Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 27.djvu/296

 FIFTY-SECON D CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 250. 1892. 269 the criminal court of the District of Columbia, met together for that purpose; the assent of a majority of such judges being necessary to appointment in each case: Provided, That there shall always be at pmmm. least three representatives of each sex upon the board. Of the nine S,x,,.pm..,mm.,,._ members first appointed after the passage of this act, three shall be appointed for one year, three for two years, and three for three years. rem. Thereafter all appointments, except such as shall be made for the remainder of unexpired terms, shall be for the term of three years. The ntmmi. judges of the police court and the judge holding the criminal court, or a majority of them, when met together for that purpose, may remove for cause any member of the board: Provided, That such member shall nmm. be given an opportunity to be heard in his own defense. Sec. 3. That the board shall elect from its own members a president, omms. vice-president, and secretary, who shall severally discharge the duties usual to such offices, or such as the by laws of the board may prescribe. The board shall have the power subject to the approval of the Commis- Agua. sioners to employ not more than two agents, at an annual compensation not exceeding two thousand four hundred dollars for the two, and prescribe their duties, and to conclude arrangements wixh persons or institutions for the care of dependent children at such rates as may be agreed upon. Sec. 4. That said board shall have the care and supervision of the D¤*i¤¤- following classes of children: First. All children committed under sec- ¤1¤i1•M¤¤¤¤¤¤¤i¢*<¢d· tion two of the act approved February thirteenth, eighteen hundred v¤1.2u,p.so2. and eighty five, entitled, “An act for the protection of children in the District of Columbia, and for other purposes." Second. All children Destitute, mmwho are destitute of suitable homes and adequate means of earning an ‘*°"°‘·°‘°··"""'1""‘· honest living, all children abandoned by` their parents or guardians, all children of habitually drunken or vicious or uniit parents, all children habitually begging 011 the streets or from doortodoor, all children kept in vicious or immoral associations, all children known by their language or life to be vicious or incorrigible whenever such children may be committed to the care of the board by the police court or the criminal court of the District; and po wer is hereby given to these courts to commit such children when not over sixteen years of age to said board: Provided, That the laws regulating the commitment of children geyisa- t__ to the reform schools of the district shall not be deemed to be repealed ,~,,,.,,,1SLL$,Z§1,_"’°’ "` in any part by this act. Third. such children as the board of trustees fo£W;_jj}j,**¤1§0{°;j;j of the reform school for boys or the reform school for girls, may, in pence. their discretion, commit to the board of children’s guardians, and power is hereby given the board of trustees of the said reform school to commit any inmate of their respective institutions to the said board of guardians, conditionally upon the good behavior of the child so committed. Fourth. Under the rules to be established by the board chil- T~>¤¤i·¤¤¤>‘¤=¤¤- dren may be received and temporarily cared for pending investigation or judgment of the court. _ 5. That the board shall be the legal guardian of all children °ff;,l*(*;j;‘I§j},g:;lj;;l{_*}{} committed to it by the courts, and shall have full power to board them in private families, to board them in institutions willing to receive them, to bind them out or apprentice them, or to give them in adoption to foster parents. Children received from the reform schools shall be placed at work, bound out or apprenticed, and at any time before at- APP“'“ti‘·`°“· °‘°· taining majority may be returned to the school from which they came, if in the judgment of the board of guardians such a course is demanded by the interest of the community or the welfare of the child. All chil- _ _ dren under the guardianship of the board shall be visited not less than V""· once a year by an agent of the board, and as much oftener as the welfare of the child demands, Children received temporarily may not be T¤¤¤P°*=¤¤'¤*¤· keptionger than one week, except by order of the police court or the crlmlual'c0`ut' Investieation etc. Sec. 6. That the antecedents, character, and condition of life of each “ ' child received by the board shall be investigated as fully as possible,