Vermont has been very backward about recognizing its responsibility for children who come under either of the above designations. Before the establishment of the State Reform School, now called the State Industrial School, no separate provisions were made for them; they were "persons" by law and liable as such for any crime or misdemeanor. After the reform school was started children were sentenced there instead of being sent to jail.

Not until the passage of the Juvenile Court Law in 1912, was there any legislation recognizing these three classes of children and defining these terms. Before that time a dependent child was simply a pauper to be cared for by the overseer of the poor. The neglected child was left to the mercy of its parents or guardians unless rescued by private individuals. The delinquent child was tried and sentenced as a criminal.

By Act No. 92 of the Laws of Vermont of 1915, relating to Juvenile Courts, the following provisions were made:

This act applies only to children under the age of 16 years. "The words 'delinquent child' shall, for the purposes of this act, include a child under sixteen years of age who violates a law of this state or a city or village ordinance; or who is incorrigible or who is a persistent truant from school; or who associates with criminals, or reputed criminals; or vicious or immoral persons: or who is growing up in idleness or crime; or who wanders about the streets in the night time; or who frequents, visits, or is found in a disorderly house, house of ill‐fame, saloon, barroom or a place where intoxicating liquors are sold, exchanged or given away; or who patronizes, visits, or is found in a gambling house or place where a gambling device is operated; or who uses obscene, vulgar, profane or indecent language, or is guilty of immoral conduct."

"For the purposes of this act, the words 'dependent child' or 'neglected child' shall mean a child under sixteen years of age who is dependent upon the public for support; or who is homeless, destitute, or abandoned; or who has not proper parental care or guardianship; or who begs or receives alms; or who is found living in a house of ill‐fame with a vicious or disreputable person; or whose home by reason of neglect, cruelty or depravity on the part of his parents, guardians or other person in whose care he may be, is an unfit place for said child, or whose environment is such as to warrant the state, in the interests of the child, in assuming his guardianship."

Section 2 of the Act provides that the city and municipal courts and justices of the peace shall have original jurisdiction over all cases coming within the provisions of this Act.

Section 3 provides that a reputable person may file with the court a petition in writing, setting forth the facts, verified by oath, regarding the child in question.

Section 5 provides that at the request of the court the probation officer for the county shall investigate cases arising under this Act.

Section 6 provides that when a child is found to be dependent or neglected, the court may commit such child to the care of some suitable state institution, or to the care of some reputable citizen, or to the care of some association willing to receive him without charge. The court may also, if the health or condition of the child requires, cause the child to be placed in a public hospital or institution for treatment without charge. No provision is made however for finding such citizen, association or institution. It can readily be seen that this proviso, that such commitments by the courts must be to the institutions or individuals willing to receive children without charge, practically nullifies this section.

The provision that such child may be sent to a suitable state institution can only mean that he shall be sent to the State Industrial School at Vergennes as this is the only state institution available at present for the care of such children.

Section 8 provides that in the case of the delinquent child, the court may commit such child to the care and custody of a reputable citizen without charge, or to an association or institution that receives and cares for delinquent children, or that said child may be committed to the Vermont Industrial School or other suitable public institution. This again shuts up the court to the necessity of sending all such children to the State School at Vergennes, for no reputable citizen can be expected to take such children without charge. There is no association or private institution within the state that receives or cares for delinquent children, nor any other state institution to which they can be committed.

Under the provisions of this Act various commitments of innocent children as delinquents have been made. Supt. J. N. Barss of Vergennes says that more than half of the children now in his institution have been sent there under the provisions of this Act, without any criminal charge whatever being made against them. When Sheriff F. H. Tracy of Montpelier was in Burlington he told of having taken three little girls "as bright and attractive as you could find anywhere" from Barre to Vergennes by order of the juvenile court of that city. We do not believe that the good citizens of Vermont want the dependent and neglected children of the state sent to a penal institution. We greatly hope that the present legislature will provide for the care of such children by properly authorized agents, acting under a State Board of Charities, who can undoubtedly place them in foster homes, or in boarding homes, or in some suitable institution which cares for such children. This cannot be done however "without charge," but must be paid for by the towns from which the children come or by the state. The most desirable arrangement would be for the town to pay half the expenses, and the state the other half for such children. This matter is now before the legislature and much interest is being expressed, and we believe it will meet with favorable action when brought up for consideration.

The following authentic cases are reported by experienced and competent social workers in Vermont. They are inserted: (l) To give concrete illustration of some of the statements made in papers preceding. (2) To emphasize the serious and urgent nature of the problems relating to the proper care of dependent and neglected children. (3) To bring out the need of definite state action designed to improve existing conditions.

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Case I. Father, an ignorant man; a day laborer and fairly industrious but addicted somewhat to the drink habit.

