Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 3.djvu/799

THE RELIEF AND CARE OF DEPENDENTS 785 amended giving the state board still greater power. As the law now stands, children are not to be retained in the almshouse longer than sixty days. It is the duty of the overseers of the poor and of the county commissioners to place out any such with families. The agent of the state board is to visit all the almshouses of the state, and if any child is found retained longer than sixty days, it becomes his duty to remove it and find a home for it. All contracts are filed with the state board. The agent visits children placed out and may remove any child from its home whenever its welfare may be thereby furthered.

Connecticut and Ohio place out their dependent minors, using county and "district homes" as temporary refuges. In Connecticut each county, through its county commissioners, is to provide one or more homes as temporary refuges for children between the ages of two and sixteen, other than those "demented, idiotic, or suffering from incurable or contagious diseases." The towns are to send their dependents to these county homes, paying from $1.50 to $2 per week for each child so sent. These homes "shall not be used as a permanent provision or residence for any child, but for its temporary protection for so long a time only as shall be necessary for the placing of the child in a well-selected family home." These refuges are under the direction of a board composed of the county commissioners, a member of the state board of charities, and a member of the state board of health. Each board is to appoint two agents (a man and a woman) to assist it in placing out and visiting the children. Each child is to be visited at least once every three months and may, when its welfare requires it, be removed and placed again in the county home or with another family.

Ohio has adopted what is commonly known as the "district system." A county, or two or more counties, may establish and maintain children's homes, to which all indigent children between three and sixteen years of age, unless imbecile, idiotic, or insane,