Full text of Survey of Social Work in Three Rural Counties
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\/3,W&1 /'J.: 13 PROGRESS ORKS .., A· DMI ~ l S TRATION Harry L. Hopkins, A(1m1nistrator Conington Gill Asri.'i• .: ,,'.:.":--:t · Hownx-d B. Myer-a, Di1•ector Social Re search Division A!lm1n1str a.tor :. , II ol.;t •tc qcc1• n't o!lo':t rl.t to ~ 1: 'lJJ 0£ T 'IO 1 I,c 1r:7odm jn T. . "/ 'IO ) l. '··- ( t a j •t ;f'.toq ooO SURVEY OF SOCIAL WORK IN TijREE RURAL . COUNTIES , I . · -..OVERNMENT PUBLICATION .. ashington June 1936 ..,.,, . UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY LIBRARIES '' ... r)f !lO ·tl: 1.•r. a T •f 8'10 ' • T• f ,~zJa.L£1 1tE "11.; t'~'l.J ' - I'\ h 0 "- Lt l,' oH ~ J: ~ i. I:) .,. ";(() )U b"I . ' exploratory su1•vey of rur.~ l. 1~oolal work , was made in the fall of ,l.93~-~i ·' tth'.e:'~tudy pf Esqpmbia County, Alabama was ·m,ide: bt_., Wi.l ma ·Van· ,~e.i,Je~dqJ;"PJ . of Redwood County, M1nnes·o t_a '.by Eli,-zap.e.t}?. · · McCord; and of ,Wicomico Oounty , . -M~ylan,d by .A,n Sybil . ; .· ••.·. · . .· .. Pease. :.· , ah··•· The · survey was carried out i; in ..'c~op~~~t'ion ·:with . a¢1.v1sory committee, cons1st1rig of J;he ·roi:10:~ \ng · ·.: . .. · .,· ',. ., , , · . ·. . members: . . ·' ,·· , .. ,, ~. Josephine Brown, .Adm~ntstrativ;~.').s$l$J;'a,nt, Works Progress .Administration : • ... · Edmund ' 9-eS,. Brunner,, Teacher.~· doii,se;·· : ' Columbia University __ . '.!'. _.:-···· / ·:•_ · . , ... , . . Antoinette Cann.on, New Yor,k ~c'po_ol.- of S9ci_al,. Work Louise. deB.· FittSimon~, 1 State I?irectox-: of Empl'Oy~ . _ment, Wol'.'ks •F'i-ogre~s "l\dljiini13t~at11:(>n~ Georgia · . ·· J. II; Kolb, . University ·of ·.wiscon.s1n: . ·: , , . Gertrude Vaile,· ·un:t:-Je'r"d'lty. of' M:b¢eso.t~ ; ' ' .: ' ·: ' .:\\ .,/1 , ,, f ' •: :• • '• I, • • • Both the ·surTey~a,na. ttfe ·preparatlbn of thie •re,port were under th~: dlrect :f on 'of. T,. •J,. Wo'Ofter_; . .. . : '••.•: '. .. ,R~aJar~h• Coordinator ot' ... ' . Ru!'al \ v•· I- 0 .rt ,• Jxt.•, " • CONTENTS • • ~ ED\'i OD COU WICOMICO COUN".PY1 :rnrisoTA lW YLAND • • SUMMARY All three agr-1cult ural counties included 1n thia aurvey had experienc e with proteasio nal social work dating back from be£ore the depr~ss1 on. A welfat-e agency bad been establish ed in Redwood County, M1nnesota in 1919, Wicomico County, Maryland 1n 1925,. and in Escambia Co'U.?lty, Alabmaa 1n 1928 .. Those in Redwood and E1c b1a wer set up by the county gOYernmenta under the atim.ulua of the state child welfare departme nts. The agency in Wicomico, was privately initiated , tor the mopt part privately supported and had no oft1c1al connectio n with the county governme nt. Pitior to the depressio n, all three agenc1ee were pr1mar1ly concerned with child welfare. Those 1n Redwood and ·1com1co also gave aaa1stanc e to the mentally and physical ly hat1d1capped and to persona needing medical aid• When the deprene1o n came the thl'ee agenciee assumed the initial burden ot me ting emergency unemployment needs. With the coming ot Federal and state relief funcla and the oatabliah ment o! loc l Emergeno7 Reliet Administ ration 1n 1933, the old weltaro agencies lost personne l to th• ne• organiza tions. Although nominally they continued to function in the field ot aer•1ce to children and the handicapp ed, this work was pi-acttca lly discontin ued 1n Redwood and Eaoambia and na curtailed 1n · -Wicomico. The enactmen t of the Feder l $ocial Secux-1ty Act 1n 19;55 marked a third diatlnct period 1n the history of rural ~oc1al work in the three countie . The possibil ity of obtaining Social Security Funds was undoubte dly t~~ ~etermin1 ng factor in the eatablialm ient of integrate d et.ate weltare iu-osram• 1n Maryland and Alabama. Wicomico and :Escambia oovntiea 1et up local county . welfare boards, in accordanc e with atate leg1elat1 on, to cover varioua type• of rellet and welfare service• , including general relie~, old age pena1ona , aid to the blind• mothers• a.llowanoes, and oare of dependen t, delinque nt, or neglected children . · w1th the eat blisbmen t of th1a new oomprehenaive integrate d progam in Escambi , the old Oh11d Welrare Departtnent waa oft1c1al ly liquidate d. The pr1..-ate Wicomico Welfare Department was officiall y liquidate d. The private Wicomico Welfare Associati on continued to exist but apparent ly it was to lose its ch1ld•pla c1ng tunctiona and juvenile delinquen cy work to the new Public Welfare Board, '!'he third step waa not completed in Redwood Oou.."lty. Minnesot a no plans to take advantage of Social Security Fund.a not set up an integrate d state welte.re program. The social work program 1n Redwood County continued under the domlnat1on of the county comm1ae1onera. Although they a.greed to the eatabliah ment of a County Board ot Publ1e Welfare under superviai on ot the State ERA they apparent ly were to delegate to it only the administ ration of relief to unemploy ables and oertitica t1on of 'WOrkera for WPA. They themaelye a at the time or the survey directly administe red old age peneions . poor reliet. and medical care, and shared with had mo.d and had. . , the probate judge the administration of mothers' allowances. A local county relief agency under their control administered generalrelief independent of the State ERA, _pending the setting up of the proposed Board of Public Wel£arG. The Child Welfare Board oont:l.nued to eive services to children, feeble•m1nded, and miscellaneous caeee, under ijupervision of the State Children's Bureau but also under the control of the county commissioners. Th& state directly administered aid to the blind, with the agsistancc of the Child Welfare Boa.rd. The state soeiai work supervisors in recomn1ending 'these counties for study said that the general attitudes toward adequate standards of relief, professional service, state administration, and the entire soci~l work problem in theae three counties were more favorable than. 1n neighboring rural counties. They attributed this fact in part to the longer hi~tory or aid to parsons in need. Since the statos themselves were chosen because they had relatively advanced prcgr8Jlta of rural social work, findings of this study represent a higher quality of rural social work than exists 1n the country aa a whole. In none or the three counties. at the time of the survey waa a coniplete social work progrwn in force, when measured by the accepted area of social ~ork. The fun~~ental human needs which an adequate social work program moeta may be li~ted as follows: {a} The economic need of individuals &nd families who, either temporarily or p0r1aanently, cannot obtain the basin necessiM.es of 11.fe. (b} Tho need of cbildren left witr...out gv.ardia.nship or with inadequate guardia.nsh1p. { c) The need of individuals .fol• help with epoo1f1o problems: children in conflict with the law or ·rith pa:rents, persona troubled about social relationships, etc (d) The need of the physically ill for information in regard to medical resources and care, and help in using them. or the mentally defective or mentally 111 for und·e rstanding supervision or for help in obtaining custodial care. (e) The need The county v,elfare boards cst:nblished ln Escamb1a and Wicomicio orrered possibilities of e:xpana on to moet the first four of these needs. No action had been taken in the field of mental hygiefe by the social work agencies in any of the counties or states, although Alabaua had atipulntad 1n its Depart.nent of: Public V''elfare Act 01' 1935 that sueh a program shoul'1 be Sf>t up. The additional need r.or companionship, varied 1nter~sts, and personal A mental hygiene clinic eonducted ln W1qomico had no direct connection with the social work azonc1es. expression had not been reeognized by any of the social work agencies in the three counties as their province. . At tht time or the survey none or tho aoeial work agenoiea was actually meeting in tull even those type• of need which it accepted as its responsibilities. Relief of economic need, on which primary emphasis was based, was inadequate according to the agencie~• own standaI>dS; both in the amount of assistance given to individual cases and in the extent to which assistance reached all individuals in the community who were 1n need. None of the counties had ascertained the extent of thia or any other needs or had accepted full responsibility for meeting them. L1mitat1ona in rinencial resources, in personnel, in guidance from the state, and in sympathetic attitudes on the part or the community re t~icted the ~ractiee of the agencies. Nature of the Rural Caae Load 'l'he general rel.:t.ef agencies in all three counties and tlle nhild wel.fare agencies in Wicomico and Redwood had largely undif'fet'ent1ated functiona. Anal7sis of their ease loads reveals the wide variety of problems which they were attempting to meet. Inall three counties. the general relier agency carried oases of unemplo'3lllent, employment with insufficient income, medical c~e, old age, _and maintenance of children. In addition, unemployables and feebleminded were on the roll in Wicomico and Escambia. The older eerviee agencies 1n Redwood and Wicomico carried similarly . diversified loads, except that none of their cases had applied for assistance b6cause of unemployinent or employment with insufficient income, the dominant reaaons for applying to the relief agencies. . These same . problems would 'be met by social work agencies in a.city, but in no city would any single agency assume responsibility tor such a wide range of problems~ Except for the private agency in Wicomico, these rural agencie5 placed no definite limitati~na upon their field of eervice. other than the amount of funds, the personnel available, and the capacity of the workers. Pereonnel ot Staft and GoTern1ng Boards The professional workers 1n the county were limited in training .and social work eXperienoe. Onl1 one out of' a total of 18 had had so much as one consecutive year of formal social work training and this one was a c ase work supervisor paid by the stat• rather than by the county. Only one of the five workers in administrative positions had any recognized social work training. The education or the 17 locally employed workers ranged from high school to college graduation. Only two of the work,rs had had experience in social work previoue to their emploj'ment in the county. ~welve of the group had been teachers and others had a background or nursing experience. All had the advantage or rural backgrounds, and ll'l08t of them had been residents of the county before their present appointments. Residents of the county seemed to have an advantage in being more immediately acceptable to the conmnmity and in satistying the demand that jobs be given to local persons,. The Minnesota ERA ..... a W had ha.d a pol1 y of employing out-of-county res1d nta tor its ate.tr but the vi 1to~ so employed 1n R d~ood during th ERA regime bad been seTerel7 or1t1c1zod by local off1o1ala tor their 1mmatur1ty re11 f policies. and their libe~ I Tli~ 1 s1z ot st(l.tt in relation to the case loads app m•ed to be in accordanc with tat atandar s ·1n W1com1o and Escambia 1n Octobe:r 1935. hen activ oa.aes aver gad '75-100 per social worker and 100-150 pr cler1o l worker. The active oase load• however. would aoon b augmonted by ld age eneion applic tlons which promised to double the nUlit'b r o£ a ea per ocial work r in ioomioo and triple the numb r 1n Escambia, 1f ddit1onal atatr members were not engaged. A review ot pvaotioe bowed that delay between · application d 1nve_a'Gigat1on, between investigation and not1f1oat1on of rejoct1on, and intl"equent visits to clients were du primarily to lack of eufti ient ataf'f. The governing boards of the var1oua agenc1ea repreue-nted . t the county. including prosperous the taxpayer and n1Ployor fal'mera., bua1nea11 men, lawyers, county o.t.ticial, and civic it k was their money ney sp nt on aooial leaders. The neighbors con eq_uentl7 they showed was betng epent on ho~.o work. a vital ·in~ereat 1n all detail~ f t The county connnias1oner·3 aleo were olooely 1n touch with the public agencies, and took an active ..1.ntere t 1n cases work oft a 1.nvol ed or and plans., wben the expend! ttu'it or county unda wh n new p lici~s wera bing e~tahlished. The social worke~s had to spend muoh time conferring with governing boards 1.nd the comm1ao1oner. They eeemed to accept this part of t fr lll)l'k aa neoea~arr d desirabl and to have oth working r lationshlps with