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FACTORS AFFECTING THE PLACEMENT OF ADOLESCENT GIRLS

by
Kathleen Northey Giddings

A PROJECT REPORT

Submitted to the School of Social Work
Michigan State University
in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
of

MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK

June 1960

Approved W
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer wishes, first, to express her appreciation
to Mr. Arnold Gurin, research director, for his excellent
instruction and guidance. She also wishes to thank Dr.
Lucille Barber, research committee chairman, and Mr. Morris
Gluckin, adviser, for their assistance and encouragement.

The writer is indebted to Right Reverend Monsignor
John D. Slowey, director of Lansing Catholic Social Services,
for use of agency facilities. She is also grateful to the
staff of the agency for their cooperation, particularly
Miss Helen Brown, supervisor. The latter has been especially
helpful throughout the entire study.

To family and friends, for their interest and encourage—
ment, the writer extends her gratitude. Of particular help
have been her sisters in the final formulation of the paper
and her daughter's grandmothers in offering babysitting
services.

Finally, and most, the writer is indebted to her
husband and daughter, to her husband for his unfailing

assistance and support and to her daughter for her patience.

ii

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

LIST OF TABLES

Chapter
I. INTRODUCTION.
II. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CURRENT OPINION
III. METHODS AND PROCEDURES EMPLOYED IN THIS
STUDY
IV. ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA.

The Girl Pefore Placement

Placements

Inappropriate Placements

Comparison to Mersham Study
V. GENERALIZATIONS.

VI. IMPLICATIONS OF THE CONCLUSIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS.

APPENDICES

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

iii

Page
ii

iv

LA)
LA)

Table

UU

\TI

10.

ll.

13.

IA.

LIST OF TABLES

Race and Religion of Girls Studied.

Number of First Placements and Replacements
in Each Age Group

Source of Girl‘s Support Before and After
Placement . .

Income Level of Source of Support Before
Placement

Marital Status of Parents and Outstanding
Characteristic of Girl at First Placement

Income Level of Source of Support and
Original Reason for Placement

Outstanding Characteristic of Girl at First
Placement and Income Level of Source of
Support.

Outstanding Characteristic of Girl at First
Placement and Original Reason for
Placement

Contact with the égcncy Previous to
Thirteenth Birthday and Original Reason
for Placement.

Contact with the Agency Previous to
Thirteenth Birthday and Original Referral
Source . . . . . . . . .

Outstanding Characteristic of Girl at First
Placement and Original Referral Source

Actual Placements and Order of Placements

Marital Status of Parents and First Actual
Placement

Original Reason for Placement and First
Actual Placement.

iv

Page
3A

LA.)
Ch

40

Al

Al

42

A3
A5

A7

Table Page

15. Age and Actual Placement . . . . . . . 48
16. Recommended Placements and Order of

Placement . . . . . . . . . . . A9
17. Recommended Placements and Actual Placements 51
18. Reasons for Inappropriate Placement . . . 53
19. Original Referral Source and Reason for

Inappropriate Placement . . . . . . 5A
20. Outstanding Characteristic of Girl and

Reason for Inappropriate Placement. . . 55
21. Age and Reason for Inappropriate Placement . 56
22. Source of Support During Placement and

Reason for Inappropriate Placement. . . 57

V

CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

This study will, first, attempt to determine whether
adolescent girls known to Lansing Catholic Social Services
are placed appropriately to individual need. It is assumed
that placements will not always be appropriate and the
study's focus will be to determine the reasons for this
discrepancy.

The caseload of Lansing Catholic Social Services
has experienced an increase in the number of adolescent
girls needing placement. Child welfare has been a service
of this agency only since 1952. It began on a small scale
and has grown with the agency. The agency believes this
expansion of service and the increase in population of this
age group account for the larger number of adolescent
girls considered for placement.

With this increase, an awareness of the problem arose.
Questions included: Why are adolescent girls considered
for placement? Is the agency choosing the correct place-
ment? Is the agency able to follow through on the recom-
mended placement? If not, why not? To what extent are
factors such as community resources, the client's situation,
and/or the worker's activity involved? What can Catholic

I

R)

Social Services do to improve the situation? These ques-
tions have been discussed among workers individually and
at staff meetings. It was not felt that any extensive
exploration was done.

While in field placement at Catholic Social Services,
the writer gained an interest in the problem. Workers in
the agency were consulted regarding the availability of
necessary data. It emerged that written agency criteria
for placement were absent. Workers, however, seemed to
have similar opinions regarding such criteria, suggesting
a common unwritten agreement. Questionnaires allowing
unrestricted, essay-type answ rs were distributed to each
worker involved in placement of girls in this age group.
Criteria thus formed, plus unstructured interviews with
workers, were intended to become the basis of assessing
placements "appropriate" or "inappropriate."

It was assumed that the agency tries to conform to
general principles concerning placement but is not always
able to do so. The nucleus of the study thus emerged:
what factors prevent the appropriate placement? These
factors may be found in community resources, the client's
situation, and/or the orientation or practice of the agency
worker. The agency expected recommended placements to be
impeded mainly by lack of community resources or by lack
of financial support for the girl.

For the purposes of the study "adolescent girls" was

defined as from thirteen to seventeen years of age. The

DO

term ”known to Lansing Catholic Social Services” may mean
that the girl is part of a family group seeking help or is,
herself, the reason for an original contact with the agency.
Girls in family groups known to the agency, but with
problems not of concern to the study, were excluded. Also
excluded were unmarried mothers. Such girls in this age
range are not placed in foster homes. Some remain at home.
If the service demands placement outside the home, maternity
homes are used for the young girl's protection. For the
girl nearing seventeen years of age or over, a wage home

may be used. Unmarried mothers do not present a placement
problem for the agency.

Placements will be spoken of as actual, recommended,
appropriate, or inappropriate. "Actual" is to refer to the
girl's known placement,and"recommended" is to be the place-
ment indicated by the criteria. If actual and recommended
placements are the same, the placement would be "appropriate."
If the two are not the same, the placement would be "inap-
propriate."

Each placement is to be evaluated in terms of the
situation at the time of the placement. Thus, in considering
a past placement, "hindsight" is to be avoided. What was

recommended at the time of the placement is the factor.

 

There is to be no attempt to determine what should have
been the placement.
Remaining home will be included as a placement, as

placement outside the home was a consideration with all

girls in this study. If placement outside the home was
not considered, the girl was excluded. Also, girls placed

before the dates used in the study, and with no further
consideration of placement during the period of time covered
in the study, were not included. Thus, with girls studied,
a placement at home may have been recommended or may have
been the only facility available. This is pertinent to the
study.

The agency, Lansing Catholic Social Services, was
organized in February, 19A9, and chartered under the laws
of Michigan for such agencies. It began as a private
social casework agency with only one worker, now the
director, Right Reverend Monsignor John D. Slowey. Anyone
desirous of receiving help is eligible. Financial assis-
tance is given on a temporary basis to those not eligible
for public assistance.

The purpose of the agency is explained in the consti-
tution to better "preserve wholesome family life and to
care for dependent, neglected and delinquent children in
accordance with rules, regulations, and sacred canons of
the Catholic Church by:"

l. Offering consultation services to persons and
organizations on spiritual and material problems
affecting family and child care.

Providing trained caseworkers to assist families

and individuals in preserving and developing proper
family and child care.

f\)

U7

3. Promoting and participating in community work
for the betterment of the family and child.1

Clientele is accepted from the Greater Lansing area
including Ingham, Clinton, and Eaton counties. This is
the area served by the United Community Chest of Lansing,
of which the agency is a member. Chest funds are the
agency's sole support. A large percentage of clientele
is of the Catholic faith but no religion or race is barred
from receiving help.

The agency staff now consists of a director and
supervisor, both of whom also have a caseload, four full-
time trained caseworkers, two part-time untrained case-
workers, a receptionist-bookkeeper, and a dictaphone
operator.

Data were secured from case records, foster home
studies, and workers. Records may be found under the name
of the girl herself or of her family grouping. Recordings
were made by the worker for the purposes of review, appraisal,
and providing background material for a new worker and
include interviews, correspondence, and reports. The writer
used brief, informal interviews with workers to fill in
gaps in records.

The study includes the period from December 1, 1956,
to December 1, 1959. Choice of this period was arbitrary,

established to include a sufficiency of case material

 

1Constitution of Catholic Social Services, Incorporated,
Lansing, Michigan, 19A9, Appendix, Article.II, p.

O\

for the study. Thirty-three girls had been placed in this
period, many of them experiencing several placements.

Girls were included who were known to the agency before
theii*thirteenthbdrthday, but only placements after the

age of thirteen were used in the study. Other girls experi—
encing placement were those referred after the age of
thirteen. No placement after the age of seventeen was
included.

In summary, this study will examine the adequacy of
the placement of thirty-three girls by Catholic Social
Services during a three-year period, in the light of
criteria secured through a questionnaire returned by staff

members.

CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND AND CURRENT OPINIONS

Child care programs first began with those for
destitute children. The Elizabethan Poor Laws were the
basis of the English system of placement; this system the
American Colonies also adopted. Homeless or neglected
children were placed in almshouses, as apprentices, or as
indentured servants.

As it became evident that children were not properly
cared for in almshouses along with elderly and ill adults,
many states began developing large congregate institutions
for the purpose of caring for and housing children who
could not be indentured or apprenticed. Their purpose,
besides providing food, shelter, and clothing, was primarily
to provide sound religious training and education sufficient
to make children capable of following a craft. One of the
first such institutions was that established in New Orleans
in 1729 by the Ursuline Sisters, for children left homeless
by Indian massacres. By 1850 there were at least 116

institutions for dependent children and the rapid growth

 

lSpencer H. Crookes, ”Child Welfare," Social Work
Year Book, ed. Russel H. Kurtz (New York: American Book-
Stratfdrd Press, Inc., 1954), p. 82.

 

 

7

of the United States saw their increase under sectarian

1 Public subsidies were also

and non-sectarian sponsorship.
granted to voluntary organizations and homes were established
for the children of soldiers and sailors. Today, only rarely
does one find public institutions for the care of dependent
children and only a few of the most backward states place
children in county poor farms.

In 1797 there were beginnings of the modern cottage
plan of group care. Also, the New York Society for the
Relief of Poor Widows with small children provided special
financial assistance. By 1860 a start had been made toward
the development of a child-placing system as it is known
today; this was the organization of children's aid societies
which had as their purpose placing children either in family
homes or in child-caring institutions. The movement began in
1868 with the founding of the Illinois Children's Home and
Aid Society in Chicago. This program was pioneered by
groups within the Methodist Church and thirty-six states
later developed such home societies. A national community
conscience in behalf of children had begun.2

The need for the care and training of children apart
from their families continues. The necessity of preventing
family break-up is recognized, but in certain instances it

it necessary to provide care for children away from their

 

llbid. 2Ibid.

