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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1960)
Aid to Dependent Children Plan Misunderstood, Group Says (Editor's note: This is I themselves burdened with aljobless worker unless he I program be increased to the I make possible a more effec-i nendonrv nrnhiPm another in a series of ar ticles discussing the recom mendations of the Gover nor's Committee on Chil dren and Youth. The com mittee recently completed a two-year study. The articles are written by Ann Sulli van, long-time Oregon reporter.) By ANN SULLIVAN The aid to dependent chil dren program in Oregon, more than any other public assist ance activity, is widely mis understood, commonly misrep resented and unjustifiably criticized, according to the newly released report of the G o v e r n o r's Committee on Children and Youth. "This current trend in Ore gon as well as in other states," the report states, "is unfor tunate and alarming in that it threatens the existence of a program which affects more chlidren at the formative years of life than any other public assistance activity." Purpose of the ADC pro gram, which receives sizeable federal support to match that of state and counties, is to pro vide financial assistance, medi cal care and social services to children up to 18 years of age who are deprived of parental care and supoprt because of the death, absence or incapaci oty of one or both parents. Assistance to 16.566 The report notes that Ore gon in April, 1959, granted assistance to 16,566 children under the ADC program. These children lived in 6,240 families comprising 5,505 adults who received financial aid under the program. The total expenditure was slightly in excess of $873,000, with the average family grant $140 a month and the monthly indi vidual payment $39.58. Oregon's ratio of children on ADC per 1,000 of popula tion under 18 was relatively low at 24 per 1,000 children compared to a national aver age of 34 per 1,000; California with 37 per 1,000 and Wash ington with 31 per 1,000. (Miss Jeanne Jewett, Ore gon state public welfare ad ministrator, in television an swer to an inquiry on the number of illigitimate chil dren on ADC roles, reported that at the current time, they number only 1,105, or 7 per cent of the monthly average of 16,000 children.) Some shortcomings of the ADC program are outlined in the report. "Insufficient fund s," it states, "result in disadvan tageous treatment of children on the program." , The report mentions the practice in Oregon, pursuing a policy followed since 1993, to remove children of both sexes, 14 years of age or older, from ADC rolls during the ' summer to encourage them to find employment. "How many youngsters suc ceed in finding jobs which will pay an income higher than an assistance grant is open to question," the report states. The blanket curtail ment is intended to conserve welfare funds and encourage children to derive benefits of paid employment. "But these, too, are ques tionable objectives since families are known to incur debts when assistance grants are reduced. Children, some of them entering the labor mar kets for the first time, find Drug for Mental Depression Helps Other Ailments New York, (Science Services-Many disorders closely identified with a patient's mental attitude appear to be helped by a drug originally aimed at the mentally de pressed, it was reported here today. Angina, arthritis, asthmatic bronchitis and gastrointes tinal distress were just a few of the diseases which Dr. Walter LI Evans of St. Clare's Hospital here found respon sive to doses of Nardil. His report appears in today's is sue of the New York State Medical Journal. Nardil, Dr. Evans said, ap pears to enable the patient to usefully channel his ca pacity for positive aggressive action, diverting his energy outward rather than into psychosomatic channels. Cer tain people seem to have the capacity to channel conflict into some target area likei the musuloskeletal system, with the result that the bio chemical processes producing arthritis are thrown into gear. Severe Depression Another individual, facing a similar situation, might de velop a severe depression, while still another could de velop asthmatic bronchitis or ! angina pectoris, he explained. ; The drug also proved effec tive in treating cases of bur sitis, neuritis, herniated spi nal disk, relapsing pancreat itis, high blood pressure and fibrositis, or muscular rheumatism. singular responsibility more portentous than many can bear." Discriminatory Treatment The report notes that there is discriminatory treatment in the amount of assistance given the dependent, child and the adult in the family, contrasted with the aid standards under old age assistance. "An elderly couple on OAA receives a total of $64 for food alone. Under ADC, for a family of two - an adult and a child - the minimum food grant is $43.25 and the maxi mum $57.75 according to the child's age. (Top figure is al lowed in family with heavier eating teenager.)" The committee suggests that ADC regulations on eligi bility ause some family breakdown because funds can not be granted children of a leaves the household. The committee tells critics of the ADC program, who ad vocate foster care as a solu tion to charges of immorality, that it costs $60 a month of state and county funds for foster care for one child and only $20 of these funds for ADC. Matching Funds Federal matching funds pay the balance of the $40 aver age monthly cost for a child on ADC. Recommendations of the committee: 1. That the Interim Com mittee on Public Welfare avail itself of the services of the Governor's Committee on Children and Youth in its study of public welfare pro grams. 2. That federal matching funds for adults in the ADC program be increased to the sartie level as in the old age assistance program. " . . 3- That the policy of the state public welfare commis sion of removing children from the ADC rolls during the summer be re-evaluated. 4. ; That the Social Security act be amended to provide federal aid for assistance to needy children regardless of the cause of need. 5. That Congress appropri ate federal funds for vital re search on social problems among ADC families as well as to authorize training grants to increase the supply of so cial workers. Intensify Services 6. That the state public welfare commission intensify its emphasis on services to children through educational leaves, inservice training, and better supervision of staff to make possible a ' more effec-1 pendency problems. tive job in the rehabilitating j 7. That family counseling of families with chronic de-l and family life education pro grams should be made avail able to ADC families, a com munity responsibility not to be confined to public agencies alone. 8. That the community be provided with-the facts about the ADC program to counter act the negative image which has been created. 9. That a change in eligi bility laws for "stateless" per- MAIL TRIBUNE, Medford. Or. Thursday, March 24, 1960 . .3 sons be given serious consid eration by the interim com mittee. -- - STEAM OR DRY IRON WITH EXCLUSIVE STEAM FLOW VENTS 17.95 ICr Value CbdAp from ttan to dry in seconds. Larger ironing surfac. yt wcighs less. 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