tha boards. In fact, the exeouti ca tend d to allow ~h r epon~1billty fo~ the d velopment o~ the ag ncy to reat with the boardo tf.llc1ng little or no leadership themaelvea. It was clear trom the study that while this e1tu t1on continued nor l rogr se oould be madeJ yet h w much respona1b111ty load it also appe ed que tion boarda would be willing to delegate and bow long they would ,P rm.it an exeout1ve to remain in her pos1t1on 1.t he 1ns1sted upon having clearcut roapo:!a1bil1t7 or 1i.' ahe •as impatient to aee · progress. Fa 1litiee In W1com1co and Escfllllbia Oount1ee th re hAd b en recent expansion in ottice apac, aince the di oontinuanoe ot the ERA. In turn the ERA. in eo.ch or the counties bad had better 110rklng conditi n than the pre~ioll8 local genoy. Privacy or semi~privaoy waa provided for interviewing clients On t be o~her hand, 1n Redwood Count7 where relief was in till un1ntegrat d, ot~lce apac local hands and weltare aervioe was extrem ly limited t the t1me of the aurvey. e TI'anaporte.tlon prov1"1.onn ino.de ro1• woi•kero in all tnreo counties appe R ource ed to be ~elatively adequat. for institution l oare were limited fn all three counties. Provisions to~- tho i"ao\Jl -r,l'.'i.l1dGd were ospscia.Lly inadequate. Jon of' the couuti s llild ndequELte p:roviaiona to .met the medic l needs of ta.mil • Esownbia offer d the least car , i'rom tho at,uldpoint of both inoti tutional and d d iicomioo Counties both :ln !vidual tro tment. E ce.mb1 fqwit alth service,, s~me :regular .ublie none. bile Redwood 11¢ prnotio lly Praetiee and Proced•re g1ng r pidl.y ·t; the In all. t· o countie pr otio YG.B fuoh of th do.t obt ined WG8 ba d on time r..i' the urvoy. pat performs.no under the '• .A. ino eurr$nt practice mde~ the new orgo.n1~ Hon, 1n each county waa not alway rea il bee 'I ble. By praoticei 1a me ·. . t he tot 1 cant:.ict with the cli nt inc.lud;ing mator1 l f.lB&1&t&uce e.nd other con• Cl'ete sel'v1eeo, and v:it;h the co~ untty in b ,,._f or th cli nt. An att~t ;rondo to l.eo.rn to G.t .,ctent the problem. ot d'lstenoe 1n rural areas affeatod practloe and to d.eterm1n <r al con ide1 at ion rt.th whe:bhel' ot> nt t rm f oo-,.111e r~c 1v e found that open country non-farm. r all tbl'-ee counti9e 1t dle town and cases tencl d to b · un er-l'epreEH.;-n ted ou relie village ce.s-,a were ov r•represented. Wh$t1Lor this r f'lects lesc t ·Ei:r.u.:iol.. tu t · i! 1' .,1liea a t nden -v ln '01' •ctie to i greate~ an~ thoee t remote di tan ea or wnet e» it 1nd1oat~e need tor aid among th vill g end town po~'\.1.1.ationa wa not clear from thi aurvey. In aoBl!lbl County the .tact that man7 uJ:' 1 1\.0~ l;:Ui t ...on er under car of th farm f~tl1e Cor or t~o :o •tiall xnl ina th ,.r ,lnde~rep1>esent tion on relief. In $neral, Nagl'oes ~~& nro o tionately nepresented on the relief l'Olla in i00J1110I) County 01 tha baaia f t c.u- umber - in the g,aner l popul t1on but or mark dl1 undor-r preo nted · i: on tho :roll ot the nX'iV te welfare e._, noy. ln ·Ea Oounty there w a no oone1stent ~•lat1onahip between the proportio~ of JI• oe11 1n th g n ra.l popul t:l.011 and tho p1oportion c,£ egm,es in the va:r·h'>us :r.11 f s,unples taken. Tho:.." wa evidence me visj!lis fi•1,1n I;~... ocia.l workers that Neg1>oe• r ceived tewo1~ than d.\d the white, and that fl!nount of reli ~ to Negoee were er bo. od n 1.su"l livlng ete.ndard • less., s inc the b get oy the r l~et e.gencie Tho ~rinci $1 type of h lp gi va ,a.ter1al ■ sietance. So o medical ~al:'•~ health guidanc, so extend d. financial advice. e.nd h&lp in t1nding emplo:yl'uent vere Tho pr1vat weltm.-e agenciee 1n Wicomico and Red ood• on J other band, gave chiefly aerv1oe• auoh as medical ex.am1n t:l.ona. placement 1n institutions. advice and friendly contacts. The private ag noy 1n toomico also gav aom.e dil'ect f'inanoial aid• I e Work reliet waa commonly giv n by the relief ag•nc1es 1n J Redwood and Eeoamb1 Countie• but usually in oomb1nat1on wtt~ direct r•11o.f, from 80-96 per oent ot the ca e1 receiving both t~es. In W1aom1co County onlJ about halt of the oases rec•1ved work relief and this aa 1n combination with direct •reliet. In Redwood County when the survey was mad the tendency w a o giv work relief 1n ca hand direct re11e~ in kind or orderaJ in Eecamb1a also t e three types of grant• w•re employed; 1n ico 1co ll relief was in kind or order, but cash we about to be introduced. The average m::>nthly rel1et grant per faJ1111y changed very slightly 1n Escambia and 1com1co Counties when the new integrated progam took the plac of the E.R.A. In R dwood County, on the other h d, there was a ah81'}) drop, prob bly due to the high average ot 2, a month under tho E.R.A The avernge groant in September when the oounty as11U111ed reepona1b1l1ty fo~ 1ta r l1et load was about t11. T U10unt roae, bowev r, in October to nearly fl.9 month. In all three count 1e relief continued to be g1ven on a budgetary det1c1 ncy baa1. In Eaoamb1a and Wicomico Counties the budget was rela t:ed to' the f'ant:ll1 a' u.BUel. standard or 1,.v1ng, and waa baaed on tood needs only• All other n eds aro ignored 1n Eace.mb1 J 1n 1com1co medical car as provided rat er liberally and some clothing and b dding were furnished 1n kind, but no rent was paid. In Redwood under the E.R.A a greater errort had be n made to base rol1e.f g:rontp on an accept d rninuru bud et. After the county w1thdr biom the E.R.A. local relief al.cul ted to meet emergencies only. and the uoual- tandard ·ot living norm.al so preYa11ed here. · In th• relief agencies ot all three count:i.e investigation tor relief and servie had been aocopt procedµree under E.R.A , Elib111ty in Vlioomico wao e tt\blished: accord:i.ng to tandarda (,, develo d b7 the otate and locality together. Thes had co e 1n reaaingly liberal in recent -.ont ~ ln Escwnbia County ther l were no set standard tor eligibility and th& 1nt~~e worker decided eligibility on . c e -to cao ba is. The number of contacts "1th clients 1n Esoa.mbia and Redwood countie p ed 1n general to b relatod to the case load er worker. Visits of ell nta to the relief oftioe were more numerous than visi ta or the workers to the client a• homes 1n the e cou.'1'1ti 1oom1oo. on the other heud, home contacts, th number of home contact to the numb r of month ~nder ca.re. the cl1 nta and the oo1al wo~ker 1n In Redwood County and such contaot a • contact exceeded oftloe bearing a. close relationship Th re were f contacts between tho child wel.fal~ er de o.genoy in remostly 1n th hom • Home cont eta wer also more numerous 1th the elfare Aesociatlon cli nta. icom1co In ap1te o~ th greater di tanc to be covered in v1sit!ng oli nta 1n rural area• the- social wrkera me.de approx1matel'J as many Y1sit to op n countx-y case aa to t .. e mol'G tJ.ccessible village and town c1.u,es. ted more to .funds Closing f oaae appeared to be r a•a1l ble md to admin1etrat1ve pol1a1ea than to th need ot re r mov d from the client&. In Redwood County cli ents relief when it wn discov red that they wer e new re identa and c se w r eloaad when e:m.plopnent wa tho,~ght avail ble. ]'.n Eaoambia r l1et" to the farmer was cut to aoooll".odato land owners or to encour ge families to ecome Hur 1 Rehabilitation clients. ncy in Redwood rarely closed caaea, keeping The Child ~ltar them o en on the books hen they re not actually ~eceiving a1d. Record ot th r 11 t agenc1 a in aeh county were 1n better condition than t hoa of the a.genc1es which had exiated prior to the E.n.A. fhey wer fairly complete and ad qu te except tor data on r jection, ond1 in some ease, intervi w child w lte.re agency records mat rial end closing data. - T - 1n Redwood rind EBCO!!lb1a were much lee aatiafe.cto:ry:. The difference ppeo.red to b- lar~ely due to lack of clerical peraonn 1. The tato child wolftll' tl partrr~nt, l1k--e the E.R.A •• had set up lll~rioal procedures which the limited staffs had not been b~ to fQllo • Pl' o ice 1n regard to child • 1:f'are wae undeYelo_pad 1n uttl :ont to · meet 01rot1es, Foater home ea.re a"1 h apeoial y county, e.nd no ounty bad a worker trlJ.ining to h lp 1th r,,roblemn ot oh1ld co.re. "tnncltll'ds for t u..s d and dq, te lnvoatigat ... ons of bomea er ~-'board!~ Mm · verd ii -i, .:.i ....t! all tbr. e :n in In tb&il' l' 1 tlons w.t h c 11 ntu the workero showed a variety attempted to injoot thetno l'V s into the of' tt1tu.de • S() pers nal live ol thei:r c!.ien -or ev&n of p r ons not on rel1et e.r:d to impos upon th,~ the tr ideas o:..' cori, ct C'.)nduct. On the other hand, one ~,.orkeri as o f 1cndly 1th cl1.ents that she epent an un nrr ted ampun.t ot' t i.tue 1. h thom in sacio.l conversation. rlter toi;,k a. punit1vo 'ttitude toward allcli&nta. In Another all count1eo, ho vor, t :ere were workers who were ~V1dently making a conso1erit1oua ettort to be object1Te~ eon.a1derate, and bua1nes 11k • ' ' ponmnm1tz Inf'lU!)!\C6'3 !.nterviews \rith l.,ading citizens oi' t he ·three counties brought out viu•,-il\g opi nions oncerning re11e and o ooial work. some persona zpre,ssed ap rov 'l of' tho ore li: · r•al standard• ot r 11 f 1nt.z. duce~ d r tho lh .A. 0tbt?1~s o.,-:: 1nded that gr-a.nta had been too high ijmde.i9 the i.R· A. and 'that ac,cial work a houl b limited to a service pro~QM, os oai:ally , o:r children. In one county some of the laJmen int l"v1ewed expressed opposition to professional social ,rorJ~ i.n gen ra. ., bPtth becauso of' 1 ts cost terfpre.. 'w re ~,. •~:re not wanted•" rke~ e so 1 l and b · • d lit l On th whole,laym.en int rviewod t.ili.o under tanding ot the eantng and purpose of '. protea ional social wrk. It :te ate to e y that in none ~ th ae ~un~~, had formal aoc1a1 wrk tra1n1ng been felt to be neo BSi82'7•1 , 'c!al workers wer \ . I\ ' pted r r•J cted not on th b s1 ot training or uper1or a ek111 1n handling the detaila ot the work but on the baaia t general executive ability and ot personal qualities. Con 1der bl opp,oa1t1on to stat 1nterterenc 1n loo l matters was expressed. State supervision w a accepted, howev r. while generoua State and Federal funds w re flowing into th ountiee. When Federal aid endo 1n M1nne ot • Redwood County immediately withdrew from etate ,upervia1on, evidently preterring to do without a small financial contr1but1on from. the et te, than to a -c pt .further atate control o~ relief. Peraon 1nterv1 w din Redwood and Escamb1 1nd1 ated that they believed work rel1et was the beat typ ot public aid. Appar ntly th1 ttitude was not ao strong in 1 mico where glven to rural worker and where much DU h leas wor r lief ot the lay leaderehip wa located in town of 10.000• . In Redwood and Wicomico C9unt1ee 1ntluent1al o inion• 1n tavor ot sterilisation or ~•rta1n typ ot public dopondents. Sterilisation of unmarried mother•• permitted under Mu-yland law, and ot teebl••m1n ed women under M1nnesot law, with the cons nt ot th patient, -..ro enoouraged and there waa ome sent ent expressed tring nt applic tion or the l w. 1n favor t • wider and mor State Sy.p rvis1on • Int new public wel.t • program wh1 h were .functioning 1n Alabama and .Maryland t the t1Jn or the study• the single tate public w ltare agency 1n each state ssume le derah1p 1n the d velo ent or loeal social work programs nd practice. They at up personnel qual1t1oat1on for loe l etafta. established record proc du.res, and reco ended atandarda rogU'ding c ae load or work~rs. amount• of r lief, eligibility requirements for clients, etc. The oounti wer not required to accept stat recommendat1ona. but 1n many etate they wer doing so at the time or the survey. In Alabama re reeentative ot the atate oft1c• were sent out to aupervise edm1n14trat1•e detail and oaee work methods, but their mimber was 11m1 ted 1n view ot the ar a to be oovered. The representative in E1c bi gaT very little time to case -.,rk euperv1s1on. In W1com1oo, oaee 110rk uperv1 ion wae oonducted continuously tllro ha worker employed by tho state, aa bed b en don under E.R.A. Sino• she wa• aubord1nate to the local executive her . authority was l1mi t&I'\, but ehe was bl pl"actlce th1"ough ,ugge tion and example. to ettect 1mpro~.mnenta 1n In K1nneaot the Ohildren'a Bureau of the Stat auporv1sed the work ot local child ltare boards. t1eld atatf and no funda with which we.a seriously handicapped. Boa~d 1th ~r Control limited supplement local ork, 1t All three etate g nc1es seom d to take a conc111 toxiy att1tud&\ ) toward the oount1ea1 striving to introduce theU' m thod without antagonising local gove~enta. v The influence or the form.or