetinG a cor.tr.o i t t e e of the Board ha d drawn u p a
r esolution e x_f., r es sing app l'e c i at i o::i of t :1e a ssis t a nce r ende red the connty
by the stl::!.te and urgiYlt '. t hos e in 3,ut :1o r i t;r to l e ave no t hing undone to see
that f u nds we re p r ovided in orde r to c. c:,rr3" on tr:e wo rk which i s so g reatly
needed. The chairman asked. i f t he fi e ld. re:, re sentativ e had any sugg es tions
to ma.::e with r efe r ence to the r e so lut:l.o n . The f'i 2ld r ep r esentative told
them that she t hought it ~,a s a s p l e n r:U d :::-es c lut ion anci she had no suggestions
to make. The field r ep r ese nt ati ye was "':, he n a '.'oke d i f she t hought it woul d -be
a go od idea to s e nd a copy of t he r e3ol 1.1 tjon t o the Governor and Li eut enant
Gove rnor a.'1d to me mb e rs of the le,~isl c=Ltur e . She d e clined to e:l\.-press herself
on this p oint . Mrs. D. ::,ai d. sh:. dj_d J1 0t s ee how the l e s is l a t ors f rom Elmore
County could know now b adly the mon e y was nee de d unle ss the :Board inte rpre t e d this ne e d to them. Ev e ry r.ic mb c: r of the Boar d agre e d t hat t his was
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- 70 necessary and the chairman told of u recent conversation with membe rs of
the legislature from Elmore County. Ht; felt they we r e g oing to l eave
nothing undone in order t hat fu _n ds mi 6 ht be app r op ri a ted. The members
of the :Board accept e d the r e :.:iolution unanimously and it wc..s agree d that a
copy would be sent the Commiss ione r, State Department of Pub lic Welfare,
the Governor and the members of the le gisl ature fr0m the county.
The Bo a rd members were int e rest e d to know the p roportion of the
Elmore County case load to that of the entire st ate under the types of
assistance g ive n by county departments. They were also interested in the
fact that 42 percent of t he eligible .3f.;e group in the county population
has applied for old age ass i stax1ce . T~-:..e total number was 540, of whi ch
311 remained to be investigated . They we r e much grati fi e d over the fact
that 123 cases we r e approYed by the local a_epartment and the state had
approved all the cas es which the lo cal d epartm,s nt app roved . There are n ow
eleven pending a pp lications in the state depRrtment. Seve ral membe rs of
the J3oar d expressed appreciation of the standard of wo r k maintaine d b y t he
local department. They ha,n a g r eat de al of confidence in the direc t o r and
the visitor, but are eager that totL s6cure f11rther trc1.ining as soon as
possible. The Board was i nt ~r ested in t ~e r ecent d istri ct conference for
county direct ors a t the stata ~epartment office . The fie ld repre s e nt a ti ve
told them of the p r acti ca~ talk made o:r the dire ctor from Elmore County
conce rning children on p r ob a tion in the county .
The r e w;:i.,s a discussion of possible co ope r a tion between various or6 2J1 izations in t he county. The ::aoard f ee ls t hat the Health Depart ment , Education Dep ar tmen t, and Fa r m Age nt work togethe r in an unusually h a rmoni ous
way. Mr s. D. tola of the advantage which the mil l wo r ke r s in Tallassee a r e
rece iving . A certain arr:J;m t is d_educted from eqch worker 1 s pay each week .
A hospital h:::i.s b een built with these fu..."'lds and a ny memb er- of the family of
an employee of the mill i s g ive n meC::.ical assist ance and ho s pitalization free
of charge . A hospital is now b8ing b1J.il t in Wetu.'llpka whi ch the Bo e.rd feels
will be of g r eat assista.nce to the lo cal departme nt for medic a l cases in the
county. Dr . H. says he fee l s wo rk for t he cripple d childre n is one of t he
g r eates t ne e ds in t he county . The r e was a discussion of the manne r in w:0.ich
Federal funds are made avai l ab l e to t he c ounty for cripp l ed chi l dren. The
Board members were kee:!1.ly i nte r e s t ed i n t h i s arid told the f ie ld r epr e~e ntative
of a meeting which l'1ad b e'2 n he l (i t he day b efo r e concArnin6 t h i s phase of we lfare work.
When the Board adjourned i t w~s ag r ee d tha t it shoul d have mee tings
mo r e r egul a rly . After the mee ting the fi e ld r epresentative TTas tol d by the
visitor t hat n os t of the :Soar d. membe r s had b ee :!1. corning int o the office to
l earn so methi ng of cha11ges in t he wo rk .snd to keep informed as to the gene r al
tre nd of the p ro 6 r am . 1~i ss C., directo r, wr ote to the Board membe rs at int e rvals, about how the wo r k i2 p:togress ing an.d :i.n this w3,;;- kept them informed
during tho se months in whi ch r e;~ar m.:e tings v.r 2r e not ho ld.
Fi e ld Repr ese nt a tive
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