 

families. Children may have no family, be released by
their families, or legally removed because of neglect,
incapacity, or abuse. Death, divorce, desertion, or
serious illness of one or both parents may create a need
for placement. Other such services include unmarried
mothers, runaway children, young people in need of social
control and training, or children without legal guardians.1
Child welfare personnel recognize physical and mental
limitations and behavior problems of children better and
earlier than ever before. Advances have been made in every
rea affecting the development of children. However, there
are serious omissions. Community conditions and community
rograms do not make adequate provision for helping parents
to prevent disruption of home and family ties. That every
child needs a home and family of his own is generally
accepted as a basic fact in child welfare.2
We are concerned here with placement of adolescent
girls. Placement of an adolescent is one of the most dif-
ficult assignments of a caseworker. One author believes
that it is usually better to keep an adolescent with his

family unit until a usual reason for leaving occurs, such

as a job or advanced schooling.3 He believes that some

 

l 2

Ibid., p. 83. Ibid., p. 8A.

’2
“John G. Milner, "Some Determinants in the Differential

Treatment of Adolescents," Child Welfare, XXIX, No. 8

(October, 1950), 6.

 

IO

of the most effective casework with this age group can be
done with the child in his own home. Caseworkers realize
how much even an imperfect parent means to a child and

thus make efforts to help parents to broaden their capacity.
If parents do not wish separation, it seems advisable only
if it is the most effective solution and the parents are
totally unable to give their children a minimum of care.

If a child is more harmed than helped by remaining with his
own family, substitute parental care offers the best
solution. Sometimes, if a social worker is fortunate, she
will have access to psychiatric consultation in her decision
whether or not to break up a family group. More often

she must decide alone.

What constitutes a good home? Factors include physical,
moral, and social advantages; love; sympathetic intimacy;
emotional security; and opportunity for growth.2 Young and
Glasscock suggest situations which might cause adolescent
-placements. Young believes a child should be removed in
cases of: defective family relationships, defective disci-
pline, parental alcoholism, general lack of guidance and

training, inability to adjust and change after trying,

 

lHenrietta L. Gordon, Casework Services for Children
(Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1956), p. 9.

 

2Florence M. Teagarden, Child Psychology for Profes-
sional Workers (New York: PrenETCe—Hall, Inc., I946),
p. 225.

 

 

11

children who have lost respect for parents, children dis-
organized because of disorganization of parents, children‘s
health and discipline neglected, children profiting from
change of schools or neighborhoods, importance of breaking

up gang associations.1

Glasscock presumes that, for the;
most part, adolescents needing placement are an emotionally
disturbed group. Homes exhibit divorce, death, mental
illness, and crime. The child may already have been in a
custodial or correctional institution. Such reasons for
placement mean trauma and little preparationikn°the added
stresses of adolescence.
Gordon cautions,
A parent's physical or emotional disturbance, a
child's behavior disorder, or any other similar problem
is not in itself a sufficient basis for assuming that
foster care is necessary, for these same conditions
can, under some circumstances, be dealt with more
satisfactorily if the child remains at home.
Among determining considerations are the parents' wishes
and abilities to work out the problem with or without place-
ment of the children.

Milner believes the problem of becoming independent of

a parental authority, plus the problem of developing inner

 

lPauline V. Young, Social Treatment in Probation and
Delinquency (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 19377, p. 385.

 

 

2
Thomas A. Glasscock, ”Placement Prescription for
Adolescents,” Child Welfare, XXXVIII (July, 1959), ll.

 

'2
“Gordon, op. Cit., p. 36.

I2

and outer strengths making it possible to live without
that authority, is a big job. He recommends not rushing
the placement. This may also be the child's last move
away from home ties and if unsatisfying, there is no chance
of making it 80.1 Whatever the situation, placement is a
frightening and disillusioning experience and often follows
parents' rejection.

Once placed, a -eturn home suggests one of the
following:

1. True rehabilitation of the family

a. Child's emotional or mental disturbance

improved
b. Crisis or reality situation causing placement
improved
c. Parents' emotional needs improved and helped
2. Premature termination as treatment measure

a. Placement hurting child more than helping

b. If child later has to be removed--may realize
that family, not agency, causing the situation
and be better able to accept help

c. As treatment only as last resort, not in
hopelessness or revenge

LA.)

Termination at parents' request

a. Life situation now makes Child's return
objectively possible

b. Court's approval, given on base of a semblance
of an adequate physical home and family group,
makes it neces ary for the agency to concur
in such a plan

 

1Milner, op. Cit., p. 5; Healy, Bronner, and Baylor
differ with this opinion in saying that placement should be
as speedy as possible. William Healy, Edith M. H. Baylor,
and Augusta F. Bonner, Reconstructing Behavior in Youth (New
York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1929), p. 120.

 

dEsther Glickman, Child Placement Through Clinically
Oriented Casework (New York: Columbia University Press, 1957),

pp. BBB-EBB.

 

 

13

Once a decision to place is made, parents are not to
be forgotten but are a very real part of the total picture
to be considered. Radinsky states that two essential
beliefs of a caseworker in child welfare should be: a
belief in the capacity of a parent to change and to grow,
and a belief in the parent's right to decide what he wants
for his child in care. The caseworker, at intake, should
establish the understanding that the parent's continuing
relationship with the caseworker is a requisite for care.1
When a parent has meaning for a child he must be helped in
establishing a continuous relationship with his child. This
would include factors such as financial responsibility,
visiting, and operative consents.2 Selection of proper
placement follows a decision to place a child. The child's
needs are the determining factor here. It is important to
evaluate the child's total situation; social, emotional,

and familial.

Two major types of placement outside the home are

 

institutions andfoster homes. The experts differ on recom-
mendations regarding their use. Lippman believes that a
la

Elizabeth K Radinsky, "The Parent's Role in Long-
Time Care,” Child Welfare, XXIX, No. 2 (February, 1950), 8;
Hutchinsonagreesiflmfiipflacement in most cases is futile and
barren without a casework relationship with parents. Dorothy
Hutchinson, ”The Request for Placement Has Meaning," The
Family, XXV, No. a (June, l9uu), 130. "“

 

2
Radinsky, op. Cit., p. 12.

IA

minority can use foster home care; Burmeister says the
majority should be in foster homes to create greater inde-
pendence and a setting of normal family life; Dula and

Howard believe a struggling adolescent or an "adolescent

in revolt" needs group care; Derning agrees with this in
saying adolescents need more small group placements, that
foster homes are better suited for young children.1 Charnley
believes placement to be dependent on adolescent revolt,
which may come elsewhere chronologically, or never. An
adolescent cannot revolt against dependence on, affection

and control of, parents when these qualities have not existed
for him. A youngster actively engaged in establishing his
independence from one set of parents is in no condition to
take on another set. Some adolescents in revolt still can
and will use a foster home placement effectively if such a
home is sensitive to his needs. She believes foster parents
in early thirties or late twenties are best here because

of greater flexibility and less attempt to possess the child?
Certainly other factors such as age, intelligence, physical
condition, emotional make-up, behavior record, and nature
of the present problem should be considered in choosing a
placement. The caseworker will also be influenced by the
existence and quality of each type of setting in her com-

1 , '2
munity and by her own professional exper1ences.J

 

l 2

Ibid., pp. 82-83. Ibid., pp. 80-81.

3Jean Charnley, The Art of Child Placement (Minneapolis:
University of Minnesota Press, 1955), p. 83.

 

f—J
\H

A foster home should be considered for an adolescent
if it is felt that a continuance of family experience is
necessary. He should be intellectually able to participate
in school programs available, emotionally able to accept
personal attention of foster parents, and able to participate
sufficiently in the give-and-take of family life without

hurting others. In deciding whether a disturbed adolescent

 

can use a foster home the caseworker should look at his

earlier experiences, current behavior and performance, and,

most important, the capacity to establish a relationship

with the worker. She will be an important, stabilizing

person, a friend and authority.1
Foster homes may fail because attempting relationships

with adolescents is often taxing and not considered worth

the effort by foster parents.2 Such children may have never

known a tie to a parent or parent substitute, may deny

adults any rights to have any authority over him, or may

have a psychological void of relationships. Some children

-may "blow up" several homes before wanting a foster home

and working to succeed and settle in the placement. Charnley

wonders if the adolescent is releasing angry feelings by

such "blow-ups”and suggests going into possible institutional

care slowly. The child in the foster home is not thought

of as "different” as often as an institutional child may be.3

 

1Betty Gray, ”A Foster Family Program for Disturbed
Children," Child welfare, XXXVI, No. 9 (November, 1957), 12.

 

2Classcock, loc. cit. 3Charnley, op.cit., pp. 88-89.

H

The primary function of an institution is to provide
temporary care of children needing group experience for a
definite period of time.1 It serves the child needing dis-
tance in interpersonal relations as a neutral setting is
sometimes necessary to permit healing from some acute shock;
parents might accept an institutional rather than a foster
placement and those who might disrupt foster home placement
can be better tolerated and dealt with in their contacts
with children; varying degrees of social opinion of peers
may be a constructive force; an anxious child may gain sup-
port when constantly surrounded by a group.2 An adolescent
needing a regular routine receives well-defined regulations
governing day-to-day activities flexibly administered to
enable him to learn to submit to essential routines. Adults
in institutions offer a relationship of accepting the child
and trying to help him modify his behavior without being
punitive or rejecting him for his misbehavior.

Adolescents exhibit an additional factor suggesting
group placement, that of their group tendencies and the
safety of a group in their age of revolt and anxiety.
Those without parents interested in their daily progress

do not feel as slighted because those who do have ties are

 

lCecelia McGovern, Services to Children in Institutions

 

(Washington, D. C.: Conference of Catholic Charities, 19487,
p, 3.

2Glickman, op. Cit., pp. 9u—98.

3Gisela Konopka, Group Work in the Institution (New
York: Whiteside, Inc., 19547, pp. 29-30.

 

17

often struggling hard to break them.

Types of institutions include those for mentally and
physically ill and those for girls with behavior problems.
Girls are more likely to be sheltered by the home until it
cannot, and society will not, tolerate a girl's misdemeanors
any longer. Thus such girls are usually in a serious con-
dition of maladjustment and their offenses often revolve
around sex. An adolescent girl with behavior disorders is
more likely to be recommended for an institutional placement
than a boy.1

Some guiding principles of modern institutions are as
follows:

1. Children who live in institutions need the same
things that all children need, plus help with the
problems which bring them to institutions. .

2. Institutional care is especially helpful for some

children and unsuitable for others.
Institutional care alone is not sufficient for

Children. .
A. Child welfare is the master to be served.2

LU

Lack of foster homes may cause some girls to be placed
in institutions. One handicap of an institution is the
heterogeneity of its population which may cause some girls
to become ”worse." Other problems of an institution may
include sex perversion, enuresis, running away, little

individual identification, types of education offered,

 

lTeagarden, op. Cit., p. 265.