E.B.A. aup~rv1a1on was till apparent 1n the counties. Under the E.R.A. up rv1a1on of county or b7 y bad been 1 the tato en exp cted counties tor c iv .fund•• uthor1 e e rte.in r not t:rictly follow d th -y had · e P(>l1c1ee ount1ea. Undoubtedl7 more darda 1n t d as w emplo7 be ua t E.R.A. st •rt1c1ent tly under to training and e>xper1 nc • Of'tico r c s 1m roved ia. Case loads E.R.A. Cash ~~l1•t was introd d 1n commended by th l vel ut a work :U 11 r on th g1v1 11c1 te •E• Ev n tend d to 1b1l c . nt w1 h and wor acce al' t1g t1orus or clients t:roduc d 1n all tbr on l aet 1n pr1nc1pl. tr count! ting Th auperY1 ory work conduct d prior to the B•R•A• by the Alabama Child Wolfa.r Department and the Minneaot Childrents Bureau while handicapped by the lack or r-unda and of legal uth.or!ty, had holpe4 to bring to public attention then ede of 1ndividuals, articular y children, and ha.d nco'Ul"a.g d th oontinuanc ot social work tor me t1ng these need. Without thee tat departm nts it 1a doubttul wh th r there ould have b n counties. any organized social wo~k 1n thea t e .J -No t t auperv1a1on o~ atWlue h d ever be n available tor lack which the priv te child w ltare ag noy. in 1comico Oounty, my ccount 1n p~t to~ the at t1 quality of' the work or thi agency. stated partment can The quality and oonttnt or hat cont ibute to locnl uni ts in th& ,ray ot a permanent p:rogrnr.t 1 reover., th readiness ot till to be datinitelr tormnlated. local m:>r-J: rs to accept supervision and. to us it to dva.nt g N ve~thel a it ppeors thdt the posa1b111ty that good will vary work will b done in the11e three counties depends on the 1 adersh1p tatt1, What the reapect1v atat• dep tmenta do of the tnt l ge extent bather or not thea I e countiee will determin to will be do tng superio:r work ccording to current t de.rd 10 years henc • INTRODUCTION - Since aocial agencies were tir t e tabl1abed 1n rural are the l1mltat1ons of social work pl"actlce 1n the country, a compared w:t th tha c1 ty • have been a r,parent. now to improve th$ q al1ty t 11r0:rk has be n th conoel'n of ti.11 tho e interested ~n tbe devalQ~r.t ot social agencies. Pl"Ogrossive citiaena 1n 1-urlll COl1ttllU?l1t1e want tho 1u1.me 1ety: or eoci&l. wot•k aervic trom their single .o mall a~enciea aa may be obtained f'rom save~al pecialized genc1ea in the c1t1es. Soc1 orker going into rural worlt wo.nt the same opportunities tor fesa1onal developm.ent that are ~ailabl• to eta.ft melllb&ra ot well org~a•d city ag nci s. Organ1: rs 0£ rural social work program, a:r looking tor informstion on hc>w to deal w1 th looal governments and how to seleot per _onnel that will moat ttect1vely met rural a1tuat1on • supervisors or rual program ar searching tor method• or impMving rural practice. Schools ot social work ai-e asking for help in planning curricula ror stud nta ·pre a.ring for the rural t1eld .:v 1th th otension ot emergency relief agono1•s int~ ~ac• t1oall3' 11 rural. oount1ea in the last few year1 and nth the prospect of mdeepre d development ot pel"mSllent public w l:fal'e · p gr om$ 1n rur 1 areas 1n the near t'uturo I the probl ot r ia1ng the quality or rural social work pt-a~t1c has r cently become mor pre sing. As an agency directly concerned w1th the establishment or emergency aocial . rk programs in r\ll"al area•• the F deral Emerg~ncy nelief Adm1n1 tr.ation undertook to tudy the nrobl m. In J'uly ot 19851 the Coordinator ot th~ Rural Rese rch Unit of the Federal Em.erg ncy Relief AOJ11ini trat1on called togethe~ a numb~r ot p rsons 1dent1f1 d w1th rul'f\l. oe1al work, t.ral:-.ing schoole to'I' ocial ork, and so-eial research to serve s an Adviaory Committee 1n working out the details of the present tudy. It wna hOpod that through observat1on or current 1"Ul'a1 aoc1 l rk pr ctice !nformation would be gain d that. uld be helpful 1n ha.ping future policie • aa decided torn.ice a liminary atud7 o~ curra~t pi-actioe ral widely separated 1 ar u ot the country to detorm1ne the spec1.fic problems social work meeta in these a.res. 1n a It A plan to make an intensive, ob ervat1onal study ot social work practice 1n a 1.nglJ count~ ln each of three atates was adopted. The thre counties, Red od Count;r1 1nnceota_. Vicomico Co -inty! Maryland, and E camb1a County• Alabama,. were cho1um on th ba.s ot th tollowing cr1 A• 1. Lo at1on a) he. oount1 el et sho d r pr sent contra ts in g ogr phical obol"act r1 t1 and typ a of' farm! g. (b) Tho countie s should bo 1n at tea wher th t t departm nt r wolt'ar and other etat ag 1101 s as w ll a tho rubn,.n1 1trat1va oftio s or th<:) u.11.R.A or .E.R. • e~ 1ntare ted 1n hov1ng the study made d illing to gl slstan •• (a) All of' th counti s ahOuld b r.hr-..l'ootor. (b) 01" th b l'Ul' pr dominan tly rur 1 in ' l populitt 1on, .from 46 to '70 per c nt ohould · ng ged in r arming. (c) All o unties should h ve usu. r ther than '1?11qu robl m. 3. (a) In each oounti there, hould be at l a t one a nc7! public o~ p~1v t 1 dealing with ind1v1d u la, which hat ex sted , oont1nu ouair 1noe 1927 or arl1er_ and whioh wQs ctivel7 tunct1o n1~ t the tiJll~ or the study. (b) In each count~ thor hould b a public gency for r lief ot r than the overs• 1" t th& poor or t county comm! eioner • er ot the stat reape1;. ttve t te hich wexaed th d scriptio n and hlch h y conside red to be doing compara t1v ly ~tfeot1v e work. Thy to k into account such factors s the prof ee1onal prepara tion ot t he loc l p rsonn l for ocial ork. the pr ork r • f 111 1ty 1th tho community over a p riod or ent time, the ab nc of usuul pol1tio al involve ments, and the capaoit 1 t the local rk r to particip ate in etudy of the pract1o or t 1r genci • The study or tho three countie s b gan with the coll ct1on ot b ok~oun d t on the loc 1 geogt' ph!o d conom1c aitu&ti ons. Rev! was d or OtU"r ntly effeot1 social legisl tton int et tea d prov1 iona tor other t te-wtd or ,l cal social program s rving thea o unties. Th field study wa mad .i nrk Oh ot the thr e countie s a of Octobe~ l 36J oo!al worker wa u igned to tak e oh county w'l'lero h pent fro thr t four w k • Observa tion ot social 'tl0rk pra t1ce was 1:lm1ted to work ot the county public r lie adm1n1 tr ti.on and of on the other jor aoa1al work ag&noy do ing with 1na1v1 du;J, if uch xi t d 1n th county. &>ur-cera of info t1on re local c s record • 1ntarvl e 1th social wo~kera, -and influen tial c1t1£on a ot r.h county, and d1r ct observa tions ot the taff t work~i I i!ol' o tH.nea and . schidul e Appendl i REDWOOD COu"NTY, INNE80TA • CONTENTS I. II~ I II, Page The Co\Inty. . . . . . . . . . . . • . . • • . . . . • . l 3 nevelopment of Social Work 1n Redwood County •• The Soo1al Wort Agenoiee. . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6 t Funo ti one • • • • . Child Welfa:r$ Relief Agency Govel"n1ng Boa-rd,s • • • • • • • , e • • • • • • ,. • • • • • • • • • • 8 • • • .. • • ' , .. ,. • • ~ Bo~. • • • • • • • . • • • 6 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 10 F1nano1a1 R•aouroea. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 12 Ohil~ Welf&.:rf Boud , • , • • • • • . . . • • Relief Agenoy • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Staff. . • . . . • . . . • . ~ . . . . . . . . ~ , ! 12 12 • , 13 Physioal F.aoilities • • • • • • • , •• , ••• ! ~ , 14 Stat• Suparviaio n. • • • • • • • ~ • • • • • • • • • 14 Ohild Welfare Board • • • • • • • • • • • • • • l4r Rtl1ef Agency • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 15 Public Attitudes • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 17 xv. . . . 1919 . . . . . .. . . . .. . . •. 19 . . .. . .. . . . .. . . . ..• 30ao . . . . . . . ... . .. • 21 aa . . .. . . . . . . .. . •, aa . • 22 . . . . . . .. . . . . . . .• aa2223 23 . .. . .. . . .. , 23 • 24 Ru:ral Soo1al Worlt Praotioefl and Proo•d~r•s • • ! Types of .A.ss1atano•. • • • • '• • • Ohild Welfa.tte Board • • • • Relief Agenoy • • • . • •• • • •• • •• • • . Standards of Relief. • . • • Reoords. • • • • • • • • Child W•lfare Board • • • • • • • • Relief Agency • • • .' ' • .• Residence of Clients • • • Oh1ld Welfare Board • • • • • • • • • • Relief Agenoy • • • • • • • • ! Intake Procedure .. • • • • • • • • Child Welfare • • • • • • • • • • Relief Agency • • • • • • • • • • • • Oontinuing Oontaota with Oli•nts • • • • • • • ' Qhild Welfare Board • • • • •, . Closing Oas••• • • • • • • • • ' Child Welfare Board • • • • • • • • • • • Relief Afenoy • • • • • • • · • • • • • • • Workers• Rela ion to Boards and to the Community • ... ~ ♦ ~ ~ ~ ~ ... . .. • ~ . . . . . ... ' 84 25 . . . . "• as • 26 27 ~ ~ ~ • Th• County I. Redwood County is in the liveatook and emall g:rain area of Minnesota about 110 miles southwest of Minneapolis and ~t. Paul. The entire county is dependent upon agriculture. I~ 1930 nearly two thirds of the populat1on1 lived on tarme and the others livtd in villages and the one emall town in the oounty, Redwood Falla.a .More than 61 percent of the worke~s 1n 1930 were farmers or farm laborers and about half the remaining workers were eng&ged in trade. The population is about nine tenths native white and the other tenth is chiefly of Scandinavian and German birth. There is a ecattering of lndiane and Negroes~ With favorable olimat1o oonditionB and well cleared land, agr1oultUl'e has prospered here. In the d•~r•saion and drought .period it suffered serious setbaokst and the value of land depreciated, yet the county was able greatly to improve 1ts roads in the fi•e years 1930-35 and by means of plows to keep the roads to market clear for farmers during the winter. Cenaua data show that proportionately more farme~e in Redwood County had radios and telephones in 1930 than wae true of farmers in tha state as a whole, more than half of Redwood farmers having these oonvenienoes. O.n the. other hand, the proportions with eleotl'ioi ty ( 10. 7 percent} and running water (4.8 percent) ware lower than in Minnesota fa.rm hoaea as a whole in 1930. The illiteracy rate in 1930 was only 0.6 perotnt3 aa compared with 1.3 peroent for the state a.a a whole. The eohool system of th• county has had progress1Te leadership. Of the 111 schools in Ootober 1935 eight were graded and five bad vooattonal training. There was a commero1al oours• in th• RedwoOd Falle H1gll School, and poet-graduate normal oouraes tor the training of rural teachers in Redwood Falla and the village of Lamberton. The majority of the teachers in the rural sohoqls of the ooun.ty he county had had reoeived their training in thea• looal normal courses. one ola s for subnormal ohildren, located at Redwood Falla. The one pttbl1o) library in the county, at Redwood Falla• was well housed, had a trained librarian 111'--oharge, and ,m, AJJ1er1oan L1b:rary Assoo1ation standards. However, the rural populatton of the oounty could use the library only by paying a yea,ly fee of $1.00. The Agr1oultu:ral Extension Service had maintained a oounty agent in Redwood since 1~13, the county paying expenses other tha?j sal~. Within the past two years a home demonstration agent had baen added to his etaff. The members . of the 4--H oluba and home demonstration groups organized by these agents were the children and women from the more prosperou1 farma in the oounty. 1 !. U.S. Censue of Popuiation, 1930, 30,SOO. 2. Population: 3.552 Aooording to the u. S. Census of Population, there were·94 illiterate, out ot · a total of 16,120 persona 10 years old and over. a. The oounty had done little in the way of publio health wort. There was no public he~lth nursing serviot, no regular eohool nurse, and no v1alting teach•~, A private hospital and small maternity hosp1tal w•r• located in Redwo&d Falls, hut the nea:rest pub11o olinio waa in ](1nntapol1a. Funds raise~ by the Publio Health Aaeooiation through the sale ot Christmas e•ala provide~ oooasio~al special health serv1oea in th& sohools, usually taking the fo%m of a nurse's ee:r.