Medford mail tribune., June 12, 1960, Image 40

(Continued)
Printing Office in Washington for
nickels, dimes, and quarters, are a
treasure house of information.
The booklets started with health.
When the Bureau learned that not
one parent in ten could recognize the
onset of rheumatic fever, it issued its
famous Folder No. 42, "The Child with
Rheumatic Fever." It alerted parents
to "a special kind of sore throat, called
a strep throat . . . which precedes most
attacks of rheumatic fever."
Folder No. 43 describes the symptoms
of cerebral palsy: "The child may
reach for his cup or his pencil. As his
hand moves, it may miss its mark. He
may knock over the cup or drop the
pencil. Another child may not be able
to walk straight. Still another may have
trouble with his throat and tongue and
with breathing." Out of knowledge of
what to look for comes early treatment.
Available to new mothers is a book
let on "Breast Feeding." Another folder
challenges the old male notion that
a crying baby should be left alone.
"Prompt arid loving care for his first
two or three months does the very
opposite of spoiling him," says this
folder. "If he doesn't have to cry to
get what he needs, he is more likely
to have a better disposition later on."
Of special concern is the child with
a low IQ. The manual called "The
Mentally Retarded Child at Home"
contains facts every parent should
know about toilet training, discipline,
speech, play, and suitable toys.
Community Participation
Since World War II, the juvenile de
linquent has become a towering con
cern. And no other agency has. studied
the problem more deeply. One effective
step has been a program for uniform
handling of juveniles by policemen.
Bureau publication No. 324, "What's
Happening to Delinquent Children in
Your Town," has become a model for
hundreds of community surveys.
But information dispensed to parents
for pennies is not enough. Trained
workers must also dispense love and
know-how. Expensive equipment must
be available to train the unfortunate.
Home': must be built for the abandoned.
This !s a community's job.
Guided by Congress, the Children's
Bureau attacked its third responsibility
by telling every state and territory:
"You have problems which other areas
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have solved. This is what they did.
These are the standards we believe you
must maintain. Start your own program
and we will help you to help yourself."
Encouragement was offered in the
form of money appropriated by Con
gress and distributed by the Bureau.
All over America, the problems of
children in trouble were attacked by
those closest to it. One such drive took
place in Wisconsin.
Surveys had convinced the citizens
of that state that they were deep in
trouble. One single county contained
150 children who desperately needed
protection from irresponsible parents.
When 270 grade- and high-school stu
dents were tested, 107 were revealed
as badly adjusted and potential trouble
makers. Other facts called for action.
Police followed two small brothers
home after they had set fires and
thrown knives at people. They found
the mother in bed with a whiskey
bottle. The town had no provision for
caring for the children.
A girl whose father was dead and
whose mother had run away ate her
self into monstrous obesity. She had
worn out four sets of foster parents.
Something had to be done but what
and by whom?
Wisconsin set out to discover the
answers. Its exciting story has been
told by the Bureau in "Public Child
Welfare in Wisconsin."
What is the gain and what is the
price? What is it worth when a child
finds a loving foster parent? Or an
. adopted one? When a crippled infant
gets the special help he needs? Or a
rebellious teen-ager grows into a re
sponsible youth?
What is the price to Uncle Sam? This
year, the total cost of the Children's
Bureau and its aid to states in behalf
of their children will be about 50
million dollars the cost of one-half of
an atomic submarine fitted to fire a
Polaris missile.
Fifty million is what one auto manu
facturer spent in designing its new
compact car.
Fifty million is less than what Amer
icans spend for tobacco products in
one week.
One Tragic Case
Is it too much? Too little? Perhaps
the story of Teddy provides an answer.
Teddy was a baby with a cleft palate
and a harelip whose mother deserted
him at the age of two in a Southern
city. He was found by a child-welfare
worker who placed him in a warm and
comfortable foster home. Next, she en
listed the state's crippled-children
agency for surgical treatment to close
his harelip and palate. For months
after the operation,- Teddy refused- to
speak. Tests indicated his IQ was below
normal, but the welfare worker refused
to give up. She drove him 70 miles
to the state's hearing and speech clinic,
where it was discovered that Teddy
was deaf.
Fitted with a hearing aid, Teddy be
gan to learn about words. Weekly
lessons, were required,, and- a trip
by automobile. The worker enlisted
drivers from a PTA group. Each week,
when a new volunteer arrived, Teddy
demanded, "Have you found my moth
er? Have you brought her with you?"
Months passed, but not his hunger for
his mother. Gradually, as his intelli- '
gence slowly flowered, Teddy and his
foster parents grew closer. Now they
could read him bedtime stories.
Teddy is still receiving treatment,
but the worst is over. Teddy announced
it himself one day as he clutched his
foster mother's hand. "You don't have
to hunt my mummy any more," he
told the welfare worker. "I've got a
real mummy right here."
It was fortunate for Teddy that he
was abandoned in a town which had
a child-welfare worker, a budget for
foster care, a local health department
with a public-health nurse, a clinic for ;
children with cleft palates, a clinic for
speech and hearing defects, a state
agency for crippled children, and a
band of interested volunteers. These
are services supported and encouraged
by the Children's Bureau.
All these people and agencies worked
together on Teddy's behalf. To persuade
people everywhere to work together
for all of the Teddys in America is the
dream of the dedicated workers in the
Children's Bureau in Washington.
Family Weekly, Junt 12, I960 7