REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PLACING OUT OF CHILDREN. The Committee on Placing Out of Children herewith presents its annual report for the year ending September 30, 1909. The agencies in this State engaged in placing out children include (1) private institutions incorporated for the care of dependent children, (2) societies incorporated especially for placing out children, (3) poor law officers, i. e., overseers and county superintendents of the poor, commissioners of charity and the Superintendent of State and Alien Poor, (4) county placing-out agencies, (5) individuals licensed by the State Board of Charities. Among the private agencies for placing out children, several have been engaged in the work for many years and are well established. These are (1) The Children's Aid Societies of New York City, Brooklyn and Rochester, (2) The Catholic Home Bureau of New York, (3) Committees of the State Charities Aid Association. Besides these agencies, many of the larger institutions employ special agents to place their children, for example (1) The New York Foundling Hospital, (2) The New York Infant Asylum, (3) The Convent of the Sisters of Mercy in Brooklyn, (4) The New York Catholic Protectory, (5) The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society, and (6) The Hebrew Orphan Asylum, all located in New York City. Outside of the larger cities, the work is in the hands of a few agencies for each respective county. The overseers and superintendents of the poor of some of the counties place out children themselves although in the larger counties they delegate most of the work to paid agents who are licensed by the Board. Then, too, the State Charities Aid Association has one or more of its agents, residents of each county, who give effective assistance in this work. Agencies licensed by the Board or carried on at public expense are required to report all placements, giving full information on the record forms prepared by the Board. Many of the private agencies supply this information also. If all agencies did so, the history of every dependent child placed out, instead of only those reported now, would be kept by the Board. The children placed in foster homes for adoption, indenture or for boarding purposes, may be grouped in two classes, (a) the infants, (b) the children of about three years of age or more. In large cities especially, infants are boarded with wet nurses temporarily who will mother them through the nursing period. The agent's more exacting task begins after the foster mother, usually of the newly-arrived-immigrant type, has taken in the baby. Then the home is visited twice a month, to see that cleanliness in the home and in the care of the child is maintained to some degree. Helpful suggestions are given and harmful contingencies noted, which would necessitate the removal of the child. In short, the problem in caring for this group is physical. With the second group the problem is more intricate. The homes selected are usually permanent and so must provide for the formative period in the child's life. The home selected must be normal, supplying a moral atmosphere and educational opportunities that will develop a good, wholesome-minded child, one who is prepared to maintain himself when the time comes. A most careful examination of the home prior to the placing of the child is essential as well as frequent examination of the home subsequent to the placement, until without doubt the home is found to be satisfactory. After that, written communication and occasional inspection of the home are sufficient. That the methods pursued and the results gained have attained a very high standard is in part due to the supervision which the Board exercises. All placement work for dependent children, whether performed by public officers or private institutions, should be under the observation of the Board's representatives who are detailed to inspect the homes in which such children are placed out. Although the institutions and most of the agencies perform their duties conscientiously and intelligently, careless or unscrupulous persons (usually those who have solicited the work) sometimes are found placing children in improper homes either out of mercenary motives or through a lack of appreciation of the im portance of a normal environment to young children. In such instances, the Board has endeavored to prevent such persons from continuing their operations. A uniform standard though desirable in this work has not yet been secured, and until it is reached, a uniform method of inspection will be impossible. At present the inspectors investigate the methods followed by each agency; if these are sufficiently thorough and wise, visits are made to the homes which appear to be least desirable in this class. In addition, all homes seemingly chosen in a careless way and those not previously visited are inspected. In this way, the Board coöperates with the agencies, giving suggestions that may be necessary or helpful and restraining efforts not to the advantage of the children affected. Complete statistics of the work accomplished in this State cannot be given as there are some private institutions for children not subject to inspection by the Board, which do not report the disposition of children committed to their care. Yet to give some idea of the work accomplished through the united effort of both public and private agencies, it may be stated that from October 1, 1908, to September 30, 1909, the number of placements of children in free homes reported to the Board was 2,332, while at the end of the year the number of children reported under care in boarding and foster homes in New York was about 10,000, all of whom were under State supervision besides about 7,000 living in other states. Respectfully submitted, October 1, 1909. THOMAS M. MULRY, |