2Mary Lois Pyles, Institutions for Child Care and
Treatment (New York: Child Welfare League of American, Inc.,
1947)) pp- 12-19-

 

 

l8

recreational facilities, and usage of the institution as a
"last resort."1 The institutional demand for a less inter-
personal relationship may mean that a "good adjustment"
conceals a basic pathology. An adolescent girl liking
privacy may suffer in such a setting. It is also recog-
nized that a ”good" institution is not an adequate substi-
tute for parents.2

"Delinquent” girls are very apt to become institution-
alized. Lippman defines delinquency as an " . . . outlet
for hostility engendered in a people that is either sub-
jugated or has been deprived of gratifications which are

3

vitally needed." Among adolescents in placement in the
United States nearly fifty per cent could be classified as
delinquent, predelinquent, or semidelinquent. A large
number of referrals are from the juvenile courts. Schools
and parents also refer. The average agency has many delin-
quents because of referrals, adolescence being the point

at which delinquent behavior often makes a first appearance,

and delinquency being most common among the emotionally

deprived.

 

lTeagarden, op. Cit., pp. 280-283.

2
Sarabelle McCleery, "Institutions and Child Placement,"
Child Welfare, XXXVI, No. 4 (April, 1957), 22.

 

’2

“Konopak, op. Cit., p. 192, as quoted in Hyman S.
Lippman, ”Preventing Delinquency," Federal Probation,
March, 1953.

 

uAlbert Deutsch, Our Rejected Children (Boston: Little,
Brown, and Co., 1950), p. 222.

 

Charnley says that delinquent or troubled children can
be treated in either an institution or a foster home, that
diagnosis of underlying needs will guide the worker in her
choice.1 Peck then reminds us of the reality of foster
homes for delinquent adolescents being almost completely
unavailable. He also laments the fact that institutional
care is usually only custodial and for the purpose of
protecting the community. If treatment facilities are
available in an institution, he believes them to be
generally inadequate.2 A wrong placement in an institution
for delinquents is serious in that it not only may aggravate
the illness of the wrongly placed, but often disturbs and
disrupts any attempted training program for delinquents.

If a mentally defective girl is unable to adjust in
her community, she stands a very good chance of being com-

V

mitted to a custodial or correctional institution. The
type of institution depends on the resources of the community
and the type of problem she presents. If her outstanding
features are subnormality and inadequacy, a state school
for defectives is most likely. If asocial tendencies are

most prevalent, it is more likely that she will be committed

as a delinquent.3

 

lCharnley, op. Cit., p. 86.

/‘

(Harris Peck, Treatment of the Delinquent Adolescent
(New York: Family Service Association Of America, l954),p.62.

 

3Theodora M. Abel and Elaine F. Kinder, The Subnormal

P

Adolescent Girl (New York: Columbia University Press, l9fi2),
p. lO3.

 

In the absence of a stable home environment or an
adequate substitute giving a background of emotional
security, the subnormal adolescent girl is more exposed
than her intelligent peer to both emotional and environ-
mental influences contributing to delinquent behavior, and
delinquency is more frequent than among those of average
intelligence. Her limited intellectual resources and her
restricted imaginative capacity limit both her understanding
of social requirements and her resources for meeting these
requirements. She is unable to recognize the full impli—
cations of her problem or to solve it by talking about it.
She lacks "good judgment" and lacks control over emotional
reactions, acting impulsively and without thought of con-
SeQuence.1 The major delinquency of subnormal adolescent
girls is sexual. Some are easily led, some simply act
spontaneously in a sexual manner without any regard for
possible consequences of such behavior, others may be dom-
inated by another individual.2

A correctional institution, for a defective, has an
effect similar to that of a boarding school which helps
many of its students bridge the uncertainties of the years

of transition from the dependence of childhood to the

responsibilities of adult living.3 Heiser reminds us,

however, that the mentally defective may receive more of

lIbid., pp. 132-133. 2Ibid., pp. 139-140.

3Ibid., p. 150.

———.—I

21

what they need in a foster home rather than in an insti-

tution.1 The child must be considered as an individual.
Another group of defective adolescent girls are the

psychopathological. They express their inability to cope

with their environment by extreme forms of introversion:

retreat into fantasy; complaintsof non-existent physical

disorders; weeeping, sulking, moodiness, temper tantrums;

no open rebellion. These girls are usually in the higher

levels of intelligence and constitute a small percentage

of subnormals, but a special group. They require psychiatric

attention and often need care in a highly specialized environ-

ment where psychotherapeutic measures for treatment are

available.2
Many adolescent girls undergo replacement. Reasons

for replacement from foster homes may include an unexpected

reality situation in a foster family, mistaken evaluation

of foster family, and the child's own disturbed behavior

found to be worse than an average foster family can tolerate.3

Other reasons for replacement from a foster home named by

Healy, Bronner, and Baylor are superficial investigation by

the agency, home unsuited to needs of adolescents, changed

 

1Karl F. Heiser, Our Backward Children (New York:
W. W. Norton and Co., 1955), p. 150.

 

2Abel and Kinder, op. Cit., pp. 134-135.

’2
“Glickman, op. Cit., pp. 139-143.

(U
R)

conditions in foster home, a necessity for breaking family
ties, friction between foster parents and child, and over-
attachment.l It is suggested that adolescents be replaced
from institutions in order to see what normal family life
is, in preparation for their future.2
Unless parents are destructive, there is no special
purpose to distance in placement. A placement in town
offers the advantages of closer ties of the worker with the
child and parent, economy of time, and work with the insti-
tution or home within which the child is placed. Distance
offers less proximity to the parent and home and may be an
advantage in cutting destructive interference of some
parents. It also gives extensive periods of relaxation
without the parent for the child. Distance may dim reality
and delay adjustment, it may make adjustment possible, or
an out-of-town placement may be of no difference from one
in town.3 Factors of importance in determining distance
of placement include the nature of the child's problem and
resources available for treatment, the degree to which the
child is able to understand and accept or is threatened by
separation, and the acceptability of a placement in or out

of town to the parents.

 

lHealy, Bronner, and Baylor, op. Cit., pp. 203-209.

Glickman, loc. cit.

3Goldie Goldstein, "A Community Without Institutional
Facilities," Jewish Social Service Quarterly, XXV (September,
l9A8-June, 1949), l8A-l85.

 

R)
LA.)

Often the worker is left with little choice regarding
distance 9: placement. It is an unfortunate community
situation that makes it necessary for a teen-ager to hgyg
to go to one facility or another. Many girls could be
spared institutionalization if their communities were ade-
quately provided with social agencies for handling their
special problems. Probation officers are needed for
offering guidance at home. Rural communities are especially
lacking in resources and Negroes are doubly rejected.1
Facilities for care of all children are inadequate, usually
unalluring, and often grim.

Difficulty in finding a sufficient number of foster
homes and the number of Children failing to adjust in
these families bring an awareness of needs for institutions.
There is often no facility in the community set up for
the purpose of observation and study of children with
behavior and personality difficulties and no local treatment
resources for children in need of institutions other than
the feebleminded, epileptic, and psychotic. Goldstein's
article on the need for institutional resources states that
institutional placement was indicated professionally in
17% of a sample. Of these, no facilities were available for
15%. This included fifteen predelinquent and delinquent;
five severe neurotics, not delinquent; two pre-psychotic;
two in need of a group situation because of parental inter-

2
ference.

 

1Deutsch, op. Cit., p. 224. 2Goldstein, op.cit.,p.183.

l

A
(‘4

The Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in New York
did a study in 19A5 on institutional placement needs and
resources. Ten types of treatment were arrived at, eleven
including unmarried mothers. They are as follows:1

1. Children requiring controlled environment and
therapy for behavior problems, usually of
aggressive nature.

2. Children requiring group care but who do not

present serious behavior problems.

Pre-adolescent seriously disturbed, needing

psychiatric care.

A. Adolescents seriously disturbed, additional com-
plication of adolescence and deterioration due to
longer duration of difficulty.

5. Adolescents, particularly from institutions, no
longer likely to profit frim that form of care,
not ready for independent living, not able to
go home. Small residence units proposed.

0. Older youths, orientation to work and adult life,
requiring separate homes.

7. Retarded, but no serious behavior problems. Small
institutional units proposed.

8. Temporary shelter, four weeks or less, emergency
care.

9. Physically handicapped--handicap over and above
other basic causes for foster placement.

10. Children primarily suited for foster home but
temporarily, and for a variety of reasons, not
reacting to any orthodox foster home situation
with characteristic emotional demands. Need
modified but not "institutional" group care for
limited period.

LA)

In groups three and four, no institution existed for
four of every ten. Adolescents should be cared for
separately in entirely different units than the younger or
pre-adolescent, even though diagnostically similar. Individ-
ualized care is needed and the large personnel and special

services required are bound to be expensive.

 

lPhilip Klein, ”Community Planning Toward Greater
Specialization in Child Placement," Jewish Social Service
Quarterly, XXV, No.2 (December, 1948), 173-176

 

 

2Ibid., p. 177.

R)
\W

Special foster homes are needed for children with
behavior disorders with which foster parents are not
ordinarily able to cope. Different types of homes are
recommended here: the professional foster home offers a
foster parent who accepts more training and supervision
than an average foster parent in providing specific care
required by a given child; a subsidized home's premises
can belong to the foster family who is paid a sizable fee
for occupancy by children and extra operating expenses
incurred by their care; a contractual home receives a
regular amount paid for the full foster care of a given
number of children, even if not there; an agency may own a
home and pay parents either a subsidy to operate the home
over and above a salary for services or a fixed sum for
service and total operation.1 The above offer the insurance
of stability for a disturbed child whose difficult behavior
causes replacements from numerous foster homes.

Teens with mental disorders and defects are often
committed to reform schools because there is no room in
public psychiatric institutions or because of rigid unreal-
istic laws limiting admission to those adjudged legally
insane.2 The probability of being helped by psychiatric
treatment is high for an adolescent confining aggression

to certain areas, for one timid and retiring, or for one

 

lGlickman, op. cit., pp. 71-72.

2Deutsch, op. cit., p. 255,

R)
U

responding to frustration by renewing the attack or giving
way to annoyance and temper. Those extremely aggressive
and hostile in almost all situations, or those showing
little or no feeling, have little chance for successful
treatment.1 Residential treatment centers are of value in
psychiatric treatment. These are of two types, a hospital
or ward connected with a hospital, or a conditioned social
structure which is usually a social agency. Both have
controlled settings.

Also needed are boarding homes to serve the older
adolescent whose needs for dependency care in family life,
both physical and emotional, are minimal; who does not need
close supervision; and who does not neet to make new close
family ties. Yet he may not be ready for totally dependent
living.3 Such a placement offers more social prestige and
independence.