-vioes fo~ few week9, speQ1al olinio1, and Jlantoux tests, State i.neti tut ions available tor the u.s e r,f under-privileged or handicapped residents of the or>Unty inoludtd a hoep1 tal for the insane, schools for the feeble-minded, deaf, and blind, a colony for.epileptics, a sanitarium for oonsumpti'vee, a hospital :tor orippled ohild:i:-•n, two for delinquent oh11dren, and aohool for dependent ohildr8n. ohool• The one public institution for dependent ohild~~n in Minnesota inadequate, and a number of private institutions in the etate were frequently used by Redwood County. The state sohoo1e ford 11nquent children were used relatively little by the oounty, sinoe the looal p~obate judge wae oft n able to dispose of jUV9Dile oasae without oomm1ttment. The •ohool for feeble-minded. was oompletaly 1nadeciuate. It had a waiting 11st of mor• than 1,000 in Ooto~er 1935, and many persons in Redwood County ho had been committed could not be admitted. The waiting period ha.d usually been from two to three years. W8.8 The sohool for f~eble-m1nde performed the servioe of et r111zing faeble~mind d women, under & Minnesota law whioh makes auoh praot1C$ legt.l with ooneent of the patient. Thi ee:v!oe was frequently used by Redwood County. -3- II. e Development of Social Work in Redwood County Redwood County first assumed reepone1 b1lity for itn needy zens in 1873 whwn it began- to maintain paupers and to pay pllys1cian s 1 citiand hoepitale * bills. The aged were first given qutdoor ~•lief. Later the county home was built. With its liber l standarde and good management 1 t pe:rhpps marked an advance over outdoo.r oar•. In 1901 the Minnesot a State Board of Control was establish ed and began gradually to develop instituti onal care for speotal g:roupe in the state. In 1913 a state mother ■' aid law was pa.ased and the fil"St standards of any t1nd in the etate in regal'<\ to adequaor of rtlter were eetablieh ed. The war and poet-war years showed a sharp inoreaee in activity 1n behalf of the under.pr tv1l•ged , both in the oounty and the state. Under the influence of the State Bo.g;rd of Control. state legislati on was enacted in 1911 for the b•tter protectio n of children and handioatJp •~ persons. In 1918 the Ohildren ts Bureau ot the State Board of Control was set up to administer these new laws. Al though the law was not J!1andatory, Red.wood Coun1¥ establish ed a County Ohild Welfare Board in the following year (1919}, and a paid executive was ngaged in 1921.l At about the same period (1918) Redwood County appointed a Aohool nuret fo~ the first time, a service which was lat r disoontln ued. When emerganoy relief was first eatabl1eh ed in Minnesota 1n September 1932 the State Board o! Control waa made th& agency in charge, under a St.ate Emergency Relief Administ rator appointed by the governor . The Children 's Bureau of the Stat• Board was delegated to do the wort. Its division of relief adnt1niet ued relief 1n the stat• until June 1934 when it aeparated .from the State Biard becoming the State Er.aergenoy Relief Adm1n1stra tion,3 Federal, state and oounty rtl19f fun~• were administe red by the state relief organiza tion from December 1933 until Septembe r 1, 1935, first through the local Ohild Welfare Board and later through a separate E. R. A. A looal oounty relief oommitt• • earved aa - advisory oommitt• to the stat -adminis tered agency, lu August 1935 Federal ~•lief ended in the county. Sinoe the atate oont:e1b·i tion wa.e only 32.000 a · yee.r for 1935 and 1936 the county withdrew from the state E. R.A., thtr by waiving 1ts right to reoe1ve 1tate tunds, but winning tye right to administer relief iteelf according to local standards without stat• superviak >n or oontrol. The independe nt oounty reltsf agency set up on Septembe l, 1935 was functioni ng at the time of this survay (October 1935), but the rcounty was about to aff111at• again with t~s State Emergenoy Relief Administ ration. 1. a. Her salary was first paid from Red Oroaa funds and later from county funds. The State Eme~g•noy Relief .A.dminietra.tion was an extra-leg al organiza tion. -4- W1th the proepeot of obtaining Fe4eral Sooial Security funds the county oomm1ee1oners had agreed to appoint a oounty Board of Public Welfare on November l, 1035, under a plan propoeed by the 8. E. R. A. The plan provided for administra tion of ~•lief by the looal boa.rd \Ulder stat superYiaion; the oounty would provide a fixed sum of money and tbc atate would attempt to meet the budget dtfioienoy of the county and would pay the salary of ·at least one person to adm1n1ear the progra.m.l The · oounty ~ad tentatively accepted this plan. Since the state legislature bad not authorized the, eete.'blierun ent of auoh county departments of publio we1£are, the existence of the Redwood Oounty Board of Public Welf~r• would be extra-lega l and the county commise1oners would be under no obligation to d•legat~ any authority to 1t. At the time of the survey the county oommissionel"-8 had entire responsibi lity for dispensing old age pensions, and motherst aid (given on order from the prooa~e judge) entirely from oounty :funds and th utate ad.ministe:red blind pen1iona from state fund.a with the a si.stance ot the looal Ohild \ &lfar• Board. The function• of the Oounty Board of Public Welfare would be limited tQ the adminst:rat1 on o:t county :relief funds and servioe to nffdy unemployab les am to certifying applioa~t• for the Works Program. The ooia.l wor:ter emplpyed in the county at the time of the survey told the ebse:n-er that they tXJ)ect•4 th• oounty t~ meet the emergency needs of employable persona eligible for Worts Program jobs but waiting for assignment to jobs. Howev r, they and othen 1nterv1..•d could not p~edict whether or not this and other relief functions would be delegat~d to the new Depa.r·t mant of Public Wa].fa:re by the county oonmrJ.aa ion.eJ:a Qr whethez the ccmm1ss1oners ~ould retain direct xesponsibi lity themselves . Tha U1luiesota Statt Boar~ of Control had prepared a bill to 1936 state legislature which would est!blish oounty boards the to present of pubU,.o WC3lfare and detftn W t powers and dutie .. Thie bill • ~ integJ;"s.te relief and other weu·are servic•e of the county with the eervioe At a. the time of the sur1oy," tiie county was meetin~one of the •~•nee of adm1nist%at1on of the Board af fublio Welfare and the state waa supplying the servioes of the oountv relief worker, one vi i:tor >. and one stenograpb l'. The county wor~•r wae the same person who had administered the local E. 1. A. for th stat durii)g the past year. Sha had been ~et ined by the oounty whan it with zew from the E. R.4. The 0111· incorporate d some of the recommenda tions made by the Oh11- dren• s Bureau of the U.S. Depari:nent of Labor after a study of the Minnesota Oh11dren•e Bux au in 1927, Katnerine Lenroot in a paper ''First Ten Yee.rs ·• Ro:rlc of the Children!-.s Bureaun, Minnesota ·stat1 Board of Control~ read. before the Minnesota State Conference and Institute of Social Work at St. Paul held September 8-13, 1930, made recommendations as fol1owsP (a) study of the finano1a1, needs a.i:ld resources of tha oounti-s and the etate and of the division of finanoial responsibfl. 1ty between the state and the oountiea w1th reference to pa"1ent for aerv1oee and for the o a.re _of ohildran in their own homea, in !oater homea, and in institution s; (b) atate aid to oount1• to provide for the services of a ·trained wo:rltex in eve1·y county, thus a~cuxing oontinuoua skilled service to all aootionSJ (o) authorizati on ot the State Board of Oont~ol to formulate minimum standards of training and experience and to approve appointmen ts of persona employed by oounty ohild welfare board.st (d) ~e~djuetme nt of state and. looal. r•spons1b111 ty for caee work as-trained servioe· beoomes available; and (e) encouragement ot county child welfare boa~s to develop a general oounty welfare program. -5- to children being oonduoted by the Child Welfare Soard, provide tor the suppleme ntation of county funds by stat~ tunde for bothl.B.d ministrati on and ervioe, and give the tat authority to pprove county pereonne l. Enao"t.tnent of this ·measur ould place all ete.te e.nd Fed•ral aid agai» u . dex the Stat Beard of Control as in he Yfars 1932-34. The prospeota of its being enacted, however, waxe doubtful and it appeared that the county commie ioners would still have di~•ot control of all relief •xpenditure a in Redwood County. At the time of th survey th state of Minnesot a had wo:rked out no plan for the uee of Social Seour1ty fun.di. ----------·--------......--------------------This bill did not get out o committee in January 1936. the legislati ve session, -s- ,. III. Trip Sooial iork Ag•noiff I As !ndioated in the pravious seotion, the ~•lief and w•lfa~• p:rogram in Redwood County was in a. tre.ns1 tton pe:dod at the time of thia survey. Two social · oxik a.ganoiea had. been full.ot1on1ng in the county, (1) the Ohild Welfare Board, under the ~upervision of tha State Ohildrent Bu:·eau, and (a) the oounty -relief agenoy which had existed 1n an inde- psnd•nt etatue for less than two months and wae about to give way to a state-aupervis ed extra-1 gal Department of Publio Welfare of l:un1ted powere. Tb ex1st1ng agenoiee wara both puolioly finanoed. In addition the oounty commissions~, were 4ireotly handling much of the relief work giving old age pensions and mothers• allowanoe direotly and passing an all relief eXpenditurea. Functions. Ohild Welfare Boar. Since it was first appQinted in Jun• 1919 by the State Board o Oont~o • the Redwood Oounty Child Welfare Board had funO'tioned actively in o a.rrying out th program of the Ohildren • a Bureau. and also in mee1J irg a wide variety o-.f local pxoblems not includtd in thepxog:ram. followa:l .. e The pro~am ot the State i Ohild:ren•s Bureau may be sumrnari~•d ae am 1. S~ al activities relating to guardianship, plaoemente. of children, and illeg timaoy and misoellaneoue oases; 2. Inspeotion:, licensing, and super-v1111on of maternity hoepitals, ¢hildr~n•a in~titutiona, boai-ding homee, day nureer1es, a.n:1 ohild-placi~..g adoption agencies; :.; • Action in all matter1:t relating to guardia.nl!hip.t eupervieion, entrano• 4. Compiling ~d coordinating of etatietios on casea under its oare. to institut;one, vacations, and dieoha~gte of fe ble-mind.ed persons oommi. tted to the State Boe.rd of . Control. Froteot1on of children born out pf •dlook wae a speo1a1 duty of the bureau since this function was •etabl1shed by law. , The bureau interpreted. the law to _mean that it ahould oontaot every mother of e.n illegitimate ohild, establish pat•~nity; obtain support through the arr•st of the father, whar•ver possible, s&e that the child had a three months• nursing period, am follow the oa$e until the ohild wae 16, barring adoption, death 01• some othe:r d finite disposition. of th The County Child elfara Board wa~ the authorized representative Stat e Ohildren 1 s Bureau 1n oal'ry1ng out thie pror,ram. The additional !unctions which the boal'd aesumed were not clearly defined. The observer noted that the board aooept d any xaqueet for aid that oa~e to it and attempted to meet all requests in eome fashion. / Annual report of Children•s Bureau, June 1934. .e Some 1nd1oat1on of the area the board was attempting to oover in October 1935 may be given •r analysis of oase reoorns taken from its files. The board had approximately 150 oases under oara in Ootobar, according to the records, whioh were inoomplete.l Information wa• •~11able for 54 oases.a These were not limited to ohild welfare. oaa,e, u indioated in Table 1. OnlY about two fifths of the oases analyzed represented epeoial problems of children, including unmarri~d mothexs, mothers1 allowanoa and dependent and neglect d children. oases of feeble-minded and mentally dieeasttd amounted to nearly . one third of the total and oaaea requiring medical care accounted for &bout one fifth. Unemployable oaaes due to old age wer relatively unimpor.t ant on the rolls and th re were no oases of unemployment alone or employment with insufficient income. Table l. Child Welfare Board Aotive Cases, Ootober 1935, Classified by Type of Oise and Re ■ idenoe Redwood County . Reeidenc• iTotal: Open Ooun;trr: Village: Town Total : .• 54 Unemployable 4 Old Age a Blind :z a Insufficient Mothers• Allowance: 4 Unmarried Mother : lO Dependent Child 7 Neglected Child • 2 Feeble-minded 15 Mental D1eeaae ! l ltedioal Care 10 All Other l - : .. - .. . 6 3 . . 15 1 6 .• 2 - •· • t 8 31 4 a 2 3 4 3 l 8 l 7 l 1 -- -a .1 t 1 1 3 ;: l .• - in general, the cases are the type that remain d•pendent for a long period. Only five of the 54 oases had been und,r oare for leas than· seven months, while 19 had been under care for mot• than four yeara (Table 5.) On the other hand, the agency's prooedure regarding oloaing of oa■ ea was suoh3 that many of the eases stlll reoo~ded as aot1ve may .have received no aid for some time. i. 2. 