1912
Julia Lathrop, first chief of Children’s Bureau.
- Children’s Bureau established
Background
During the early 1900s, anti-child-labor advocates, including Lillian Wald of the Henry Street Settlement in New York City, Florence Kelly of the National Consumer’s League, and Dr. Edward T. Devine of Columbia University and the National Child Labor Committee, pressed President Theodore Roosevelt and Congress to establish a federal agency designed to address conditions affecting children. President Roosevelt supported the initiative; however, Congress was more difficult to convince.
In 1909, the First White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children recommended the establishment of a federal children’s bureau to “collect and disseminate information affecting the welfare of children.” The conference also put forth a preliminary set of rights for every child. These rights included health and oral examinations, education, a place to stay, and protection against labor that deprives children of their other rights.
President William Howard Taft signed the Children’s Bureau Act into law on April 9, 1912. The Children’s Bureau, placed in the U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor, was authorized to investigate and report on the health and welfare of children and on child life.
In 1913, the Children’s Bureau was transferred to the newly created U.S. Department of Labor. The bureau’s main purpose was to investigate and report on matters pertaining to child welfare among all socioeconomic groups. In particular, the bureau was charged with investigating infant mortality, birth rates, orphanages, juvenile courts, desertion, dangerous occupations, accidents and diseases of children, employment, and legislation affecting children.
Impact
Over the next two decades, the Children’s Bureau served as the federal government’s focal point on children’s needs and as a repository of information on families and their social and economic needs.
Sources
Bradbury DE. 1956. Four Decades of Action for Children: A Short History of the Children’s Bureau. Part 1 | Part 2. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
MacLaury J. 1988. Chapter 1: Start-up of the Department and World War I, 1913–1921. In History of the Department of Labor, 1913–1988. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Labor.
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