A study somewhat resembling the one to follow is the
dersham Experiment of the Mersham Reception Centre, Kent

A The Centre was set up for placement

County, England.
planning with a generous grant from the Nuffield Foundation

and cooperation of Kent County authorities in October, 19A7.

 

1Sue Albright and Helen Gambrell, "Personality Traits
as Criteria for the Psychiatric Treatment of Adolescents,"
Smith College Studies in Social Work, IX, No. 1 (September,
1938), 25-28?

2Glickman, op cit., pp. 81-82. 3Ibid., p. 21

O
——_ _—-

“Hilda Lewis, Deprived Children: The Mersham Experi—
rnent, A Social and ClinicaI Study (London: OXford University

Press, 195E), pp. 2-3.

27

Its resident whole—time staff included a warden, assistant
warden, matron, assistant matron, two teachers, and domestic
staff. In addition, a psychiatric social worker served on

a full-time basis and a psychiatrist and psychologist, part-
time.

Contact with a children's officer and with staff of
the children's department of Kent County Council was close
and constant. There was also cooperation with other
officials of local authority, child guidance clinics, school
teachers, probation officers, and officials of voluntary
bodies, especially the National Society for Prevention of
Cruelty to Children.

The Centre held twenty-five children at one time and
received a total of 500 children living in Kent County
between October, 19A7, and July, 1950. Children were
admitted because they were believed to need care away from
home and the placement planning available. The Centre was
the first of its kind.

Children of all ages were admitted. Of a total of 500,
sixty-five, or 13%,were girls between the ages of twelve
and fifteen, and five, or 1%, were above the age of fifteen.1
There is little differentiation according to age and sex
in results of this study. Later, comparisons to the
following study will include the general conclusions of the

Mersham Experiment.

 

 

CHAPTER III
METHODS AND PROCEDURES EMPLOYED IN THIS STUDY

To begin gathering data, the writer first obtained
the names of girls to be included in this study. This was
done by consultation with workers and obtaining names of
present and closed cases from them. At this time the agency
lost a full-time untrained worker and two part-time untrained
workers replaced her. The former worker was consulted
regarding names and again later, for a questionnaire and
interview. Two full-time workers also furnished names and
they and the supervisor were given the questionnaire and
interviewed. Two other workers and one of the new workers
do not have, and are not expected to have, cases involving
placement of adolescent girls. The other new worker is
expected to have such cases and was given the questionnaire.
However, she declined to answer because of lack of recent
experience. Thus, the supervisor, the former worker, and
two present workers were those involved directly with the
study.

Cases were not read in any planned order.) Data was
recorded on small cards. A simplified schedule was used and
brief notes were written regarding such factors as the girl's
and parents' behavior and attitudes. Data were later trans-

ferred to a large schedule.

28

Each worker involved was given an unstructured ques-
tionnaire to derive agency criteria for placement.l This
was designed to obtain the worker's opinions and ideas with
no suggestion as to expected answers. These were completed
by the workers and returned to the writer within a week or
ten days. They were then carefully analyzed, summarized,
and arranged into criteria for placement of adolescent
girls.2 This represents a congregate of workers' opinions
and is not based on one alone.

Such criteria may be compared to those discussed in
the previous chapter. Catholic Social Services supports
the hope that the child may be kept in his home if possible
and gives similar reasons for placement away from home.

The considerations in choosing placements are also very

like those in the background reading. What are the stated
needs? Community awareness, more foster homes, a facility
for observation and treatment, institutions for the seriously
disturbed, special foster homes, a facility for mentally
i11--these are listed by the authors represented in the
readings and by workers of Catholic Social Services. The
authors add a need of boarding homes for older adolescents.
Workers of the agency recommend the addition of more facili-
ties of the Child Guidance Clinic, more funds for support

of girls, a group setting for non-delinquents, a Family

Court, and a resource for a child with multiple problems.

 

1 2

Appendix A. Appendix B.

)O
1‘

Such criteria were derived for the purpose of judging
a placement appropriate or inappropriate. The writer first
looked at the factors leading up to each placement and
evaluated the placement in terms of the criteria. Later,
interviews were held with workers to fill gaps in written
records. Workers were questioned on each placement and
asked to provide pertinent material regarding said place—
ments. They were asked to state what type of placement
they had recommended at the time the placement was made, and
the reason a recommendation was not carried out, if that
had happened.

In such interviews, it became obvious that many records
were not providing sufficient material regarding the place-
ment which had been recommended. Workers often spoke of
important determinants of which the writer had not gained
knowledge from the record. If the worker was no longer
with the agency and records were scanty, many unknowns were
present.

There was also no uniform pattern followed in selecting
a recommendation. A placement may have been recommended by
a worker alone, or by various combinations of decision-making.
It was realistically impossible to determine whose judgment
was involved in each placement.

In first formulating the problem for the study, the
writer had intended to include judgment of the worker as a
factor in inappropriate placements. Because of scanty

record material and inability to determine source of

L A.)
H

judgments, this proved difficult to consider. Also, in
attempting to use the criteria as a final base for judgment,
it was found that such criteria did not provide an objective
base. Criteria were new to workers and could be read
subjectively.

Consequently, the actual method of designating a
placement as appropriate or inappropriate consisted, first,
of analysis of each placement by the writer. This involved
working with the criteria and with the factors leading to
placement. Workers were then interviewed. Each placement
was analyzed in terms of the situation at the time of the
placement, a definite attempt made to rule out any consid-
eration of later developments.

A serious lack here was the staff's inability to think
in terms of needs and desires in placement facilities. So
attuned were they to obstacles of reality that it was common
for a worker to decide on a recommended placement because

" The writer's analysis of place-

'there was nothing else.
ments beforehand, plus her questioning, eliminated many such
situations, but certainly not all.

If workers disagreed on recommended placements, the
supervisor was consulted. Usually,a majority opinion was
found. In one case, there was no agreement as to the recom—
mended placement, although all agreed the actual placement
was not desired. The writer then decided the recommended place-

ment by means of her interpretation of the criteria. This

coincided with the opinion of a worker, also.

LO
f\)

In many instances the writer found it necessary to
use her own judgment in classifying data. Despite attempts
to classify material objectively, decisions often involved

subjective judgment.

CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION OF DATA

This study is based on the assumption that Lansing
Catholic Social Services tries to conform to general prin-
ciples concerning placement, but is not always able to do
so. An attempt will be made to find the reasons for any
inability to place as recommended. Lack of community
resources is expected to be the main factor in such inability.

Actual placements will refer to the girl's known
placement. Recommended placements are those recommended by
a member or members of the agency staff at the time of the
actual placement.l If the actual and recommended placements
are identical, the placement is stated to be appropriate.

If the two placements differ, the placement is designated as
inappropriate.

Reasons for inappropriate placement may include factors
in the community or factors in the client's situation.
Worker's judgment was eliminated as a factor because of the
different methods of placement in the agency and because of
a frequent lack of information in the records.

The thirty—three girls studied for the purpose of the

investigation are from thirteen to seventeen years of age

 

lSee discussion, pages 30 and 31, of difficulties en-
countered in determining what the recommended placement was.

33

K .k)

and, with the exception of unmarried mothers, include those
considered for placement by the agency within a three-year

period.

The Girl Before Placement

 

Of what race and religion are the thirty-three girls?

'Table l indicates the predominance of white Catholics.

TABLE 1

RACE AND RELIGION OF GIRLS STUDIED

 

 

 

Race Catholic Protestant Total
White 25 -- 25
Negro l 2 3
Mexican 3 -- 3
Other1 2 -- 2

TOTAL 31 2 33

 

1Includes one Indian girl and one girl of Polish-
Chinese descent.

The large number of white Catholic girls was expected.
It is interesting to note that the two Protestant girls are
both Negroes. These seem to be referrals to a particular
worker who has done extensive work in the Negro community.

Is one age group more apt to be placed and replaced
than another? Table 2 shows the greater chance of the

older girl to be replaced.

TABLE 2

ACEMENTS AND REPLACEMENTS IN
CH AGE GROUP

 

 

 

 

Number of Number of

Age First Placements Placements Total
l3-l5 _
Years is l2 28
15-17 _
Years 17 27 4h
Unknown —- 3 3

TOTAL 33 M2 75

First placements are almost equally divided among age

groups. However, replacements are quite obviously more

numerous among girls aged fifteen years and over. This
latter group experienced over twice the number of replace-
ments as did the younger age group.

What was the girl's placement history before the
period of the study? Both records and workers lacked in-
formation regarding this. The writer attempted to determine
the number of times a girl was placed in a setting and the
number of years in each, but there was not enough information.
Consequently, a sparse picture of placement history was
received. Basic information was obtained, however. Eight
giris were known to have no placement history and nothing
was known about the possibility of past placements for three
girfls. Thus, at least twenty—two, or two-thirds of the

girfls studied, had some sort of placement history.

Who supports the girl before and after placement?
Table 3 points out that fathers are the main source of
support at both times, with the Juvenile Division of the
Probate Court also supporting a large number of girls after

placement.

TABL 3

SOURCE P GIRL'S SUPPORT BEFORE AND AFTER PLACEMENT

Fl

 

 

 

 

Source of Support Before Placement After Placement
Father 20 1M
Mother 7 2
Relative 2 1
Juvenile Division of

the Probate Court -- 13
‘Unknown 1 --
Other1 3 3

1

Estate, Social Security

While 71% of the mothers supporting a child before
placement did not do so after placement, only 30% of the
fathers did not support after placement. This may indicate
a lower income level of the mothers represented, and this
is confirmed in Table A.

Of the fathers supporting, 65% earned a comfortable
income. No mother had a comfortable income, but was either

in the dependent or marginal income group.

LU
‘ J

TABLE u

INCOKE LEVELlOF SOURCE OF SUPPORT BEFORE PLACEMENT‘

 

 

Source of Support Dependent Marginal Comfortable Unknown

 

Father 1 6 13 --

Mother A 3 -- --

Relative -- _- 2 -_

Unknown _- -- __ 1
’2

Others -- -_ _- 3

 

1"Income Level” does not take into consideration such
factors as regularity of employment.

2Terms used in Table 4 are defined as follows:
dependent--on public or private agency; marginal--barely
self-sufficient, cannot handle emergency; comfortable--some
luxuries; affluent--many luxuries. Albright and Gambrell,
op. cit., pp. 3-u, as used by Child Guidance Clinics in
Worcester, Massachusetts, and Hartford, Connecticut.

0

k

Estate, Social Security.

Does the marital situation of the stated natural
parents have any bearing on the outstanding characteristic
of the girl at the time of her first placement? Such
characteristics may include her dependence upon the public
for support and maintenance; her neglect, abuse, or rejection
by parents; or delinquency, her adjustment to the demands of
society not acceptable to society. 'Table 5 suggests that
girls from unbroken homes usually exhibit delinquency.