3. See Records, p. . It is believed that these caaes are fairly repre,entative of thetotal case load, although a sound smpl:1.ng prooedure oould not be used. Oas•e from Redwood Falla as well a e from rural parta of the oounty were included since Redwood Falls, only elightly exceeded the Census definition of rural (plaoee under a,500 population). See Closing of Oaaeet P. • -sA large proportion of the oases had. had oontaots with othe~ agencies. Thirty-nine of the 54 had been aided by other agencies, 36 by the E. R. A., 88 by the o ounty oommia.eioners, a.Di two by the Red Orose. The following tabulations •how the number that had received aid f~om one, two, oi all three of these agenoies in addition to th, Qhild Welfare Board • Total Cases • • • • • • • . .... . .. . . .• • 54 . ~nown_ to othe·r agencies • • . • • . . • 39 Oounty Board ot Oomm.iseioners only . • • • • .• 3 E. R. A. only • • • • · • • • • • • • , • • .. 10 E. R. A. and County Board ot · oommise1onere. 24 Red Oross and E. R. A.. • . • • • • • • . • l Ommmiasione:rs • • • . • • • • • • • • l Red cross, E. R, A., am County Board ot It is evident that many o"'f the oases war• kn.own si,mul.tanaously to more than one agency. a fact that is not surprising due to th~ interrelationships of personnel 1n the several agencies and to the length of time oasee w•r• retained on the books ot the Child Weltu.-e Boa.rd. Re½ie:f' .A.genoz:. The oounty relief agenoy had 212 active oasesl in Ootober 19 5. No data are available on th~s oase load~ but schedules were filled for the 60 oases opantd or reopened in September af't•r the agency had w1 thdrawn from the a. E. R. , A. When d a.ta on these gasea art ~ compared with data on 87 m. R. A. oaaes closed in June and 3l8q June oases continued from the previous month, some light is thrown on the nature of the need for whioh the looal reliet agency was assuming responsibility. Analyeis of reasons for ppening the . June and September oases shows that the oases taken on by the independent county agenoy in September, like those on E. R. A. Tolls in June, were predominantly unemployment and under-employ- ' ment oases. In both the June continu.ect oa.eea and in. the September opening■, 70 percent or more were unemployment :releif' oases• and almost 20 percent were oaaes of employment With tnsuff1c1ent income (Table 2). Moreover, in June the oounty relief orga.ni~ation wae .. supplementing a large numl;>er of old age pep.done given by t,1e OOWl°ty Qommiseione.r.e because the amounts of the pensions were too low to cover the expenses of a single individual. That the unemp1oyment and under-employment dependency probiems in the county were of & serious natUl'e 1s indicated by the tact that two thi.rda o:t the June continued oaees had 'bean on relief oontinuously for more than 18 months and only about. 10 percent had been on relief for that short a time as one yea.r or less ( Table 6). None of the oae•e had had a previous relief period, indioating that once on the r eliet rolls they had - l. a. The only town in the oounty, Redwood Falls, wae inolud•d in the enumeration e1noe 1t only slightly exoeeded the Oenaua dlfinition of rural (places under 2,500 population). The total June case laod, according to the oft1o1al F. E. R. A. report was 481~ • • fable 2. Continued and Closed Cases of the Emergency Relief Administ:ra.tion, June 1935, and Opened and Reopened Cases of the County Relief Agency, September 1935, Class1f1ed by Rea.aon for Opening and by Re91d&noe, Redwood County Reason ~or Opening Tff• of OIIH lly :au14t:w• June Continued Cases June Closed Caa•• :Total: Open :Vill =r : Open : Vill~: Town ;Qo1mttxi age, own. 'l'otal:;cm,ntry; . Total Unamploymeut Employed - Insut-; f1c1ent income Old Age l Insuff1oi8'1'1.t Mot-: hers• Allowance Medical CaN .. : 87 28 35 34 51 65 12 32 22 9 6 19 16 2 2 6 18 6 3 !- 3 6 6 - 318 96 159 63 225 45 12<2 39 54 .. 30 - .. ~ : : .. l .. 1 I co I • • •• Table a - Continued Raa•o.n for Opening Total Unemployment Employed - Insufficient Incon:e Old Age Septe bar Opened and R•o~ened Ones ;Total; o8R!½½:i Village; Tolfll 6Q 14 24 ~.a 42 8 19 15 11 3 a 3 l l 4 3 a Insufficient Jlothers 1 J.llowanoe Aiedioal Care 1 s l -lo- • stayed there, unable to find any other source of livelihood .l The emergenoy nature of the ~eliaf ag-mcy case load ae 001.llpared with that or the Child Welfare Board is indioated by the small•~ propo~tion of clients that had had oontacte with other agencies tither prior to or at the same time that they were r•o•i~i~g relief from the county relief agenoy or E, R. A. Uore than half of the June oontinued am the September opened am reopened oases had had. no oontacta with other agencies. Kore than thr•e tourta of the June 010,ed oases had had no other oontaots. Of 166 June oases that had had oontadts with other agencies, 114 ha.d reoe1ved assistance from the oounty Qommiesioners, fJ3 t:rom tbe Red. Oorss, 33 f:t"om the Ohild Wel:tare Board, thl'ee had bad drought relief, and three had had feed relief. Table 3 ahowa that only 51 oases had had oontaota with mora than one of these types of rtlief i~ addition to thei~ contact with the relief agency. Of the 60 oaaes taken on the ocunty relief rolls in September only nine were known to more than one other agency. On the other hand, as in the case ot the Child Welfare Board, the appearance of oases on the rolls o! more than one ngenoy may reflect the inadaquaoy of the aid given by any one agency, especially by the county commission ers, or det1o1enoi es in the records rather than the extent of need repreeent1t d. Governing Boards The Child Welfare Board and th& Oounty Relief Oomm1ttee ·Wh1oh Redwood County in ootobe~ 1935 had advisory powers only. The in existed Boa.rd. of County 0ot'l'lll11ssioners had administra tive control of rel1e:t' a.!¥1 welfare services.• The Board of Oounty Oommisetone:rs inoluded fioe meml)ers •l•ot.i by the oounty arid paid $50 a year. The ffhild Welfare Board tno1uded five members - one from the oounty oo~ esioners, the county superintend ent of eohoole, and three members-a t-large, appointed by the State Boa:-d of Oon• trol. on the recommendation of th• county, for terms of three years. The County Relief Oomi ttee also inolud.fd fiv·• m&mbere, two from the Child Welfare Board, two from the oounty oommitaion ,rs, and one member-at-l arg@, · ·The over-lappin g in membership among the three boarde is notett~thy. The observer found that they funot1oned togethex rather closely like oomrn1ttees of one organizatio n, and the etaffe oooupf d the same offioe • 1. . On tbe otber hand, all but tft of the 60 casts opened or reopened in September had been on relief once before; Howe•er, their Nt'Uffl to relief rolla does not mean that they ha.d. been a.ble to suppo!'-t th~Jit.. selves adequat•ly in the period einoe they were last on the rolla. Vost of them we~e oaaas arbitrarily closed by looal oftioiale in July when Federal aid endtd and relief roll• were ahal"l)ly reduotd from 393 tJuly) to 87, including all employables and some ·unemploya.blee, regardless of whether employment' was available. • See Closing of Oases, p. -11- Table 3. Continued · and Olo&ed Oas•s of the Emergency Relief Administration, June 1935, and Opened and Reopened Oaoes of th$ County Relief Agency, September 1935, Redwood County Ageno7 , Number of Oas s June Continued Cases Red Oroea only Oounty Board of Oommiss1oners only Ohild Welfare Boa.rd only : County Board of Oommissioners and Child _Welfare: Board Red Crose and County Board of Oorruniesionara Child. Welfa.re Board a,nd Red O:r:oss County Board of Commissioners~ Child Boa.....-d and Red Oro s Drought Relief only Feed Relief only elfete No other Contacts June Olosed Caees • Red C,ross only Oounty Board of Oottm1iaaiontre only Child W lfare Boa:td only Oounty Board of Oormnissionsra and Red . Oro•• No other Oontaota 8•ptember Opened and ReopGned Oases Red Cross only County Boa.i-d of Comm1aa1one~1 only Oh!ld Welfal'e Board only Child Welfare Board and Red Cross Oounty Boai-d of Commiss1cnere and Red Cross No Other Cont a.eta 1. 3 8 87 66 6 15 24 3 9 3 3 162 87 2 11 4- a 88 60 3 7 9 4 5 32 The county oommiasionera wer the dominant group. Their -!mpb.a,ie wae on saving money; on controlling the use of what money waa expended, and on retaining authority over rel~ f. They e~reseed th~ opinion that relief had been given too liberally under the s. E. R. A. and dioated that they wer opposed. to soma of the E. n. A. prooeduree. They appeared detel'Ulined to resist anyarrangement that would take ·reliefgiving out of their hands alld eet it up as a epeoializrd job. They aooepted the new plan of the S. E. R. A. for a Oou:nty Depa~tment of Public Welftu"e only tentatively because S. E. R. A. $tandards of a.dm1n1a-' tration and ~elief, if carried out. would entail ~Teater xpendittll."es of county funds than would b neo ssary und•~ oounty control. i•- .• -120n the other hand, they sholfed that they had been 1n!luen oed to some •~tent by S.E.R.A. policie s. Althoug h they had withdra ,mt the local relief agenoy trom the state organiz ation, they had retaine d a profe$a1on al worker toa1.mi nister relief. the rune peraon that been paid by the state under E.R.A. }""u.:1!the:tmore, they no lon~erhad examined all applica nts person.a lly and e•emed. more r•ad.y to aooept th eooial worker•s estimat e o! ne•d. 2. 3. There as no 1nd1oat ion that the county aommiasione?s had changed their baeio attitud es towa:rd relie! clients . It wa.e the eXpreaaed opinion of the chairma n ot the Board of County Commissioners that all the people on :relief wsl"e "rif:f-r af! 11 and that it wae impor-tant to them ju.st a little less than they ne d and keep them hungry baoause''glve they oan help themael vee if they really have to." As might be expecte d from its compos ition the County Relief Committee we.a under the innueno e of the aounty commise ionera and. •xero1a ed its advisor y functio n to only a limited extent. '!'he Child ·v81fara Boaxd appeare d to b tuor$ interHt ed than the other boards in the handlin g of problem s other than those of financi al ed, 'but, 11ka the others• was not cono l"nOd. i th the d••velol)?nent of a nbroad program . F1nm:no1a1 Reeou;oet Ohilg elfare Board. At the time of tha survey, the County Child '!.-I aB being support ed entirel y hom oounty poor rel1a! funds. Th county was paying th ful.l-tim e sala;y and travelin g exptnet s ot the one social worker, the aalaxy of the stenogr apher and. aJ.l o~her adminis trative expenses. Tr.ere was noc'bfin 1te budget. The county col!lfdi&eioners paaQed o:na.all xpendit ur s, item by item. The state furnishe d no funds for th county work either !or Rdminist%at1on or for care Welfare Board, oi-igina lly :fina.nc$d by Red O:ross funds, of olienta . &.~~ef Aa:enoy. The county relief aganoy was aleo finano entirely by th~ county !n October 1935 wh1oh meant that it was paying thed salar1• of the full-tim e worker and the steno~a ph•~ beside other adminis t~ative and relief expense s. This agenoy also had no definit e budget and the county commiss ioners control led all expend itures. St1f! In October 1935 the Child elfare Board with about 150 activ• caeea had one worker and one stenogr apher tthoae ti~ ~as divided between the board an~ the relief a.genoy. The :relief ager10:, w1 th aia aot1v cases had one full~ttm e wor E.l1', one !ul?--tir: 1 etenog:rapher, and ~he pa::.