Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 1.djvu/735

Rh and delinquent children. When complaint is entered against any boy under sixteen years or any girl under seventeen years for any offense not punishable by imprisonment for life, the court is required to notify the county agent, who attends the court and advises the judge as to the disposition to be made of the child, after learning the facts. This consultation, in the interest of the child, often leads, especially in case of first offenses, to their return to their parents on discharge or suspension of sentence. If the opinion is that the child needs reformatory treatment, it is sent to one of the reform schools.

The agents inspect and report on all proposed homes for dependent or delinquent children, and none of either class are placed in families by indenture or adoption, unless the agent approves. And when he finds after indenture that the home is not adapted to the child or that the child is ill-treated, it is his duty to report the case, at any time, to the school which placed the child. The county agency is very necessary to a well-ordered system. The applicant for the child lives in the county of the agent. He can readily learn whether the home is suitable, and when the child is placed he soon hears if it is not well treated. He is where he can see and learn all and protect the child and guard its every interest. The agency is not expensive. For all their labor for boys and girls of both classes, they have only $100 per annum each and expenses, except that in the larger cities they receive $200 annually. It is largely a labor of love and self sacrifice when the duties are well discharged.

The Michigan laws for the protection of children assist very much the work of child saving. For ill-treatment parental rights may be forfeited and the child sent to the state school. Children under sixteen years of age are excluded from drinking saloons and gambling houses. They must not be employed as acrobats or in any occupation dangerous to health or limbs. They must not be put in jail in apartments with adults. They must not be kept in the county poorhouses. The same law requires all persons or societies, non-resident and resident, placing children in families, to have the home approved by the county