Seven of the nine girls from unbroken homes exhibited

<delinquent behavior. Of girls from unbroken homes, thirteen

38

TABLE 5

MARITAL STATUS OF PARENTS AND OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTIC
OF GIRL AT FIRST PLACEMENT

 

 

 

Characteristic Unbroken Home Broken Home1 Total
Dependent l 2 3
Neglected l 13 14
Delinquent 7 9 l6

TOT"L 9 24 33

 

1Death, desertion, divorce, separation.

were neglected, and nine were delinquent. Numerically,
broken homes produced more delinquents, but proportionally
unbroken homes produce more. This may indicate that girls
with their own parents are less apt to become known to an
agency until delinquent acts have been committed and are of
concern. A parent from a broken home may be more apt to
place a girl for reasons other than delinquency and with
less feeling of responsibility for the girl, as exhibited
in the number of neglected from such a home.

Does level of income play a significant part in the
original reason for placement? Table 6 suggests that it is
not relevant.

It may first be noted that twice as many girls were
referred because of a parental situation than because of
their own behavior. Of those with a parental reason for

placement, almost half were supported by a comfortable

income. Of those originally placed because of action of

the girl, 50¢ were supported by a comfortable income, and
AO% were supported by a marginal income. The highest per-
centage placed for parental reasons was in dependent homes,
the lowest in marginal. A comfortable income does not sug-
gest less chance of placement. Income does not seem to be

a significant factor in whether or not placement is con-

S'idered o

6

TABL

[‘1 ]

INCOME LEVEL OF SOURCE OF SUPPORT AND ORIGINAL
REASON FOR PLACEMENT

 

 

Income Level Parentall Girl2 Unknown Total
Dependent A l -- 5
Marginal A A l 9
Comfortable l0 5 -— 15
Unknown 3 -- l A

TOTAL 21 10 2 33

 

1Loss or inadequacy of mother, rejection or neglect
by parents, parents' inability to handle girl.

2Misbehavior of girl.

Does a comfortable income level suggest a dominant
characteristic of the girl at the time of first placement?

Table 7 shows that she may be either neglected or delinquent.

4O

H

n
,_
o-

r—i
Fl

7
OUTSTANDING CHARACTERISTIC OF GIRL AT FIRST PLACEMENT
AND INCOME LEVEL OF SOURCE OF SUPPORT

 

 

Characteristic Dependent Marginal Comfortable Unknown Total

 

Dependent 2 -- -- 1 3
Neglected 2 2 7 3 14
Delinquent l 7 8 -- 16

TOTAL 5 9 15 u 33

 

Girls from dependent homes exhibit dependency, as
expected. Of the neglected girls, half have a source of
support with a comfortable income. Of the delinquent almost
half are supported by a marginal income, half supported by
a comfortable income. Dependent homes include girls depen-
dent and neglected; girls from seven of the nine marginal
homes were delinquent; comfortable homes presented either
neglected or delinquent girls. Thus, there is not one
dominant characteristic of a girl supported by a comfortable
income. One might speculate that a marginal home is apt to
product a delinquent.

Are the original reason for placement and the character-
istic of the girl at the time of the first placement similar?
Table 8 suggests that they are, with the exception of delin-
quency, as six of the girls originally referred because of

parental problems later exhibited delinquency.

 

 

 

OUTSTANDIN CHARACTERISTIC O? GIPL AT FIRST PLeCENENT

W ORIGINAL RE SON FOR PLA EVENT
Characteristic Parental Girl Unknown Total
Dependent 2 —- l 3
Neglected l3 -- l 14
./ /’
Delinquent 0 l0 -- lo
TOTAL 21 10 2 33

 

Is ther a difference in the reason for a girl being
considered for placement between cases known to the agency
before the girl was thirteen years and those known after her
thirteenth birthday? Table 9 indicates that of those pre-
viously known, a higher percentage was referred because of

parental loss or inadequacy than those received by the agency

after their thirteenth birthday. In cases referred before the

TI:sBLE 9

CONTACT WITH THE AGENCY PREVIOUS TO THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY
AD' ORIGINAL REASON FOR PLACETENT

 

 

 

Previous Contact Parental Girl Unknown Total
None lO 8 -- 18

Some ll 2 2 15

TOTAL 21 10 2 33

 

thirteenth birthday "before" ‘ifficulties of the girl con-

stituted 13% of the total number.

La
l’\)

parental reason for placement claims the larger
number of cases previously known. In those not previously

known, the number is fairly well divided between the two

~ referred because of their

i—J
(I)

types of reasons. Of the gir
own behavior, 80% were referred after the age of thirteen.
Difficulties of the girl constituted HA% of the total number

dif-

(D
F?
G.)
’7)
1
\J
Cu
DJ

fter the girl's thirteenth birthdav

V
U

of cases r-

ficulties of the girl constituted 13% of the total number.

I

It appears that the younger child is less apt to be
referred becruse of her own difficulties. The older adoles-

cent is more likely to be referred as a "problem child."

Let us consider original referral sources of cases

I

known before t.e girl's thirteenth birthday and of those

D

hit time. Table 10 points out the predominance

(‘1‘

not known at

i

~‘I

OI cases without previous contact referred by a public

facility.

TABLE IO

CONTACT WITH THE AGENCY PREVIOUS TO THIRTEENTH BIRTHDAY
AND ORIGINAL REFERRAL SOURCE

 

Previous Cuntact Public Facilityl Private Sourced TOCal

 

Some 7 8. 15
None 13 5 18
TOTAL 20 13 33

 

lJuvenile D vision of the Probate Court, Department of
Social Welfare, Juvenile Division of Police, Schools.

f‘

“Priest, parent, relative, friend.

KN

Of those referred by a public facility, thirteen of

U

h

wenty were not previouslv known to the agency. Of referrals

(I)

from private sources, mo t had previous contact. Those with
previous contact showed fairly even distribution between
public and private referrals. Of those without previous
contact, thirteen of eighteen were publicly referred. As the

Juvenile Division of the Probate Court is by far the largest

public referral source, this s

(—1

iggests that girls referred
by it were over the age of thirteen. Before the age of

thirteen, there is no outstanding referral source.

(I)

there a difference in the outstanding characteristic

r-i

of a girl referred by a public facility and a girl referred
by a private source? Table 11 suggests that delinquents

have already come to the attention of a public agency.

TA 11

[I1
{—1
[11

OUTSTANDING CH RACTERISTIC OF GIRL AT FIRST PLACEMENT
AND ORIGINAL REFERRAL SOURCE

 

 

 

 

Characteristic Public Facility Private Source Total
Dependent 2 l 3
Neglected E 9 14
Delinquent 13 3 16

TOTAL

|'\)
O
H
LU
U)
U)

 

Of th se referred by a public facility, thirteen of
twenty were delinquent; of those referred by a private

source, nine of thirteen were neglected. Thus, approximately

r

65% of referrals by a public facility, which is usually the
Juvenile Division of the Probate Court, are delinquent girls.
A referral from a private source will mean a neglected girl
about 69% of the time.

nt is consequently usually

(D

The girl awaiting placem
referred to Catholic Social Services by a public facility.
Of these so referred, she is apt to be above the age of
thirteen at first referral and to have committed delinquent
acts. A referral from a private source is more likely to
mean a neglected girl. Girls referred before the age of
thirteen are more often referred because of parental loss
or inadequacy.

Most are from broken homes which show a high proportion

N
D

(

of neglected girls. Those from unbroken homes usually
exhibit delinquency.

Income does not seem to be a factor in whether or not
a placement is considered. Girls supported by a marginal
income tend to show a higher percentage of delinquency;

there is little or no differentiation of dependent and com—

fortable incomes, however.

Placements

 

Let us now look at the actual placements of the thirty-
three girls, arranged in order as to placement. Table 12
indicates the use of own home and foster home for first
placements, with institutions used more for later place-

ments.

\Yl

TABLE 12

ACTUAL PLACEMENTS AND ORDER OF PLACEMENT

 

 

 

. 1 l ,
Placement Own Home Foster Home Institution Other Total

 

 

First 1U 17 -- 2 33
Secon: 3 9 5 3 20
Third 3 A E -- 12
Fourth l 2 3 -- 6
Fifth -— -- 3 -- 3
Sixth l -- -- —- 1
TOT L 22 32 16 5 75
1Includes relatives and other parent.
First placements are usually in the own home or a
foster home. Foster homes account for 45% of second place-

J

ments, institutions for 25%, and own home for 15%. There
is little differentiation between settings in further place-
ments, with institutions used slightly more.

In looking at determinants in deciding placements the
writer snall use first placements, as each girl has at least
one placement.

Does the marital status of parents have any effect on
the resulting placement? Title 13 shows an obvious pattern
of girls from unbroken homes being placed at home.

Of the girls from unbroken homes, eight of the nine
were placed in their own homes. Of the girls from broken

homes, only one-fourth were placed at home. Sixteen of the

it
(TN

seventeen girls placed in foster homes were from broken
homes. The indication seems to be that there is an attempt
to keep girls from unbroken homes at home. f those from

broken homes, 75% go immediately into placement outside the

 

 

 

 

home.
TABLE 13

NRRITAL STATUS OF PARENTS AND FIRST ACTUAL PLACEMENT
Martial Status Own Home Foster Home Other1 Total2
Unbroken home 8 l -- 9
Broken home 6 16 2 24

TOTAL 14 17 2 33

lRelatives.

2There were no institutional first placements.

Is the original reason for placement a determinant in
the first placement? Parental loss or inadequacy is more

apt to mean placement outside the home, as shown in Table 14.

Of those placed at home, there was no differentiation
of reason for placement. Of those placed in a foster home,
thirteen of seventeen girls were placed because of parental
reasons. Of girls placed because of their own action, 70%
were placed at home. Of those placed because of parental
reasons, 66% were placed away from home.

It seems that the agency attempts to work with girls

and their problems within the home. However, if the problem

is not primarily the girl but the parental situation, twice
as manv girls are removed from home as those remaining at

D

home.

OPIGINAL REASON FOR PLACEMENT AND FIRST ACTUAL PLACEMENT

 

 

 

Reason Own Home Foster Home Other1 Total
Parental 7 l3 1 21
Girl 7 3 -- 10
Unknown -- l l 2

TOTAL la 17 2 33

 

lRelatives.

s age an outstanding determinant in placement? For
this the writer shall consider all seventy-five placements.
According to Table 15 younger girls tend to go into foster
homes and little difference in placement of older girls is
noted.

Of placements at home, 72% of the girls were of the
older age. Foster homes indicate little differentiation
as to age and 5? of institutional placements were of the
older age group. Over half of placements of younger girls
were in foster homes; placements of older girls decline
slightly numerically in the order of own home, foster home,

and institution.

U.)

