85. Has family been aided by many private relief agencies? Have parents "worked" these agencies? What is testimony of these private agencies in regard to the effect on the children?

86. Are parents known to beg?

87. Are the children permitted or compelled by parents to ask for relief at offices of public or private relief agencies?

88. Do children show tendency to dependency in their habits? Are they known to beg with or without knowledge of their parents? What is the testimony of the school in regard to this?

V General Aspects of the "Neglect"

89. Is the neglect more truly destitution? Is it the direct result of half orphanage, illness of the parents, lack of work, or other unfortunate circumstances for which the parents are not responsible? Are the children more truly dependent than neglected?

90. If present condition has elements of dependency rather than neglect, is it the result of neglect and vice at an earlier period of the family life?

91. Is condition due in any part to racial habits or characteristics? Does the standard of the family compare favorably enough with the standards of the particular race or social group?

92. Is the condition one of all-round neglect which has reached the point where it is not sufficiently bad for court interference and yet too bad for any hope from constructive work? Is the only possible thing to wait (though with continued close supervision) for conditions to become worse?

93. Is neglect of such degree or character that remedy may be reached by prosecution of parents leading to probation?

94. Is the father so nearly wholly responsible for the neglect that action against him would be more just than the more general charge of neglect, which involves the mother? Is non-support the main factor? Frequent desertion? Can the mother be persuaded to testify to this or to bring the charge herself?

95. Has the home ever before been broken up? By reason of the (temporary) inability of the parents to provide a home? By court action?* How was the home re-established? Have the children ever been inmates of a home or institution and under what circumstances?

96. Are the conditions of neglect recent or of long standing? What is the critical point in the neglect which led to the complaint?

97. Is the complainant a reliable person? Is the complainant possibly irresponsible, biased, or vindictive? Is he willing to testify if necessary to the conditions of which he has made complaint?

98. Is there first-hand evidence of the conditions of neglect? By the complainant? By the police? By reliable neighbors? By unbiased relatives? By the worker himself? Can specific instances be cited? Have night visits been made to ascertain exact sleeping conditions or presence of undesirables in the household?

99. Is any of the evidence likely to be attacked as prejudiced?

100. Can the parents themselves be persuaded to admit the charges of neglect? 101. If evidence of any one of the children seems necessary or desirable, has the reliability of the child been investigated through the school, Sunday school, or other responsible source?

102. What is the attitude of the police toward the specific form of neglect? Of the court? Of the community?

103. Are there responsible relatives? Have these relatives in the past made any attempt to build up the family life? Can they be depended upon to take charge of the family without appeal to the court?

104. Is it best to make the appeal to the court first, for the purpose of working out plans with relatives under the court's direction or with its co-operation?

105. Is more satisfactory disposition possible without court action? If warrant for neglect is not advisable or possible, is informal summons and warning by court possible?

106. If the state laws are such that the charge of neglect is made against the child, and the law provides for prosecution of the parent by an independent action, have plans been made for such action?

VI Work of Other Agencies

107. Has family been known to other social agencies? If so, what is the testimony of these agencies regarding it, what has been their experience in attempts at constructive work, and what do they advise?

108. Has probation been tried in the case of either parent? With what success? 109. Is constructive work of any one of these or other agencies likely to succeed if strengthened by action on the part of the social agency charged with responsibility of protecting children from neglect? Is any one agency, by reason of prestige or standing with family, more peculiarly fitted to undertake such work? 110. Is the consensus of opinion of these agencies that further effort at constructive work with the family is useless?

W

CHAPTER XXIV

THE UNMARRIED MOTHER

E HAVE seen earlier that the affixing of a label-even of a correct label-has no practical bearing upon prognosis and treatment, and that a classification of this sort is not a social diagnosis. This truth has been illustrated in the dealings of social agencies with the mother of an illegitimate child. There are few tasks requiring more individualization, and there are few in which there has been so little.

Mrs. Sheffield, in the questionnaire regarding an Unmarried Mother which follows, aims to bring out first, under the captions The Mother and The Father, certain facts of environment and early influence together with the outstanding traits of these two people which may throw light on their standards of conduct and habits of thought. Although, in our treatment of an unmarried woman or girl in this situation, we are liable to overlook her father, it is obvious that his characteristics and what went to mould them are quite as significant socially as those of her mother. The information may point the way not only to effective treatment in the particular case, but also to measures for mass betterment in the community.