-t ... ~irn• ae!'li ta.nee of the Ob i ~.d \7elfa:ra executi ve 'and e -tenogxa.phe:r. Tha also mploy1ng one wo~ker for W.P.A. intake e.nd oerti!i oation .l state a.a L. en th;, unty ooepted th naw plan ae of -ovemte:r l , this worker transfa~ red to nothar oounty and the oount1 relief w~·ker was g1Yenwae respon sibility fo~ intake and oert1fi oation as •~eout1 ve of the new ep2rtme nt of Public elfa.re. A ne• visitor was later added .to the # staff of the d epartm nt. 1 -13- Dur1ng the time that Redwood County was ;reoetvi ng state and federal tunda the average oat• load per worker had been 175 althoug h the S.E.R.A . he.4 worked to achieve a maximum oaee load of 100. There waa often a waiting perio~ of three waeks between appl1oa t1on and 1nveati t1on, but emergen cies we're always taken oare of. Workers average d twogahours a day ovtr-tim e. Executi ves of both agencie s funotio ning in October had formerl y been exeouti ves of the oounty E.R.A. The xeoutiv e of the Child Board had inaugur ated th& E. R. A. program in the county. She was elfa.re of the county, 47 years old, the widow of a lawyer, and the mother aofnatiTe two oh1ld:H n. Sha wm a high school grMuat e and registe red She had had no fo~mal trainin g in social work but had been a memb~r of the Welfare Boaid tor y are. Aft•r two yea.re aa school nurse tor Redwood County she had beooma executi ve secreta ry of the Ohild Wel!u• Board. nu:t••· . During the relief work, althoug h Board. She was still salary at the tiae ot last two years she had devoted moat of her ~ime to functio ning also as executi ve of the Child Welfare pa.id by the county rathe:r than by tbe atate. Her the surlfey was $135 a month. This worker did not oonform to the Ohil~re n•a Bureau personn el requirem ents on two counts : (1) The state require d a collage eduoati (2) The etate•e policy waa to plaoe workers in oountle a tther than theon; ones 1n which they lived. Thie work•:: had a kn.owledge of the oounty and of the people liying 1here, but she ad a profees1 onal. objaoti ve h toward olitnta , even. when she Jatew them persona lly. Sha seemed toapproac be anxioua for standar ds Which in her •etimat ion would contrib ute toward the well-be ing of olients . She hadhad no epeoifi o trainin g to give her oonf1d• nce in her work. and ability to evaluat e differe nt praotio ee. Henoe, she somttim es aooepte d policie s and procedu res whioh oame from a higher authort ty such aa the State Childre n•s Bureau even when they did not apply to the individ ual case. She had suoh flexibi lity in examini ng her own ideas and in oontemplating ohang•• ~owever that it seemed possibl e that she could develof greater ability to meat the needs of o11ents and the damande of a diff ult . profess ional job. ·· • The exeauti ve of tl\e .relief agenoy wa.yeai,-a old, 'a widow w1 th. 1 four childre n. She had alway lived in the middle 50 west and in Redwood County sine• Oatober 1934. She h~d a deg;ee of Baohelo r of Science 1n home- , eoonomica with a major 1n nutritio n and a minor 1n •duoati on. Sh• had had · no formal training in social work. trnttl 1932 her work experie noe had been in teachin g and in Teaearoh in food and nutritio n. ln 1933 she beoam• a ~•lief worker in anoth•r Minneso ta oounty and two years later oame to Red wood in a similar positio n. Her salary at the time of the survey was 8150 a month. ·-14- ThiB worker had a.mature, posAd, objeot1~e manner~ and her r•lationsh1pa wlth oliente app~ared definitely protea tonal. Sha seemed to lik$ the county commissioners and other layment with whom ahe worked. The obserYer thought that in sp1te of the Caot that she reo91Ted her training and eXJ)erienoa in another field, her interest in social work •as so great that with the right sort ot opportunity she would doubtless develpp a gr at deal professionally. ,!!h7sioal Fao111ties. The two sooial workers in the oounty in October 1935 had oars of theiT own and were paid mileage (5 oents per mile) by the oounty oomm1a~ sioners. Mileage as an xpense which the county oomm1ss1onera had gradually aooepted as an outcome of the 9,E.R,A. During the p r1od that the R~wood. reli ! agenoy waa pa:rt of the S.E.R.A., the agenoy provided tran► portation by renting care and hiring drivera from a garage, a praotto• 1rhioh had many handbaps. The two agenoiea har•d offio spac w1theaoh other and with the county oomm1ss1oners. Both ,xeoutivee were located in a small room on the first floor of the court house. The deek1 of the two social workers and one etenographer almost completely filled the spaoe~ The other secr•tary worked in the oounty oommise1oners 1 room next door. One oorner of t:i. executives• oftioe, large enough to hold two ohaire and a tiny tabla, had been screened off for 1nt•rt18wing cl ients. 011ents had to wait outside the door when the~• were not enough ohm.re to aooomeda:te them. - State Su;eervis1on, Oh1ld Welfare Boa.rd. The only social wo~}( euper,r1s1on being proY1d41d in Redwood bounty by ~h• stat• at the time of the survey that of the Ohildr9n's Bureau. This b'tU!'eau had a etaff of 17, inolud1ng th• director and his assi stant, nine apeoial supervi$ors or visitors of special de~artments; and •ix distriot ~epreeentatives to oover thestats. These 17 per ons all ,shued in the work of eupeni•ihg the Child Welfar• Board in the 7'7 oountiea which had them, ae wall as doing the active work on oases for whioh no oounty or private agenoy assumad responsibility. The main task of supervision rested with the diatr10, representatives. •a• Th r1praaentat1ve who oovered Redwocd had 16 otr.~r ommties in. h r a:re,i . m6!Plt of'-~-leb did , n~t have a paid ch ild w lfare executive. Th• , tot .1 oase count t n her di atriot for September 1935 waa 1,493. This volume of work made f~eilU.ent. visiting impossibl and contact with the eotU\ty had to bed vot d l ~z ly· to· t h · handling ,f emergeno1ea and obtaining of repol'ts on active oases for the reoor-da.l 'l'his diat:o:1ct rep~esentat1•• waa a middle-~ged woman who had -b&~n with the Oh1ldren 1 s BUl'e~u s1noe it was set up an~ _had ~Boently been transferred . to this territory. She had no social work training. · -· 1. Th State Childl'en' s Bureau kept duplicate copie of all o at;Je :raoords. -15- The Childre n• s Bureau r.as work1ng unde:r several handica ps. The law providi ng for local OhildrW elfare Boards was permiss ive rather than mandato ry; only 17 of the 77 count.!e e with Child Welfare Boards paid exeouti ~es; no state funds were availab le to supplem ent the looalhad work. Furthem ore, during the year and a ha,lf the.t the State Childre n•s Bureau had adminis tered the Emergency Relief program the time and energy of the staff were diverte d from the regular work. Also, when the separat e E.R.A. was set up in June 1934 many of the experien oed ate.ff members of the Ohildre n•s Bureau went ovar to the new agenoy. At the time of the surver the Childre n's Bureau was requirin g no monthly or annual reports from Redwood County. Relief Agency. Before Redwood County withdrew from the B.I.R.A . it had been subject to supervi aion by the state offioe. The S.E.R.A . had selecte d the Redwood Oounty worker and had appoint ed the County Relief m1tteea in consult ation with local officia ls. The same worker and sameoo,advisor y committ ee continu ed to functio n after the relief agency from the E,R.A., so that to this extent at ieast the influen ce ofwithdrew B.R.A. state ~upervi sion remaine d in force. Since Redwood County had reJeote d state supervi sion ~onths before but was about to:retur n to it on November 1, it is pertinetwo nt here to describ e the major feature s of this superrt sion. '41 The state E.R.A. stood for the foilo,1n g policie s: (a) trained and profess ional personn d.l; (b) thoroug h investi gation to establis h eltgibi lity; (c) adequat e standar d of reliet; (d) objectiv e and humani tarian attitud e tovward clients a rather than --:.s a g.roup; individu eJ.s (e) busines e-11ke and efficie nt amninis tration of ielief. Supervi sio was conduct ed through the Divisio n of Social . The ·staff of this divisio n in October cons1et e~ of a directo r and a Service sistant di:reoto r, an assistin 2: central offioe staff of three. 10 uistric t r,pre~enta.ti- ges, two nursing supervis or&, and thr~e members of the ":flying v..4\.4Cl.dron.•lf Tha aistric t repreae ntativee were directl y :respon sibl for work in the countie s. A recent bull~ti n outline d the dut1~s and xespon sibilitiee of the ·iistric t xepreae ntative as tollows : (a) Represe nt S ..• R. A. and act aa liaison worker for S.E.R.A . and county offioe, . • all per ons for W.P.A. employ:nent in out-counti':ls. Assume co 1pletc responsibility for the eterm1n9.tion of eligibility and .oe:r·t1f1cation for work and submit monthly report to the state office. (b) C,ntif (c) Certify to the tate office that all expenditures~ state, Fedor.al• and local, a. re in accordance with the rules and regulations laid down by the state off ice. an (d) Advise with both the county and~ te organizations ae to the professional staff an the policies a s they affect rcl1cf-3iving within the county. (e) eview and appxove or disapp-rovf:: All tate and Federal repor Si monthly a.nd se 1..monly irhioh that office may request, also all surveys and epeoial reports. All requests fo:r fundE, st•te or Fe eral, to supplement loca.l !'elief oneia. (f) Oert1fication of student aid oases, c.c.o. anrollment, and recipients of su:rplus ooimoditiee in out-oountie • (g) Oertifica.tion of a.11 intake foi: Ru.ral Resettlement in out-gounties. Besides Red ood County. the diBtriot representative bad 11 other ooun·He in her a.:rea, ·all largely rui·a.l, with an average population of about 17,000. She told.the observer that she iwent about 40 peroent of her time in public contacts, workin with county boa~d members. county officials, county :relief committees, labor groups, physicians and othel' professional person. She spent much t1m with the co ty relief ~orkera; holdin county Ol' a:rea staff meetings. She supervised expenditures by the relief workers, rork1ng out budgeta:rt needs w1tJj thehl, and giving suggeetlons !or· curt.ailing .a:ppa ently 'Wl..Y1e essery expendi tu.res. She helped members of th· ocial service staff to ~udget their time, assigned dutie$ to embers of the tfdf, and inte:rp:reted o t ,te policies to local boe.rde. Ocoai.ionally r:.he :uperviaed case work :f'rom office observation; or took direot charge of difficult clients. tri d to cc:1tact the oount.i s once a. !l1Cl1th, but expeoted pro 1·~ becE..tue n:.01 e stabl-, i ~ would be 1,oasible for her to frequent oont9.cts wit:.. t~e counties but to pend a longer time ric t .at a. make les he in mo· • Sh_ h-=- spent an unusual amcunt of time in Redwood County, conta.ct ing public officials, _ece.use of the interest they too4 in all e:xpendi tu.res a.nd ot:1er :phases of the work. ~.i_ district representative had been in the area sinoe Redwood came into the s.E.R.A. in December 1933. She was a. young woman, quiet, and CB.pable th training and previous experience in sooial work. She seemed to be well liked by the ooial workers, officials and laymen of the county. Apparently their objection to state supervision was based on its policies and procedures tather tan on the personality of its representative in the area. -17- Publio Attitudes The observer interviewed a number of private citizens conoerning social welfare p:rograms in general. Two attitudes seemed to be outstanding on the p ri of- most of the lay.men: that Redwood County should take ca~e of its needy citizens and that relief olienis should wozk. Praotioally all of the laymen .. interviewed expressed the idea tha.t tile county needed a sooial work progr@.m, but there seemed to be very littl conc~ption as to the fol"JD that this should take and practically no realization o! the profe s1onal aspects of sooiel work. They did accept the fact that rel1ef had become a problem with which laymen could not~al and iith · ich the oowity commissioners needed help. Tuey also axpresse iil!c opinion that tlo social. workers then employed had done a. goo Job. The Tax Reduction League had a!~tempted to a:rganize opposition to all sooia1- ,mrk in the county including botl the Ohil 'felfa.re Board and the :relief agr,ncy. tioula:.'1'.". Persons were also approached on thoir opinion of 8.E.R.A •. in par- The general attitude runong the persons interviewed was one ·of resentment against the arnou.nt of authority the state had ex.ercieed locally under the 8.E.P..A. Among the employers the observer found general oritioism of the wage rate of 55 cents &n hour on ork relief Jobs. Famers said that this made neoeseary a much higher wage for labor than they were accustomed to pay. One Armer said tha.t fl a day for farm labor had been customary before the depression but that farmers had been obliged to pay $2. 50 to i3. 50 during the s1mllller o! 1935. ~l'he head of the Tax Reduction League, a farmer olaimed. that 30 &, month in sm er and 10 in winter with 11v1ng were good wages for a farm l borer and ount d ~o more than the :farmer made • .1~ere also seemed to be a general feeling among the persons ap- roa.ohed that standards of r lief were to chigh un er ~.R.A., t. at relief was too freely given, and that clients were treated oo genlly. Some of the ld.yment interviewed -.iad that the st;a.te would give money but not dictate poU.oie • On the other hand, others thoug'"nt the state would have to give some supervision if 1 t provided funds. T'.c.e county attorney, the at.l'ongest single fa.otor 1n the county ·overrun t t sai t at he el t the county needed supervisory a.s well as financial help from the sta.te 11 to make studies e.nd help ue set up our program.