T BLE l

\W

AGE AND LCTU L PLACEMENT

 

 

l

 

Age Own Home Foster Home Institution Other Total

13-15 ,

Years 6 15 u A 29

15-17

Years 16 14 12 1 M3

Unknown -- 3 -_ -- 3
TOTAL 22 32 16 5 75

 

l
Relatives, other parent.

The division of foster home placements may indicate
that such a setting is able to be found and used equally
well for both age groups. However, the larger number of
older adolescents represented in the placements, and the
greater tendency to place them at home and in institutions,
may contradict this. There may be a greater lack of, or less
need of, foster homes for this age. Also, any delinquent
patterns of the girl may be more firmly entrenched, causing
a need for institutionalization. There are no public funds
available for the support of a girl seventeen years or
older and this may necessitate a return home for the girl
as she nears this age. Finally, a girl almost seventeen
years of age may be nearing self-sufficiency and exhibit
less need for foster care.

Thus, if one wishes to isolate determinants of place-

Inent, marital status of parents seems to be a factor as

evidenced by the tendency to first place girls from unbroken
homes at home. The original reason for placement emerges,
as girls placed because of their own actions often remain
at home and those placed because of parental loss or inade-
quacy are usually placed away from home. Girls of the older
age group have three times the number of institutional place-
ments as those younger and almost three times the number of
placements at home.

What are the recommended placements for the thirty—
tflaree girls? Table 16 shows the large number of own home

aruj foster home placements recommended first, particularly

ikoster home placements.

a

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1

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RECOMMENDED PLA“ENENTS AND ORDER OF PLACEMENT

¥
‘

Order of Own Foster

 

Placement Home Home Institution Otherl Unknown Total
First 7 2o 3 -— 3 33
Second 2 7 7 l 3 20
Third 2 2 C -- 2 12
Fourth -- 2 3 -- 1 6
Fifth -— l 2 -- -- 3
Sixth -- -- 1 -- -- 1

TOTAL 11 32 22 l 9 75

 

1
Other parent.

L
“O
/

Of first placements, foster homes were favored; of
second, foster homes and institutions were equal; of third
or over, institutions were favored. Institutions were most
popular in third placements. This seems to indicate an
attempt to try first to keep the girl in a family setting
and use institutional care when this fails for one reason
or another.

Again using all seventy-five placements, let us com-
pare recommended placements to actual placements.l Table 17
may be read in the following manner. Recommended placements
are read down, the horizontal divisions showing where actual
placements were. For example, reading down those recommended
for Adrian, one remained home, one returned home, and one
went to Adrian. In like manner, reading across those
actually placed at the Villa, one was recommended for a
foster home, eight for the Villa, and one recommendation
was unknown.

Reading the chart as to recommended placement, we find
by comparing totals that of four recommended to remain in a
foster home, two were so placed; of fourteen recommended for
Villa Maria, ten were so placed; of three recommended for
Adrian, one was so placed. The next two represent settings
not available in this community. Two were recommended for
a group setting for non-delinquents and two were recommended

for a receiving home with diagnostic services.

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A 1For explanation of placement facilities, see
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To continue reading, we find that twenty-eight were

recommended for a foster home, and a greater number, thirty,

were so placed. Six were recommended to remain home and
actually eleven did. In like manner, five were recommended
to return home and actually eleven did so. This seems to

indicate that several possibilities of placement failed,
resulting in a placement at home.

The greatest numerical difference, then, between
actual and recommended placements was in remaining home
and in returning home. Taken together, eleven were recom-
for their own home and twenty-one actually were so
placed. Indication of lack of facility may also be evidenced

and actual placements. Of thirty—

(I)

by other recommendation

two recommendations to a foster home, almost one—fourth

were placed in their own home or with relatives. Of fourteen

recommendations to Villa Maria, a little more than one-

fourth of the girls were placed in their own homes. Two of

the three girls recommended for Adrian were placed at home.
When a group setting was recommended, a foster home

was the placement. The juvenile detention home was never

recommended, but was used four times. In three cases, a

diagnostic receiving home was the preferred placement.

Inappropriate Placements
Twenty-two placements were inappropriate. Eighteen
were because of reasons involving community resources. Lack

of facilities was the major problem in the community,

\W
KO

accounting for twelve of the inappropriat< placements. Of

the twelve, five of the recommended placements were prevented

because of lack of foster homes. Three recommended place-
ments were for a receiving home and two recommended place-
ments for a group setting. Neither of these settings is

available in the community. Another facility lack is that
of financial support for a girl above the age of seventeen,

this causing two inappropriate placements.

TABLE 18
REASONS FOR INAPPROPRIATE PLACEMENT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Community Resources

Another problem originating in the community is that
of other agency involvement, accounting for three wrong
placements. An institutional waiting list also resulted in
three misplacements.

Four inappropriate placements were caused by reasons
in the client's situation. Two such placements were because
of the refusal of the parents to participate in the planning
process. One inappropriate placement was due to interference
by the mother and one to interference by relatives.

Thus, of the seventy-five placements, 29% were indi-
cated as inappropriate, 59% as appropriate, and 12% as
unknown. Fi teen girls experienced the twenty-two inappro-
priate placements. Eleven of these girls also experienced
appropriate placements and four girls had only inappropriate
placements. One girl experienced four inappropriate place-
ments and four girls had two.

Does referral source seem to be important in inappro-
priate placements? Table 19 indicates that almost all cases

with inappropriate placement were referred by a public

agency.

TABLE 19

ORIGINAL REFERRAL SOURCE AND REASON FOR INAPPROPRIATE

 

 

PLACEMENT
Referral Client's Lack of Other Agency Waiting ET—
Source Situation Facility Involvement List Total
Public 3 ll 2 3 19
Private 1 l 1 ‘ 3

TOTAL 4 l2 3 3 22

 

\, H
K 5‘

Of the referrals from a public source, lack of

facility is the major factor in misplacement. In each

suggest that the speculation in this chapter that ”problem”
cases are rezerred by public agencies is followed by an

indication that "problem" c.ses experience more difficulty

Does a girl experiencing an inappropriate placement
exhibit a particular characteristic? Table 20 indicates

that most inappropriate placements are with delinquent girls.

OUTSTLNDING CHARI'T
A R

RISTIC OP GIRL AND REASON
FOR IN. R ‘

IIHIE PLACEMENT

 

Client's Lack of Waiting Other Agency
Characteristic Situation Facility List Involvement Total

 

Dependent -- 1 -- _- 1
Neglected 1 3 -_ 1 5
Delinquent 3 8 3 2 16

TOTAL 4 l2 3 3 22

 

In all reasons for inappropriate placement, delinquent
girls form the largest number. Within the number of delin-
quent girls, lack of facility accounted for half the number.
Delinquent girls form 73% of inappropriate placements.

Does age have a bearing on an inappropriate placement?

Table 21 suggests that it does.

56

TABLE 21

AGE AN REASON FOR INAPPROPRIATE PLACEMENT

 

 

Client's Lack of Waiting Other Agency

 

Age Situation Facility List Involvement Total
13- a
Ye 2 4 -- l 7
15-17
Years 2 8 3 2 15
TOT L A 12 3 3 22

 

Over twice as many in the older age group experienced
inappropriate placements as in the younger group. This is
true also in problems of lack of facility and other agency
involvement. Client's situation yields equal distribution
and there was no waiting list problem in the younger age
group. Both younger and older girls experienced the lack of
facility as the main problem.

Is one source of support during placement more preva-
lent than others in inappropriate placements? Table 22
suggests that a girl supported by the Probate Court is more
prone to inappropriate placement.

In looking at inappropriate placements, constituting
29% of actual placements, the following is suggested:

Of actual placements, the larger percentage of

those inappropriate were girls returning home,

only half these returns recommended.

Recommendations followed a pattern of family
settings as first placements, institutional later.

—4

\H

TABL' 22

m

SOURCE F SUPPORT DURING PLACEMENT AND
REASON FOR INAPPROPRIATE PLACEMENT

 

 

Client's No Waiting Other Agency

Support Situation Facility List Involvement Total
Probate

Court 2 8 3 2 15

Father 1 2 -- -- 3

Mother -- 1 -- 1 2

Other 1 l -— -- 2

TOTAL 4 l2 3 3 22

 

Study

again

Girls misplaced were usually referred by a public
facility.

Of girls placed inappropriately, 68% were supported
during placement by the Juvenile Division of the
Probate Court.

Delinquent girls constituted 73% f inappropriate
placements.

Of inappropriate placements, 68% were in the age
group of fifteen to seventeen years.

Comparison to Mersham Study

 

A study found closely resembling this was the Mersham
introduced on page twenty-six. It should be stressed
that the Mersham Study included children of all ages.1

The criteria for placement used by the Mersham Centre

were on the following broad lines and may be compared to the

 

1Lewis, op. cit., pp. 6-8.

criteria in Appendix B. Foster homes were recommended for
those in normal mental health or for the mildly distrubed
with no parents or relatives. Small cottage-homes were
sought for sibling groups. Good children's homes were

ted for children with parents who would be likely to up-
set a foster home placement. Children's homes with trained
staff were recommended for neurotics and for those with
troublesome behavior. If needed, treatment at a psychiatric
hospital was suggested. The seriously backward education-
ally were in need of residential schools for educationally
subnormal pupils. Open-air residential schools or convales-
cent homes were recommended for the grossly physically

di

(I)

abled as a preliminary measure. In all cases, if parents
were at all adequate and/or separation would aggravate the
child's symptoms, a return to the home was recommended.

The criteria of Catholic Social Services follow these
same general lines. However, the Lansing agency does not
have the same situation in selecting placement. At Mersham
Centre the psychiatric social worker talks to the parents,
if possible, and gathers case histories from many different
sources. Time is not of the same importance as at the
Lansing agency because Mersham Centre is residential and
the child has care.

The child is observed by all members of the Centre
staff and at the end of a week is given psychological
testing. A psychiatric examination and brief physical

examination follow.

A conference is then held, presided over by the psy-
chiatrist. Present is the professional staff of the Centre
and workers from other agencies. All material is reviewed,
followed by discussion and recommendations.1

Lansing Catholic Social Services is often pressed for
time. Decisions are made by worker, and with the aid of
the supervisor and director as needed. Also used are con—
sultations with workers from the Probate Court, Child Guid-
ance Clinic, and anyone else who may be in contact with the
case, such as medical doctors and psychiatrists. There is
no systematic, carefully planned course of action as
exhibited at Mersham Centre.

Of the 223 girls represented in the Mersham Study,
seventy were twelve years or older.2 Neglect by parents
was the main cause of admission for these girls, uncontrol-
lable at home or school the second cause, and pilfering was
the third reason. Sexual misdemeanor was a minor reason,
as were truancy and wandering.3 The writer found in her
study that neglect or rejection by the parent accounted
for nine of thirty-three reasons for placement, and inability
to handle the girl, for three. Girl's misbehavior, usually
of a sexual nature, accounted for ten of the thirty-three

reasons for placement.