Mother, an ignorant, indolent, immoral and intemperate woman. She entices her husband to go with her away from their home for drunken sprees frequently. They are away for periods of time varying from one day to one week.

Their two boys, ten and twelve years of age respectively, are left alone in their small, uncomfortable home without food during that time.

The boys are naturally on the street and dependent upon neighbors for sustenance. They are bright promising boys who if they could have a "fair chance" would doubtless grow into useful manhood.

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Case II. Parents dead. No place for their small boy of six years but the poorhouse where he was taken to live until he was eight years old when the door of opportunity opened for him. He is a bright, loving and lovable little fellow‐‐making good in every way.

The question we raise is this: Is it right to rob any child of two years of "fair chance" in life by placing him in the ordinary poorhouse, the environment of which we all know?

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Case III. John has had 11 children but has always been lazy and shiftless and has never made any effort to support them. He was originally in prosperous circumstances but let his farm run down for lack of care and finally lost it altogether. He has always looked to the townspeople for assistance as his natural right and help has been given him rather than that the children should suffer. Some of the older children are now able to support themselves and have in turn had to assist in the care of their younger brothers and sisters. The mother died a few years ago and the oldest sister, then 17, became the housekeeper. Good‐for‐nothing men of the neighborhood used to gather at the house and drink cider with John and it was not long before this oldest girl became pregnant. Efforts were made after this to break up the family and two younger sisters 14 and 11 were found places to work for their board. John placed a little girl of 6 with a woman of poor character, because she agreed to keep the child free of charge. The two youngest children are being cared for through private contributions and with the aid of the older children. John shirks all responsibility in the matter and efforts to make him provide for them have so far been futile. He refuses to give his children up however, and is very evidently holding to them until such time as they shall be able to work and support him. The outlook for the children is very discouraging as their father is constantly interfering with plans which are made for their welfare. The children are no sooner placed in good homes than he raises some objection and upsets the whole arrangement. An effort has been made to have reliable persons obtain guardianship of these children but this he opposes and at the present time there is no way of protecting them from his whims and selfish impulses.

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Case IV. There are four children in the ______ family. The oldest, a boy of 15, two girls age 13 and 9 and a baby. The mother is a half‐witted woman and father an ugly brute. Family lives in a logging camp of one room about 12 feet square. The walls are caked with dirt and there is practically no furniture. Children sleep in piles of rags on the floor. Father is known to be selling cider but neighbors are afraid to testify against him as he avenged former interferences in his affairs by burning their barns and poisoning their live stock. He is exceedingly cruel to the children, kicking them and beating them. A rough crowd of men hang around the place drinking and carousing and one of these men has committed rape upon both of the young girls. One of the girls has also been assaulted by her older brother. Repeated efforts have been made to do something for this family but the father resists any interference and since he provides in a half‐way fashion for his children the selectmen have no right to interfere. The youngest girl is thought by the school teacher to be a promising child if she had half an opportunity. The oldest boy and girl are undoubtedly feeble‐minded. Both of these children are already dangerous in the community. The boy is being trained in chicken stealing and small thieving by his father; the girl having already been trained in immorality will soon prove a greater menace.

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Case V. Jane is 13 years old and since her mother's death eight years ago she and her father have lived wherever he found work. Father is naturally a rolling stone and a heavy drinker; he consequently does not stick to any job long. As a result Jane has known many homes. She has lived with more than 20 families since her mother's death, ‐sometimes with relatives but more often with strangers whom they have chanced to run across. These homes have been of the lowest type, among immoral, intemperate and dangerously diseased people. Occasionally they have had "housekeepers" of questionable character. She has twice been the victim of criminal assaults, a fact known to her father but which he was too cowardly to avenge. He has placed her wherever she would be the least expense to himself or where she could work for her board. As a result she has been overworked and sometimes abused. She is backward in school, due to their frequent changes from one place to another. During the last year her father has been drinking harder than ever. He is seldom sober, even at his work and the child is never safe in his care. She has lived for a short time recently with a family of good people who have given her the only good standards she has ever known. To these influences she has responded readily and would undoubtedly grow into a good and useful woman if she could be placed permanently in wholesome surroundings. All efforts to do this are resisted by her father and it is only a question of time before she will be again taken to live with some of his disreputable companions.

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Case VI. Nora, a sixteen year old girl, feeble‐minded and tubercular.

Father, arrested on charge of rape; sentenced to State Prison.

Mother, secured a divorce; married another man, who lived with her three weeks, and then deserted.