• Both the cou.nty attorne7 and the oounty engineer, expressed the opinion that the state law pel'mitting sterilization should be made more stringent and be applied more widely. Ti.: oountym;torney as ing a study of feeble-mindedness in Red.woo County a.nd was planning to text the children th-rough the chools ;,._nd to test a l ielie:f cl:.enta. -18- e Other measures o! public interest in social work and welfare p1ogr6J!lei we;re the policies o:C the newspapers and the col)tri'butions by the public to private wel!ar& ag6notes. The ne•apapers . of the county had cooperated with t~e soQia.l workers, giving good publioity and respecting the social. woekers• wish to keep facts from public notice which would have made good ns~oriee.' Private contributions to welfare work in the county were found to have been extremely small. Praciic lly no private contributions had been ma.de for the eu,pport of social work in Redwood Oounty since 1918. The Red Cross nad assisted with clothing, churches b.ad helped their o•n membere• and together with clubs and lodges had ma.de ooeasional gifts to indtvidual.s at special seasons of the year. The ~blio Health Asaociatton, by selling Chrit$tma.e eea.ls; had proTided funds for medical service in the sohools • • -19- IV. Rural Social Work Practioes and Prooedurea E.xcept for conforming to to.te polioies, the <,hild elfare Board had few established procedl.ll'cs . fur its work. The relief agency had a. heritage of the procedures introduoed to the OO\UltY by the 8.E.R.A., whioh favored the following policies. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 'l"Aorough investigation. ObJect\ve establielunent of eligibility for relief on the basis of need. Use of a budget in planning r~lie!. Confidential records (inatead of having names publish~d.) Payment of cash for work relief. A continuing rel ·t ion 1liP wi-th the client for t:Ue purpose of: having current knowledge of al.igibilil; a.no ?a.ceting new needs as they al'ise. The policy of keeping re.ards ooni'idential was :reJeoted outright by the county commiesione~s who inaisted upon havi~g the names of recipi- ents of poo:r relief prtnted in the newspape:rs,. The accepted the other policies in principle, althougA these po11cies were not always carTied out 1n actual practice. · 1YJ?es oi Assistana~ Ohild Welfare Board. The types.of assistance which oould be given by the Child ~elfare Board were no ·hei·e defined. Analysis was made of the 54 Child Welfare Boa.re cases this study in order tocbte:rmine the of the cases received relief grants persona •.vere given mental tests nd for which data ere available for types of service actually rendered. Non from the board. The 15 feeble-minded 10 '!fere plaoed 1n inati'tutione. The 10 unmarried mothers were given advice andf.JSsiatanoe in eata.blie:hing paternity of -<;he child and in obtaining finanaial assistance :from the father for its support. In ll caaes, nur ing, medical. or uental care wa.e provided and physical examinations were made in four oases. One case waa assisted in obtaining a mothers* allowance and two were a.ided in obtaining blind pensions. In most instances more than one tyPe of servioewa recorded. In several cases •friendly contacts and interest" were listed as the only types of se:rvioe rendered. The Child elfare Board had an arrangmen't. :for transporting patients by a.mbule.noe to the olinio in Minneapolis. The social worker herself frequently drove clients there. The State Children's Bureau dvocated a regular investigation and set up definite standards tor boarding homes for children. The Redwood County Ohild elfare worker, however, did not alway.a make the formal investigation. claiming that it was impossible to find home in the county which were available for p1aoement that would maasure up to the standards. Ho program of foster home oar had been developed in the county. The county commis1ioner$ paid the board of few children in boarding homes. .Jl~lief Agenox. ln contras t to the Ohild Weli'aTe Board the tynes ofa3aist a.nce rendere d by the relief agency centere d about the need for financi al e.esieta noe. Data ere noi, availab le on the typee of a sistanc e being given by 4ihe looal relief ency in October 1035," but somethi ng of past may be learned i'1c1u ana.Jssi s of the cases on E. R.A. ;rolls in June.pol1oy All oft e June continu ed and closed E. ~-•• oases, analyse d for this study, receive d either direct or,ork relief. The great majorit y receive d both types (80 percent of the continu ed o~ses and 93 percent of the olosed oaaee.) ork relief was issued in cash but all direct relief waa 1n the form of orciers. In a number of cases. financi al guida,no e was 11.sted as a type of ervice given to th~ client. Health guidanc e was also emphasi zed. There we1·e a. few cases in which medloal oare was provide d. A t1umber of Loya wer given assisi;a. nce in enrollin g tn the o.o.o. Standar ds of Relief The average relief grant givem in Septemb er, the month that ~he oounty'111as entirely indepen dent of the S.E.R.A . and first the.t th~ county commise ioners were paying the entire bill, was slightly than $11 per fal111ly. In gotober when the county had aooe:p-ted state more supervi sion this rose to almost fl9. ·• This wa.e conside rably less than had been giTen during the first six months of the year under t1e S.E •• A., but somewh~ t more than was given to familie s in SeptemlJel' 1934 (Table 4.) For the 16-mont h period May 1934 to July 1935 inclusiv e the average monthly relief grant per family had been $24, not includi ng all of the medice.l care given by the ooun~y commis sioner, The S.E.R ... star.da,r d of l'elief was ba.sed on an estimat ed budget. which includ~ d the minim,m essenti al of living - rent, ood, fuel, e.nd olothin g. 1.'he food. allowan ce was estimat ed on the basis of the light nutritio n table re area by the nutritio n departm ent of the S.F:.R.A Sul."plus commod ities were extra. Under the S.E.R.A . most doctor' s bills. were paid, but the county commis sioners ha.d continu ed to a:y some which the state conside red too high and also had :pa.id :for hospi•ta l and insti utional care. Familie receivin g work relief were g1yen more liberal than those r.ecejvi ng direct -r.elief. The grantin g of general :poor g~ants relief, hic:h h-d been given for over 55 years by the county cornmis sionert., was based on no consist ent plan. Ainounts speht far hospita l and doctor' s bills were 1.ibera.l . ..,ent was often peid in full. Orders !or food were general ly inadeqll .ate. The special types of relief given entirel y from county funds varied widely in its au.equa.cy. 'Xhe avera~e old a.ge pension we.s 6 monthly . whereas the average for the state as llJ The average mothers • allowan ce grant as about 30 monthly , while the average for the state was ~21. The county commiss ioners gave old age pension s quite ·enerall y to persons who met the qualifio atior1s, not even making investig a.t1ons of the applica nt• s reaou:roes, but they usually gave poor relief instead of mothers' allowances. Consequently, only 10 persons in the entire county we~e receiving a mothers• allowance in October. The county comru1 eione;~s supplemented . Qld age -pensions with poor relief, in the form of orders 1 and in the past with Federal or state .funds, rather than raise uensions to a,1 ad:aquate amount. Interestingly anough the per ca.pita monthly expense for re idents ·1n the eounty home was considerably more than tbe av ?rage old ~:e ens1onfl8 wHhout anJ allo~anoe fol" dete:r.1o:ra.t1on of bui.ldtngs • Table 4. A'Ve:rage Relief G ant per : 1 1934 .!Jay June July t I r • 5,347.60 :e1'1.03. 19,841.64 : 11. 45 . ; 15,C58.4-1 • 13.25 ; 16. 5 ; 17,420.38 15.24 17,971.28 20.9 13,002.74 27.22: Zl,585.90 20,347.35: 24. 3.g. ; 281 : 1,137 1,184 1,034 Au"" st Sept. Oct. J.,179 ,21 Nov ◄ 793 836 Deo, 610 ·573 568 llar, June J'uly iii- 37,90 .'l.58 296.76 88.00 131. D 14.84 5.23 7.73 3'.J. 41 290.99 10.95 l0.Z9 ~6 398. 2 ll.07 45 36 408,60 385.36 456.28 350.12 10.?0 12.01 9.21 26· 22 266. '228,66 288.19 8,?9 lJ.10 :aa 216.7? 8.34 J Jan, Feb. ]lay 5 20 13 17 26 31 t 19:35 Apr. onth pe._ Famlly and per Single PP-raon, Ma:y 1934 throu$h JUly 1935 1 Redwood Emergency Relief Adminis .ration. . .• 527 531 455 371 ...• 19,134.41 : 1,37 39.44 19.810.71 17t858,54 31.44 16,123,15 : 30.69 14,585.62: 27. 47 t 12, 758,63 t 28.04 11,288/27 l 30.43 38 3S 26 9.08 9.87 ( Records. Ohild. Welfare BoF r~.. The record pi the Child 1wlfare Board began with tlie letter oi" referraJ. from the State Oh1 dren• a Bureau or so~e lbtger source, or by the intervi w with t e pplioan'1; r referring person, and proceeded in more or lass chronological order. Since duplicate records were kept in t e state oi.dce. .M:ueh O- the record was composed of inte ~iew material. oorrespondence with the Ohildren•s Bureau as well Regular forms were supplied by the Ohildren•a Bureau for application i -aato state institution s, investigati on of foster homes, eto. The local executive evidently ni.::.de an attempt to record every 1mporte.nt interview when time yemitted. Sometimes the reports of interviews gave an indication of the worker• a pa.rt in the contact with the client ~nd rometimes merely a picture of1he client's situation. There wue no c ent:r l index file, tha as:t.mct :cecoi:ds bcin; f1led. no reports of any k1nd~ either mont.nly or it?, several different places. yearly ere made inoe none wel'e required by the ~a.to office. Thus it ftas impossible 'i.o wtei·mine how me..ny active ca.sea there were at any time or ho·., 1any ca ea had been ol sed in any ;1 ve11 oeriod. 1'aok of time on the part of the one worker was e.npa:eently not the only reason fo:r tll.it de:fic:l.enoy . Her l~ck of interest i~1 ofiice routine a!l • the lack of rt:;oth r e. le,n t · ona. quire, ents from the e.te office eJ.!ef Ar.ency. Tae .E, R.A. he.cl instituted a regula..r :record ~,d card index system in Redwood Cotmty. These records began with the a.cy :for iue11 •i:fication and ici1 carried i.ile in:fo1'matiu neo face heet · the :f'amily 1 s budget. includ.in. for eeta.'bl1shin g eli ibili ty for .relief, and in na:rrati ve form. cal chronolog·: wa.e and !olJ.owed Inte.rview material Very fe'il records examined 1n this study 5 a.ve muoh idea of the uorker• cp1 :taot with the cli 11t except 11he11 some defi i. te action wao taken. Although interview material -.vas no-';; oom}>ldte, there had evid3ntJ.y been an , attempt to devel p clear and concise records, with full faoe sheet material. de or via: ts to f a licat1oi1s ecords ..... i·e 1ot. always kep oase. Therefor, the of ade was dispoait1on no the offioe by clients when no reliable data on reJeote oases waa ava1la le • .. :i1e executive of the relief agency ka· t the records faU,.y Uphe uetned to handle the a.dmi to- ate, an ma.de careful reports. Al·~houJ tely, she e;i,.-preased the adAqu miniistrativ e and routine end. of the wo:rk y, such as some of th unnecessa1· was routine the of some opim.on tho.t information on the face sheet. Shes d, however> that she had tried to ca.r:ry out the regular requiremen ts o:f the ta.te. The observer was told that fewe1 irregulari ties were discovered. here y the kflying squadron• of the state E.R.A, than in most other countie& in the state. Residence of Client. Onild elfaxe Bo d. Op n country cases were under-repre ented the cases on the and. villase and town cases were over-repres ented amo Child Welfare Board rolls in October an~ analyzed for this itudy. Of the .!54 cases, a.nalyzed, 39 'I.if.re f1•om t~ s villages and towns, (Table 1). Foli~f Agenoi. The same was true of oases on county E.R.A. roll$ in June and among the cases opened or reopened in Se tember (Table 2). lt is probuble that v1lla6e and town oases oame more directly to the attention . re concentxete d in the vil• o:t the t o agencies, tha.t unemploye.b le oases may ave tended to reagriculture in ent lagef; and that seasonal empl~y duce the open_count ry lo-.a.. Intake Procedu.:re Cf.nild !