 

1 2
Ibid., pp. 3-6. Ibid., p.12.

 

,

CO

The main recommendations of Mersham's diagnostic con—
ferences were that one-twelfth of the children be returned
to their own homes, one-fifth placed in foster homes, and
slightly more than one—third placed in children's homes.

As Mersham considered only first placements, the
writer will do so in speaking of this study's recommended
placements. Catholic Social Services recommended one-fifth
to their own homes as compared to Nersham's one-twelfth;
three-fifths to foster homes as compared to Mersham's one-
fifth; and one-tenth to institutions as compared to
Mersham's one—third. Mersham Centre was more apt to use
institutional care. If its criteria are followed exactly,
this would suggest one-third of the parents unable to accept
foster care.

Mersham found that 76% of their children were placed
as recommended, as compared to this study's 59%.2 The fact
that Mersham included all ages may be an important variable
in the difference. Also, an important factor is that
Mersham Centre stated a placement as recommended despite
any delay in placement. Temporary accomodations were for
periods of time up to eighteen months, the temporary accommo-

dations were considered as a placement in the study.

 

llbid., p. 1M. 21bid., p. 9.

CHAPTER V

GENERALIZATIONS

The adolescent girl awaiting placement at Catholic
Social Services often exhibits identifying characteristics.
The broad background data given, when analyzed, yields cer-
tain generalizations.

The girl is usually referred to Catholic Social Services
by a public facility, the main representative being the
Juvenile Division of the Probate Court. Of the girls so
referred, the larger number is apt to be above the age of
thirteen at first referral and "delinquent."

Referrals from a private source suggest a neglected
girl. Girls referred before the age of thirteen are more
often referred because of loss or inadequacy of parents
rather than their own behavior.

Most girls are also from broken homes which show a
large percentage of neglected girls. A girl from an unbroken
home usually exhibits delinquency at first placement.

Income does not seem to be a factor in considering
placement. Girls supported by a marginal income tend to
show a higher percentage of delinquency; there is little
or no differentiation in dependent and comfortable incomes,
however.

61

In attempting to isolate determinants of actual place-

f must be considered.

ound that marital tatu

(I)
(I)

ment, it was
Girls frcm unbroken homes were usually placed first at home
and girls from broken homes, away from home. Also, the
riginal reason for placement points out that girls placed
because of parental loss or inadequacy go into care outside
the home, while the large majority of girls placed because
cf their misbehavior are placed at home. This follows
logically, because a large number of girls showing misbehavior
also are rem unbroken homes.

Girls of the older age group have three times the
number of institutional placements as those younger, and
almost three times the number of placements at home.

Lctual first placements are in the girl‘s own home
.r a foster home. Recommended first placements are mostly
for a foster home. There seems to be an attempt to keep a
girl in a family setting and to use institutional care when
this fails for one reason or another.

Of the seventy-five placements, 29% were indicated
as inappropriate, 59% as appropriate, and 12% as unknown.
All figures represent the judgment at the time of the place-
ment. Of the twenty-two inappropriate placements, eighteen
were for reasons involving community resources. This in-
cludes twelve due to lack of facility, three due to other
agency involvement, and three due to an institutional

waiting list.

Pour of the inappropriate placements were because of
the client's situation. Two of these were because of a
refusal by parents to cooperate, one because of interference
by the mother, and one because of interference by relatives.

The greatest discrepancy between actual and recommended
placements was in placements at home. Altogether, eleven
were recommended for a placement at home and twenty-two were
placed at home. Foster homes were substituted for the
group setting wanted, and the juvenile detention home was
the substitute for the needed diagnostic receiving home.

The twenty-two inappropriate placements were experi-
enced by fifteen girls, eleven of them also having appro—
priate placements. The highest number of inappropriate
placements experienced by one girl was four, four other
girls having two such placements.

Inappropriate placements occurred more frequently
among girls referred by a public facility. This suggests

"

that such girls were delinquent” and it seems that 73% of
such placements did occur with this type of girl.

In inappropriate placements, 68% were in the age group
of fifteen to seventeen years, suggesting that the older
girl presents more difficulty in placement.

This same number, 68%,was supported during placement
by the Juvenile Division of the Probate Court. For some
reason, parents were unable to support.

The working hypothesis throughout this study has been

that the agency is assumed to attempt appropriate placements

g
1

of adolescent girls, but is not always able to do so. The
focus was to determine reasons for any inability to place.
It was expected that community resources would emerge as
the main problem.

The concluding generalizations support the thought
that the agency is sometimes handicapped in following
through on recommended placements. Actually, this occurred

bx.—
{'U

in 29 of the placements. Also, community resources

accounted for eighteen of the twenty-two inappropriate

g
' ‘

placements, which would strongly support the original
expectation.

This studv yields some comparisons to that of Mersham
Centre in England. Mersham Centre's method of placement is
much more extensive than that of Catholic Social Services.
The residential Centre offers care for the child during
this time, however, and time is not as pressing as at the
Lansing agency.

The latter agency recommended a larger percentage to
own homes and to foster homes than did Mersham Centre. In-
stitutiwnal care was recommended more often by Mersham
Centre.

The Centre's major reason for placement was neglect
of parents and a minor reason was sexual misbehaviér of the
girl. At Catholic Social Services these two reasons for
placement were almost equal in number.

Mersham Centre experienced 76% appropriately placed,

as compared to this study's 59%. However, temporary

\ H

placements were not considered as placements. If the recom-

m

mended placement was obtained s much as eighteen months

later, it was considered appropriate.

CHAPTER VI

IRPLICAT ows c? THE CONCLUSIONS

AI‘ RECOMMENDATIONS

The fact that girls from unbroken homes were almost
always delinquent at first placement leads to a suggestion
for social work practice. Referrals of girls in this study
may have been delayed until parents or society could no
longer tolerate their behavior. A better informed society
that can be more sensitive to a developing problem is nec-
essary to refer a girl before her acts are intolerable.
Parents are of extreme importance here,as is awareness by
schools, churches, and other units of society.

Parents of broken homes tend to refer a girl earlier,
who most often can be described as ”neglected." A suggestion
might be that a lone parent is less able to assume respon-
sibility for the girl, in fact, may fear it. For this
reason, he or she may be quick to place a child. An agency
can "shar a load" here in assuming a supportive role to the
parent and helping him assume responsibility. A parent may
then be better able to keep children at home. Of course,
possible step-parents may aggravate the child's relationship
with his own parent. This,too, needs careful evaluation by
the agency in concluding whether a child remaining at home

may be harmed or helped.

‘\

O‘\

It seems that older girls experience a larger number
of replacements and inappropriate placements than younger
girls. An older adolescent may not adjust to a foster home
as readilv, and undesirable behavior patterns may be more
firmly entrenched. A problem, also, is the lack of public
support for a girl after her seventeenth birthday. The

‘ 0

Juvenile Division of the Probate Court usually ischarges a
girl at this age. She may not be self-sufficient and has no

other means of support. Serious consideration by the pro-

Further research studies the writer would recommend,
as suggested by this study, include:
1. Needs and resources of the girl aged seventeen
to twenty-one.

Follow-up study on success and failure of

R)

placements reported in this study to attempt to
learn if there is a differentiation in terms of
success between the appropriate and inappropriate

placements.

U0

The effectiveness of the agency's attempts at
getting facilities.

4. Examination of the reasons for replacement to
attempt to see if replacements could be reduced
in number.

The agency's main problem in placement appears to be

lack of facilities: receiving home, group setting for non-

delinquents, and foster homes. These are needs of the

63

community, and the agency as a part of the community has
the same responsibility as a private citizen in attempting
to initiate social action. A worker can work toward

desired ends in

C).

ividually, as a member of the agency, or
as a member of an organization.

Catholic Social Services has already tried the media
of radio and newspaper advertising to find new foster homes.
Neither of these was effective. Word-of-mouth by workers
of the agency and by present boarding parents has been the
most fruitful. Perhaps volunteer help could be enlisted in
finding foster homes and lay participation may be of value.

Child welfare first became a part of the program of
Catholic Social Services in 1952. Thus, placement of
adolescent girls is a fairly new program. The present staff
has little precedent for an established method of placement.
An attempt is now being made to lay the groundwork for a
coordinated program of placement. At this stage of develop-
ment, recommendations are being sought as an aid in this
process.

One may predict that the Juvenile Division of the
Probate Court and other referral sources will continue to
refer hard-to-place girls to the agency. Such expansion of
the total program of Catholic Social Services influences the
structure of the staff and administrative policy. Basic, of
course, to any recommendation is the need for more funds and
for more staff. A worker may experience severe pressure

because of a heavy caseload. She will then be in the

unfortunate position of having to work within time consid-
erations. This may limit casewor‘ service.
Specific recommendations suggested by the study are

based on the assumption that the agency must have an increase

 

in staff, funds, and administrative services. Recommenda-
tions include:

1. The lack of time and staff has resulted in a
sparse background history of the girl. A partic-
ular record lack was information regarding past
placement history, psychosocial diagnosis, and
treatment plan.

In interviews with workers, the writer found

much of the missing material known, but not
recorded. Such material can often be of great
value in treatment if analyzed in recording. The
worker should have the opportunity to do this for

her own benefit and for the client's.

K)

A more systematic and uniform method of agency
placement might be gained by further developing

the body of criteria for placement used in this
study. Such development might be furthered through
group conferences and discussions. Differences of
opinion may be found, value of statements noted,
and a sharing process of benefit to each worker

would result.

L0

. It is recommended that parents be included more

constructively. There are often few contacts

70

recorded with parents while the girl is away from
home. She will usually return to the parents or,
at least, be in contact with them. Workers should
have the opportunity of helping to continue con-
structive relationships between parent and child.
Finally, and most fundamental, is the realization
that placement of adolescent girls is an extremely
complex part of social work practice. Child
placement in itself demands time, knowledge, and
experience from the worker, The adolescent girl
presents problems in many areas. The worker must
use a variety of case work skills in handling the
situation. Because of this, it is recommended
that experienced workers with an understanding of
adolescent girls be used in such a placement
program. The worker should have a controlled
caseload which permits her to give the best

service to her clients.

{APPENDI

71

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The purpose of the study being done at Catholic Social Ser-
vices is, first, to determine if adolescent girls aged
thirteen to seventeen years are placed appropriately. If
not, an attempt will be made to determine why. Reasons may
include factors in the community, the girl's situation, or
the agency.

In order to make a conclusion as to whether or not a place-
ment is appropriate, there must be some criteria for judgment.
Your contribution here, plus those of other workers in the
agency, will be used to formulate such criteria. Answer
questions as fully as you like; you may spell out exceptions
if desired. If you wish to do any classifying, please define
terms.