Family consists of seven girls, the oldest Viola, 18 years of age, has just returned to her mother with a young baby, having been deserted by her husband. Previous to her marriage, Viola had twice been arrested on charges of immorality. Nora was arrested in the summer of 1916 on a charge of immorality, and sentenced to Vergennes. She was found to be tubercular and was returned here with the understanding that she was to be placed under proper care. The "proper care" consisted of meeting her at the station and turning her over to her mother, who lives in two rooms in a rear tenement. We found Nora sick in bed, sleeping with three other little girls of the family with Viola's baby on the foot of the bed and Beulah, a seven year old, propped in a chair with a temperature of 103.6 with pneumonia. There was neither comfort nor blanket on the bed, but a mess of unspeakably filthy rags. The bed was in the kitchen behind the cook stove which was pouring smoke from some green wood out into the room. The kitchen floor had great holes broken through it, and was filthy dirty. There was no sheet on the bed, and Nora for days had been expectorating on the mattress. The little girls were in rags, and had crawled in the bed with her for warmth. The mother and Viola were working, the mother at a public restaurant.

The Overseer of the Poor sent the five little girls and Nora to the town farm. The baby has been placed to board. Viola's deserting husband has been located in Vermont, and has been reported to the prosecuting attorney for non‐support of his child. Beulah was placed in hospital with the pneumonia, she has developed, a pleurisy which the doctor believes is of tubercular origin, undoubtedly contracted from Nora. Beulah later was discharged from the hospital though barely able to walk, and taken to the Town Farm. Nora's case was reported to the agent of the Vermont Association for Prevention of Tuberculosis. As the mother does not seem to be fit to have the custody of her children, we hope that from the town farm we may have them placed under institutional care.

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Case VII. Mother died leaving baby a few days old and four other children all under ten years old. The home was comfortless and such clothing as the children had, had been given to them and had been allowed to remain unchanged until, as their aunt said, "it fell off of them." Friends sent the baby to a suitable institution; the other children remained with their father nearly two years. Their last winter with him was spent on the lake in a little fishing shanty about ten feet square. All the food which they had, aside from fish caught, was brought by the oldest boy (10 or 11 years old) through the snow on his back. When obliged to leave the ice in the spring they returned to their cheerless "home." The father becoming angry one day tied the oldest boy and girl to a tree to flog them (the girl was about nine years old). While he was procuring whips the children escaped. An officer to whom they told their story took them to the Poor Farm. The father now left with the two younger children got drunk, and on the third day these little ones were found by neighbors and also taken to the Poor Farm. Here the oldest boy slept with an ancient man said to be one hundred and one years old. Beside the four children and this ancient the family at the farm included another old man past ninety, an imbecile bedridden man, and an imbecile girl of the worst type. Such were the associates the young children had. While there the children were put to bed whenever their clothes were washed as they had no change of clothing.

At last efforts were made to better their conditions and the children were placed in a real home. Their bodies and heads were found to be alive with vermin. The oldest boy was in serious need of glasses being hardly able to see. He was given skilled attention by an oculist and is now in school where he manifests a love for his work. The change in all the children since the change in their external conditions is indeed marvelous.

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Case VIII. Some three years ago the mother was in jail, here charged with killing her husband who was much older than she. She was acquitted because her plea was that her husband came home drunk and attacked her, that she defended herself with a stick of wood and killed him by a blow, unintentionally. I saw her at that time and felt very sorry for her but the State's Attorney told me then that she was accused of abusing her children. There are four children in the family. The mother went back to her home (in Vermont) and about a year ago I received a letter signed by five or six women asking that her children be protected from her abuse. I went up and saw her, and as it is so difficult to find shelter for half our children I hoped she might improve. She left her village and I lost track of her until a short time ago when complaints began coming in from another village and they are exactly the same. In the meantime she has been living with another man and expects another baby. I have been up there twice. My opinion is that she cares for three of the children and dislikes one. Her temper is so violent that when she is irritated she "sees red" and pounds, kicks and knocks the children in a brutal way and we will have to protect them. The oldest child, a girl of about eleven years, is very bright, I am told ‐‐ is nice looking and I hope we can get her placed in a family at Rutland. The second one is a boy‐‐ nice looking but I am told that he is very stupid, the third is a little girl three or four, the one she hates ‐‐ she looks all right but her mother says she is "ugly and mean." Then the smallest, a girl, is about two.

Can you help me out in any way? They must be protected in some way and I think will have to be taken from the mother.

A recent editorial in The Burlington Free Press (January 31, 1917) after discussing the private orphanages located in Vermont continues:

"The above reports show that 459 children are being cared for in these various institutions at the present time. That there is a great need of more adequate provision for the care of the dependent and neglected children of the State is the testimony received on every side. Vermont should have some state organization charged with the duty of providing the necessary care for these little ones who are deprived of what is the just right of every child born into the world. It is hoped that through the activity of the State Conference of Charities and Correction, some proper method of meeting this great need may be provided."