£elia.re Board. The clients applying to the Child Wel• tare Board for aid were fTequently referree to it by some other individual or by the Ohildren• s Bureau. The executive as a reporesentative of the state visited all oases so referred whether the client oxprease any des1rl • for service or not, and fxequently tried to persuade the client to take aome action determined by state olioies such as helping to brin about the arrest of the fataer in cases of unmarried mothers. The attitude of the Child elf&re Board xecutive toware applioants, whether they were seeking help themselves or were referred by some one else~ wa s sympa thetic. She frequently ent out of her way to extend help even when she heard only indirectly that someone was in trouble. Both executives acoe ted cases without evident disorim.inations. '!'his a ttitude was not entire1y upneld by the community at large nor11 by the oounty commissioners> who drew lines between the• orthy" and the u.nworthy". For instances, in the case of one W1I!k~rr1ed mothe~ the county commissioners did not want to pay for maternity home care because the girl ca.me from what they a:.lled a 'disreputable" family. The executive of the Child telfare Board took a firm stand and finallf got some money :for thie oaee. Uany laymen e:,cpreer. aritioiam of "worthless people" who were acoe-ted tor relief and indicated that they thought the social workers were not strict enough in rejecting oases. 4t ~elief Agenoy. Applications for relief were ueually ~ade by the clients themselves either by letter or by an office visit. Anplicationa by letter were accepted because of the inadaquate offioe space for inter,.. viewing and baoau e clients from some parts of the county had to travel then visited mn his home. many miles to the office. The applicant The executive of the Child elfare Board; who assisted with re, lief was as igned to the important work of the first interview. She too& identifying information in the offioe but to a great extent the first real interview always had to be taken in the home of the client because of the inadquate space for 1nterv1ew.i ng. The exed!utive of the relief agency said that she would have preferred to have the application taken in the office since in her opinion an office inteniew emphasized the business aspects of the relationship and frequently both client and worker felt more free and comfortable than in the home. • T'ne workers showed consideration toward applicants and und rstanding of some of the problems involved in aeking for help. They were business-like and rnatter-of...faotl they did not press fo:r information whioh the client did not have at the moment (such as dates of children• births); they explained each step of the way with great patience. One -worker in describing her discussion of the food budget with a :f'armer•s wife said she en aha began by asking what it actually cost the :family for food. failed to get a definite answer she went over actual expenditures with the woman until together they arrived at as accurate a figure as possible. The policy of the s.E.R.A. · had been to give relief to transients in the place in which they were located. The oounty commis eioners in Redwood County resisted this and were inclined to give poor relief even when the person did not need it 1n order to prevent the establishment of residence. Continuing Contaeta with Olienta. Child Welfare Board. The Child Welfare Board cases received few contacts il'ter intake, as indicated by Table 5 which gives data on 5• active October oases. These data indicate that the majority of the contacts with clients wex,• made in the home. Table 5. Ohild Welfare Board Active Cases, October 1935, Classified .by Number. 0£ Montha under Care and Average Number of Contacts, Redwood County. Mor a nnd~r -----...- ~ 08.I'e Total l month or leas 2-3 Months 4.-6 Total Cases 54 l " II 7-12 1~18 " 19-24 "fl 25-36 II 37.. 49 months end over ,a ~- 4, ~· u 6 12 tJ 19 ~ . ~~ ATerage Nwnber of' Conte.eta &r Oase oe 0 .. a.2 2.0 l.5 2.4 7.7 4.9 14.4: '7.1 3.0 2.5 3.0 5,8 - 14.6 -- ,.a In its oontaota with clients, the Child Weltare Boerd plsoed emphaa:t on what the social workers and the dominant group in the community thought best ror the client rather than on what the client wanted. An example ia the case of a Widow who had been on county relief since 1924. When she complained that her grocery order was not &nough. the county commissioners directed the Child /el.fare Board executive to buy all groceries for the woman. At one t ime this client applied for a mothers' allowance. The worker persuaded her not to take it on the grounds that she would got more m_grocer.y orders from the county co:nm1esioners, but really be ua she thought the woman•s spending would be ttunwisett 11 she were given oaah • . Anoth r aeo in point ·wae that ot an munar1"1od mother who waa r .o gard d s "d:tspepu.table" by 1nflu ntial emb rs ot tho community. Thia wman cam to the Child." ltar& Boal'd £or aaistanc 1n finding a job, and~ 111ng tog t such help ~ound job tor herself housekeep r to man 'Whoa w1te was 1n th hospital tor the 1naane. Arter a short time ehe lett the job, • . telling the Child [elf are ex outive toot t.l e nan had aslted h r to live •1th h:11!1, She gain i•equeated help :tn .f'inding job f.or the girl beonue or the l'eput M.o l h.o girl ha.d. tn corta.tn sections of th eori1muni ty -Io money aa :marr av :tl ble tor boarding the hlld in home and the moth&l' :refue a ttJ giv the child up tor doption. "'l'hti one action apparently- taken by tho '\"lOrker in thi ca. e was to is1t the motheI' dur•ng the :tort tir.Io thtl.t she rklng as housekeepor. Wf-1.S Undex- th E.R.A. home rlait re inad to r 11ef' clients on the avers• t once every two to thro months 1n the majority of ease according to data obta~nod on June c soe. ,Tl'...e client• visited he ~t1ce more t'requentl7(Ta lo 6). The lar r nur.tber of office than of home v1s1tn r fleets th he vy c~se loads er social work r rather than an ~ency policy of ret'erring otr 1e visit•• Tabl 6 Continued and Olo d Case or the Emergency Relief Admin1•t~ation , J-une 1935~ Claa 11'1ed by Number of Monthe under Ca.re and Avora.g Numb r of Oontaete per Case, R dwood County onteete Eer O se :~!!""""IOI'::"!::- =':'--~~-- nth# ea tfo."ses under Cara Total l month OX' lo 2-a Month 4..a 7.12 13-18 " " " 19-94 " Of't'1ce -- 12 21 · 72 21S . ..l 87 -- s.s 9.o · 19 21 55 10.1 14.0 .:..r __ ,_ -2.0 -2.0 4.0 3+0 s.o -.. A- 6.5 10.1 6.7 ... ~ ,, - Int'r quent invest! t:Jou of cli n.t leo was 1n 11n with a lib ral pol1o-r or t~ ~>J1.tnt7 tower c~•a 1n .f emil7 reaouro••• • • The aatne reltet budget was ma1nte.1ned even ~h$n thet-e had b n light incre s in ta:m11y 1nco • S1m1l ly 1n the e o~ dult hildl'on H.v1:ng t ho and working, the ency did not e.xpoct them to oontribute all ot thelr earnings to the family budg t. · 1 / -26- On the other hand 1 where relief was given in cash, as 1n the case of rork relier, the agenoy ad ~ol'merly had the policy 0£ ~eq1tring proj~ct workers to kaep aecounts of all expenditures and present them for the inspection of the octal worker from t :1.ma to time. Tv..ia policy had been rejected by the executive at the time of this survey. . The ,.oi~kers so::netimes used their contacts w1 th o 11ent~ as a. means or attempting to change the personal lives of the clients, in such res .. ects as heal th and clea..Tll.iness, child lt'elfare, ca.re of" homeo family relationships, or mor 1 ieaues. For example, they sometbes withheld blankets until a client had cleaned up his i,lov.se. Even with £am111es who were not on relief the social workers sometime tried to bring out changes 1n their manner o:f livtng. One ot the workers lisd been. interested in an Indian :family in which ahe said there w· s great discord between husband and wife# drinking on the part of bott.> and a recent su1o1de atten!Pt on the part oft he wife. After this last episode the worker aid slie got the man to promise that he would give up drinking and suggested definite steps fol' him '~o t~ke. Closing of· Cs.sea. The Child Welfare Board had no definite At the time o£the survey the executive seemed to be tending towa,..d 11m1t1ng the work and clarifying l"easons Child vrelfare Board. policy regard!n~ c!~sings. for keeping oases open or for closing them. Ucne of the 54 October cases analyzed fo:r this sur'tfey had had a prev.i ous period under care ot the board, indicating that oases were carried inde£initely on the records although little assistance might be given after the initial servj.ce. Relief Agency. Usuallly oases were closed by the r elie:f' agency when the workers decided thnt the client no longer needed financial help. In. Au._o;u.st 1935 whon Federal re lie£ stopped end when the1•s was n~ prosp t of state or Federal aid, the agency a:rb1trnrlly removed all c,mployable.s and sorae unemployables whose r eaources ware · not de~initely known to the social workers. Themanner of closing ~aa to tall the c·:i.ients that h:; might be · ablo to !'ind employment. Of.' 58 September reopenings analyzed tor 'this study e.ll but six had been closed in July as a result of the drastic reduc't lon in the relie~ load when £inal Federa1 grants were received. The other six ha,d bean closed earlier in 1935. It seems apparent that the~e reopened cases were probably in need of asaiatcnce when they were clOl!led. • Reoent residence was another roason for closing cases 1n th~ post•E.R.A. period. When the county comrnissionern learned that new residents were on reliet they instituted immediate action to have them removed £ram the rolls. - 7On the other h nd, ca~cs hioh had not requ. sted r 11 ! or which had no po~ ib111ty ox rece1v1na it were often kept on th rolla hen the soatal orker were p· rtioularly intorostod in the f 111 oon- • oern • • r, e • le of e. oa o the.:t as· not olos d wa.s that of work ~el.1 f proJeot and ho~ rk after having recclv~d his p y in e.dv epor for ordor but order • T e a. ency continued to give h id. h wo,s.l rhe an, indign :.n t this treatm nt, had been s1 ne4 to man w~o led repeatedly to of oe in . e fo ount • :reduced the ot . co pt r 1ei' t th workers urged .him to come back on the ca. 1. Instead of olo i o<enoy i ret,lly tnore inter ate in hi children then relief eoau e "tl orks.• 1n hether or not h , o.rk~r_p! ,, lation to Boe.rd eng. tg the Oo1rnn:m1ty .. The exeoutive ot the reU. r agency bad o rtain ere ahead. of pre ent att1 t ea 11'1 t!l. comm.uni y. Some of the e eho steadily t%1 d to att in - such a d quaoy ot reli&fJ other rog....r cd for h tim being, but hoped. to change u.ltimately - au.oh praetiv of printing the names of r oip1 nt o poor rel1 f. It we.a 11 1 sue ole ly rom the atandno1nt of sound di!fioult for er to e ca. praotioe, a~.eo1 lly h n co1'1.munity pre ure as trong, s in non-re id nte a. 1nd1v1dU!1ls who houlC e wo:rker s of non,..rea1 · nt • e aid a po· 1ble en oe to Redwood ounty, n be h lped but lo u t protect Redwood Oounty., The exeout1ve assumed reepon 1bility ior 1nte;rpre in t e m:>rk oard end to the county oo 1s 1cmers and ior keeping both She o~d thie thro ~h pereona.l boards oonstantly in tou h with problem lann d bOard e tinge. S.nte vies, char • mnpe. and "el to th ad.vi o:ry o had formerly wor d. n the c.:ouni7 In g~nere.l ooial O!l' f oo1al ork in and aco '• .A. had not fur-there the kno be v Ba the oommun1ty. '!'he present Cllil ne•t ;o y ,1 :f'ol • county t es as ru.,:.re intent on oa p raon, h quest e to he 0ou..T1t:Y He w erpretin-::> t · of th cotm·ty o:f'flcicll.e. s ors who h f , f til.l under 30 e.d on p r.ently to !a • • 1n1n e.n laymen lump i he1 oritio Th tu.a;t o et c.t t .c bo es, or er., conceali · considered too in l. Title .v n o e~ ou.t·ve. ere se:rved the E11R • .A.. at d1f'ferflnt ti d r1ef aour ·e ilt sooia.l out ide the ooWl.ty ani n on the community - Com- o e Y.oun on red ta e emp ow "hen ol1ents nt oi' cl rt rea. t le. 1 na. i • s -28- Prior to the appointment of the present Child Welfare Board executive, four other per ons had occup·,d this position. TVTo had stayed o~ly a short time and t_eir influence had een negligible. Two were trained social worke~e who ere there for two to three years and apparently were well liked in tne communit7. All four ca.me from outside the county. The present executive o! the Child Welfare Board had satisfactory working relationships 1th the county com.missioners anQ her advisory board and her contacts 1th individual board members were always pl.ea.snat • • The executives of bo·h agencies at the time of the survey had much in common in their attitudes toward the community and in their interest in developing better service for people in need. They thought that while the work of the Ohild Welfare Board was important and should have more emphe.sis tha.n 1t had been i-eceivin , it wo.s not a service whioh should be maintained by a separate agency. They welcome the idea of one social work a 6 ency in the Gounty which would integrate all services. I • •