Remember that this will be taken as your recommendation under
ideal conditions. Do not think in terms of obstacles as you

 

experience them in reality. It is hoped that such obstacles
will become apparent when studying recommendations and actual
placements. These possible obstacles will become the main

focus of the study.

I would greatly appreciate your completion of this by Monday,
February 22nd. Thank you very much for your cooperation.

Please consider the girl, parents, siblings, and other
agencies in the following:

1. Under what conditions would you, as a worker at Lansing
Catholic Social Services,consider placing a girl in her
own home?

a. Include in this, as in any other setting you
might desire, placement with probation and/or
casework service?

Under what conditions would you consider placing a girl
with relatives?

R)

k A.)

Under what conditions would you consider placing a girl
in a foster home?

a. Under what conditions would you consider placing a girl
in an institution? Differentiate institutions by name.

72

\1
k U

Under what conditions would
in a detention home?

you consider placing a girl

Do you feel the lack of a resource for adolescent girls

in this community? If so,

what? Who would be served

by such a resource or resources?

APPENDIX B

PLACEMENT CRITERIAl

PLACE-TENT IN OWN HOT-"E

 

First choice, if at all possible

Regarding Parent
If parents are willing to cooperate in attempt to work
through problem
If casework service is provided to parents
If girl is predelinquent and probation for her may mean
support for parents in handling of the girl

Regarding Girl

If girl is willing to cooperate in attempt to work
through problems

If casework service is provided to the girl

If girl is predelinquent, probation to enable controls
on behavior and give worker authoritative approach in
her casework service

If child has strong ties to parents which would cause
difficulty, if not impossibility, for her to be
happy in another placement

If child requested placement, should have evaluation by
Child Guidance Clinic

If girl is delinquent, opportunity for her to show her
capability of correcting her own behavior without
harsh disciplinary action

Regarding Physical Environment
If home has absence of serious neglect, physical abuSe,
alcoholism when child endangered, mental illness of
parents
Would tend to favor less-than-ideal at home rather than
elsewhere under similar conditions

Regarding Emotional Environment
Positive factors as above--the fact that home is girl's
own is the greatest benefit

 

1This represents the answers of workers of Catholic
Social Services to the questionnaire. The criteria are
arranged under each heading in a manner so that those most
frequently mentioned by workers begin the listing.

74

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+4

d
a
L7

 

Regarding Parents

Nust consent to such a placement

if they are unable to care for girl because of physical
disability, absence from home, mental illness

situations demanding short-term care out of home

I; a divorce, and ste ep-parent is creating problem for
girl
a fa:nily break-up

family economically disabled
arents maintain contact with girl, hesitant on
relative placement--dang er:s of jealousy, conflicting
allegiinces of child,an dd disagreements between two
families regarding raising of child and ”right" to
h r? I"
f parent requests placement of girl, would place with
relative only in extreme emergency
If girl removed because of parental violation, only if
child a permanent ward of the court and parents
controlled regarding contact

F‘1F1F1
“JHJHJ
.—

'0

F1

Regarding Girl

If girl requested placement away from home, or if
removed because of violation, only in extreme emer-
gency
girl close to relatives and willing to accept them
sework service, if needed

{1) by

OH

Regarding Physical Environment
Situation of pariwn: s as above
If size and number of siblings would hinder worker's
relationship with girl (sibling rivalry, economic
conditions, lack of privacy)

Regarding Emotional Environment
Parents' problems aggravating girl‘s
Relatives interested in providing home for girl, have
qualifications for foster parents

PIACEMENT IN FOSTER HOME

 

Regarding Parents
Death of parent or parents
Cannot cope with problem of girl
Need temporary care for girl--
parents economically or physically disabled
pa rents absent
marital problems adding to girl's problems
parent has given to child, but unable to at this point
Parents cannot take responsibility for child
If parents can accept foster home for the child
When parents reject girl, if not difficult for her to
accept parent substitutes at this age

Regarding Girl
if can accept foster parents as parent substitutes
Pr edelinquent whose parents cannot handle or why
aggravate problem
f foster home available to accept particular child
f girl requests placement away from home and foster
hime placement can give her a different perspective
of home situation

If girl not too disturbed

If girl non-adoptable and with no prospects of returning
home

If Child Guidance Clinic recommends such a placement

PISCEHEN IN INSTITUTION

 

 

 

Adrian Girls‘ Training School—-serious offender, needs
strong controls, court action

Villa Maria--protect girl from own behavior
Girl needs controlled environment
Girl needs pattern of living
Girl cannot adjust to own home, relative, or foster home
Girl cannot accept close relationship
Help girls complete school

If)
Cf

Vincent Home for Children--If under fourteen, and if
placement to be less than one year; if girl more
comfortable in, or better suited to, group setting

oldwater--mentally retarded
State or private mental hospital--mentally ill
General Comments--institution of value for observation of
girl and making treatment plan

Regarding Parents: if they are not threatened and
placement is not their fault

PLACEMENT IN JUVENILE DETENTION HOIVE

 

 

 

0n emergency, temporary placement

Regarding Girl
if delin uent, until other plans can be made
if seriously disturbed and might harm self or others
Observation and testing
Never at request of parent or girl
Daily casework

Regarding Home
If parent cannot control girl
if home influences her behavior

If home unsuitable

 

1. Foster homes
a. special treatment homes, specialized subsidized

2. Group setting for non-delinquents

3. insti itution for mentally ill needing immediate
placement

4. Receiving home diagnostic

E. E larged or expanded facilities of Child Guidance
Clinic

6. More funds for supporting girls in placement

7. Court of Domestic Relations (Family Court)

8. Peso urce for child with multiple problems

9. mmunity awareness of needs

VHVD NEEDS
Girl who as no special emotional or delinquency problems

but who do not do well in foster care. Needs
neutral group setting without stigma

Me tally ill needing immediate placement--institution
appropriate

Emotionally disturbeb--diagno"tic resources of receiving
home to make recommendations as quickly as possible,
Child Guidance Clinic facilities for immediate
evaluation and treatment and to get the important
timing in placement and replacement

Chi dren of divorced-~need funds for support. Circuit
Courts do not have funds if parents do not pay.

deed Family Court to protect them and plan for them

Non-delinquent--less likely to receive support from
Probate Court than delinquent or predelinquent.
Courts more likely to use state institution for
atter

Child with multiple problems--particularly physical

nandicap coupled with emotional or intellectual

handicap--foster h~me or other resource

F—f

T'

APPENDIX C

PLACEPENT FACILITIES

Placement facilities USud in this study include foster
homes licensed by an agency. Also used are placements in
the child's own home, with the other parent, or with a
relative.

St. Vincent Home for Children is located in Lansing,
Michigan, and is a Catholic home principally serving both

five to thirteen. The program is geared to non-

r O
(T)
C );

xes age
disturbed children.

Villa Maria is a Catholic institution in Grand Rapids,
Michigan, serving predelinquent and delinquent adolescent
girls. There is close supervision by the nuns<af the staff
who have training in social work and education.

Adrian Girls‘ raining School, Adrian, Michigan, is a

(I)

.tate institution serving delinquent adolescent girls. lts
program is also closely supervised.
The lngham County Juvenile Detention Home is located
in Mason, Michigan, and is used by all agencies for emergency
care. Many girls in this study had placements there by the
police or court. Only when Catholic SocLalServicesknowingly
placed a girl in the home, was it considered in this study.
Receiving home and group setting were recommended,
their function corresponding to that under ”Needs,"presented

in Appendix B. 78

BIBLIOGPLPHY

BIBLIOGRLPHY

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ibel, Theodora M. , and Kinder, Elaine P. The Subnormal
Ldolescent Girl. New York: Columbia University Press,
ljwc.

 

 

Bonner, Augusta F., and Healy, William.

Rail r P?
va O y H y
c ng Behavior in Youth. New York: Alfred A.

 

Charnley, Jean. The Art of Child Placement. Minneapolis:
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H

Crookes, Spencer H. "C‘hild Welfare, Social Work Year Book,
195k. Edited by Russell H. Kurtz. New York: American
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Deutsch, libert. Our Rejected Children. Boston: Little,
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Glickman, Esther. Child Placement Through Clinically
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p18 S) lj/T-

 

 

Gordon, Henrietta L. Casewo.k We vices for Children.
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w!

Heiser, Karl r. Our Backward Children. New York: W. W.
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//°

 

Konopka, Gis m1 , Group Work in the Institution. New York:
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a.

Lewis, Hilda. Depr Mi ed Children: The Mersham Experiment,
Social and Cl i ical Study. London: Oxford University
Press, 1951

 

McGovern, Cecelia. Services to Children in Institutions.
Washington: National Conference of Catholic
Charities, 1948.

Peck, Harris. Treatment of the Delinquent Adolescent. New
York: Family Service Association of America, 195M

 

Teagarden, Florence M. Child Psychology for Professional
Workers. New York: Prentice—Hall, 19st.

80

 

0
:1

Young, Pauline V. Social Treatment in Pro'ba tion and
Delinquency. ‘New fork: McGraw—Hill‘Book Co., 1937.

 

 

Periodicals

 

Albright, Sue, and Gambrell, Helen. "Personality Traits as
Criteria for the Psychiatric Treatment of Adolescents,"
Smith College Studies in Social Work, IX, No. 1 (Sept-

A”T

ember, ljgv), 81425.

 

Glasscock, Tlo.as A. "Placement Prescription for Adoles—
cents,’ Child Welfare, XXXVIII (July, 1959), 10-15.

 

Goldstein, Goldie. "A Community Without Institutional
Facilities," Jewish Social Service Quarterly, XXV
C ep' ember, 1998-June, 19997, 182-187.

 

by "L Foster Family Program for Disturbed
1 ren," Child Welfare, XXXV I, No. 9 (November,
7 10-167

Gray,

 

Hutchinson, Dorothy. "The Request for Placement Has Meaning,”
The Family, XXV, No. A (June, 1944), 128-132.

 

Klein, Philip. "Community Planning Toward Greater Special-
ization in Child Placement," Jewish Social Service
Quarterly, XXV, No. 2 (December, 19987, 173- 181.
(Address delivered at National Conference of Jewish
Social Welfare, Atlantic City, May 17, 1948)

 

 

McCleery, Sarabelle. HInstitutions and Child P1acement,‘
Child Welfare, XXXVI, No. 4 (April, 1957), 18—24.

 

Milner, John G. "Some Determinants in the Differential
Treatment of Adolescents," Child Welfare, XXIX, No.8
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Radinsky, Elizabeth K. "The Parent's Role in Long-Time
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8-9, 12.

 

Learned Societies

 

Pyles, Mary Lois. Ins stitutions for Child Care and Treatment.
New York: Child Welfare League of .flmerica, February,
1947. 28 Pp.

 

Miscellaneous

 

Constitution of Catholic Social Services, Incorporated.
Lansing, Michigan, 1999.