Sunday, May 22, 195 5 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday. May 22, 1955 THE MICHIGAN DAILY Page Nine Expansion, Improveme a private psychiatrist, which I am empowered to do" WHAT SERVICES are there in "The ideal for juvenile courts," the community for the emo- Judge Payne added, "would be to tionally sick or disturbed delin-: have a psychiatrist on the staff." quent child? In order for the Juvenile Court to do a good job, especially in Child Guidance the prevention of delinquency, the Clinics , . . staff must be doubled. It should consist of eight professional work- One of the most important links ers and four clerical employees. in the State's program for dis- Judge Payne has applied to the turbed children are the Child County Board of Supervisors for Guidance Clinics which are oper- two more workers and a clerical ated under the State Department employee k of Mental Health. At present there are 16 clinics Training Schools . . . of which two are recent additions. They serve children up to the age THE MICHIGAN training schools of 16, or high school students. for juveniles are Boys Voca- Their services are on an out-pa- tional School in Lansing and Girls tient basis, offering diagnosis and Training School in Adrian. The treatment. The clinic that serves job of the training school is a dif- Ann Arbor is located in Ypsilanti. ficult one because most of the The Child Guidance Clinics are children who are sent there have doing a fine job but there are just been unable to benefit from pre- not enough of them. vious help. Children are committed by the Children's Institute ... Probate Courts between the ages of 12 and 17. Both institutions con- ANOTHER State-wide agency for tain schools and attempt to equip children that is doing an ex- the children with vocational skills. cellent job but lacks sufficient The Lansing and Adrian institu- staff to serve the whole State ade- tions suffer because they lack com- quately, is the Michigan Chil- plete control over their intake and dren's Institute, with main offices must accept all children commit- in Ann Arbor. ted by the Juvenile Division of the The primary function of the In- Probate Courts. They have in their stitute is to place children who are populations children who are men- referred to them by the courts, ei- tally ill, of very limited intelli- ther permanently or temporarily gence and even feebleminded chil- in foster homes. "Boarding parents dren. are one of the key strengths in Because each of them must serve getting dependent and neglected children who present a wide vari- children on the right path," ob- ety of problems, it is virtually im- served Robert Rosema, superin- possible to plan or administer a tendent of the Children's Institute. program that will be of benefit to In order for the Juvenile Court the widely different types of chil- to function more effectively, the dren. staff must be doubled Another problem that the train- Commenting on the total men- ing schools (especially BVS) must tal health program in the State, face because they are unable to Rosema said that although there completely control their intake, is has been an increase in service, overcrowding. Out of necessity in practically all of the agencies and BVS, they have had to shorten the institutions are of necessity work- stay of some of the boys in order ing on an emergency basis. to make room for newly committed Because of this, a child must be boys. seriously sick or disturbed before A bill that is now in the State he will be helped. "We cannot han- legislature should help to allevi- dle preventive work until we are ate the situation. Based on the rec- caught up on the emergency situ- ommendations of the Joint Legis- ation," he added. lative Committee To Study Foster Care, the bill stipulates that each Children's Service county must pay half the cost BOTH Inpatient and out-patient when it places a child in BVS, GTS services for severely disturbed or the Michigan Children's In- children are offered by the Chil- stitute. In return, the State will dren's Service of the Neuropsychi- pay for one half the cost when a atric Institute in University Hospi- county provides foster care for a tal. The Children's Service serves child. the double function of treating a The advantages of this "Foster limited number of children and Care" bill, were pointed out by also conducting a training and re- Sam Rabinovitz, executive secre- search center. tary of the Michigan Youth Com- At present the inpatient facili- mission which has supported the ties are limited to 35 beds. How- bill. ever a psychiatric hospital for "Many poor counties, who can- children is now under construction not afford to develop better pro- and this will increase the Chil- grams, and tight counties place dren's Service capacity to 75 beds. children in these State institutions The new hospital will be under the so that they will not have to pay direction of Dr. Ralph Rabino- for it," Rabinovitz explained. vitch, who is at present chief of "Making tight counties pay for the Children's Service. half the cost will make them think twice before dumping children in Recent Additions State Institutions. Thus the bill will help take the pressure off the OTHER recent additions to the State institutions as well as aid State mental health program the development of varied resour- are the LaFayette Clinic in De- ces for the youngsters," he added. troit and the Hawthorn Center nt Needed near Northville. The LaFayette Clinic will function in a similar way to the Children's Service, op- erating as a training and research center with a 25-bed ward. The Hawthorn Center which is still under construction will fill the need in the state for a children's psychiatric residential center with a home-like cottage plan organi- zation. Seriously sick or psychotic children who need long term care are usually committed to Ypsilanti State Hospital. It is obvious that in recent years the State has made tremendous progress in its mental care pro- gram for children. However, even with these new facilities needs will not be met. Hospitals and clinics will still be working on an emer- gency basis. Though many of the public agencies for children in Michigan are individually doing a good job, the total public care program is often confused and inadequate. There is often duplication in ser- vice which would be eliminated if there were one central coordinat- ing agency in a community re- sponsible for providing services to children. In response to this problem the Michigan Youth Committee has recommended that a new county welfare department be established by law in each county in the State or in a grouping of counties. This new department (which should not be confused with the present county department of social wel- fare) would function in the com- munity as the central public agen- cy serving families and children. The suggested functions of a new County Welfare Department include: Administration of all county institutional facilities for chil- dren, such as the juvenile deten- tion home. Provision of social case work service to families. Administration of a program of child placement in foster homes and institutions. Provision of after-care or "pa- role" service to the State juvenile training schools. Provision of social case work services for children which are now administered by the juvenile division of the Probate Court. Page Nine Y 3 'Y i, e ryw F . a, I IT IS ESSENTIAL that our social workeris reach disturbed fami- lies before the children become habitual delinquents. Too often it is only after the damage has been done, that social work agencies try to help these families who will not seek help. MEN'S MILITARY SHOES II _ WORRIED? EXAM TIME is Outline Time Use our condensed STUDY OUTLINES for EXAMS ALL SUBJECTS Ulrich's Bookstore J * ONLT $ 4ctunptete. the we tt itto reolutionary your camera portable ...-.. FU.~a.. EASY TO USE- works like flush bulbs. but you never change the bulb. ONLY 2 18.-- take It wherever you go and b sure of professional results. AMAZING LIGHT OUTPUT - equal to units costing twice as much. Kodachrome guide z50, Ektachrome 80-100. 3 FLASHES FOR ic - power comes from 4 ic flashlight batteries which give up to 300 flashes before needing replacement. 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