The last part of the questionnaire calls for the more immediate explanation of the girl's or woman's situation and for facts bearing on the identity and responsibility of the man. For various reasons the child's father only too frequently escapes responsibility. Evidence of paternity may not be convincing, the man may disappear, or the social agency-occupied with many other tasksmay feel that the small amount which the mother would be likely to receive does not warrant the labor of establishing the man's whereabouts and of bringing him to trial. The question has other aspects, however. Even small sums, if required whenever paternity can be established, will have an influence in modifying

public opinion, will lead it to hold a man as well as a woman answerable for the support of offspring.

In making final arrangements for mother and child, their physical welfare, including the mother's fitness for giving the baby proper care, is of course of primary concern. The need of facts that bear on the choice of work and surroundings for the mother herself is indicated by earlier questions. And it should not be necessary to emphasize an unmarried mother's need for wise supervisionwhether she keeps her infant with her or not.

QUESTIONNAIRE REGARDING AN UNMARRIED MOTHER'

This is not a schedule to be filled out nor a set of queries to be answered by a social agency's client or clients. For an explanation of the purpose of these questionnaires see p. 373 sq.

A star (*) indicates that the answer to the question may be found in, or confirmed by, public records.

The preliminary social questions regarding the husband and wife contained in the questionnaire regarding Any Family, p. 378-those regarding names, ages, nationality, religion, language spoken, length of residence in city, state, and country-may be assumed to apply to the Unmarried Mother, and (in cases in which she is sure who he is) to the father of her child.

I The Mother

Her family and home

1. Did or does she live with her own parents? Is she legitimate? Adopted? Did she ever live in an institution, and if so, when, how long, and why? What is the standing of parents in the community? Are they self-supporting, selfrespecting people? Is the home clean and respectable looking? Was her parents' marriage forced? Did her mother or sisters have illegitimate children? Were these children kept with their mothers, or what became of them?

2. Are (or were) parents fond of children? Even-tempered or irritable? Faithful to church? Earnest or indifferent as to moral standards? Lax or firm in control (for instance, are they conscientious in overseeing their daughters' recreations; did the mother teach her daughters housework, instruct them in sex hygiene)? Or oversevere (for instance, are they reasonable in allowing pleasures and part of earnings)?

Her community

3. What is the character of the city quarter or town in which the girl or woman grew up in size, race, religion, general moral standards, faithfulness to church, predominating occupation, if any, recreations and social life? Is it a factory town, farming region, or what is its industrial character? Has it distinct foreign colonies?

1 Prepared for this volume by Mrs. Ada Eliot Sheffield.

4. If she came from a small town or village is it within easy distance of a large city? Do her companions have local amusements or do they go to the city for them? Are their pleasures supervised?

5. Are the schools good from academic, vocational, and social standpoints?

6. Are the local police alert towards loose behavior on the streets? Are saloons, dance halls, etc., regulated well? Are they numerous in proportion to the population? Is the judge in the local police court interested in the welfare of boys and girls?

7. What is the proportion of illegitimate births in the girl's or woman's native town or country?* Does custom there treat the offense as a slight one, or is ostracism relentless? Do pregnant girls frequently leave to hide their condition and dispose of the child elsewhere? Is this region equipped to care for such girls? If not, why? If it is, what co-operative understanding has been established with local agencies?

8. Are the local doctors and clergymen (if a small community) awake to the problem? What attitude do they take in regard to young unmarried mothers keeping their babies?

The mother berself

9. What was her health as a child? At what age did she mature? Has she any physical peculiarity or deformity? Is there any evidence that she is mentally deficient or abnormal?

10. Did her parents say that she was troublesome as a child? If so, how? Did she disobey her parents, fail to heed their advice, was she disrespectful to them? Did she frequent candy, ice cream, or fruit stores for diversion? What sort of associates did she have while she was growing up? How have they turned out? Can her parents throw light on the reasons for her behavior, if loose? Of what sort are her present girl or women friends?

11. When her parents learned she was pregnant, what, if any, plans did they make for her?

12. What grade in school did she reach? What do the teachers who knew her best think of her? In what studies did she excel? What vocational training, if any, did she receive?

13. What do her employers say of her work? How long has she held her positions? If she was employed in a factory, how much judgment did her work call for? Was it mechanical? If as a domestic, what are the things that she does well, what ill? For instance, can she make good bread, season vegetables? Is she neat and clean about her person and her work? Can she wash and iron? Does she wait on table smoothly and quietly? Has she done ordering for her mistress? How much did she know when her mistress took her? Does she improve-rapidly or slowly? Does she remember directions, or do they have to be repeated? What does she do best, heavy work or light? Is she good with children? Is she capable enough to hold a place with her child?