Two girls protesting child labor during the May 1, 1909 parade in New York City.
Formally established January 2, 1921, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) has been one of the most important national organizations in the history of American child welfare. The creation of the CWLA coincided with the end of the progressive era and the beginning of another: an era dedicated to establishing national policies and standards combined with developing and disseminating program materials and practices to affiliate members thereby raising the quality of child caring services throughout the nation.
Background: The seeds for establishing a “national” child welfare advocacy organization were planted by a group of influential child welfare advocates attending the 1909 White House Conference on the Care of Dependent Children, convened by President Theodore Roosevelt. The idea of a national advocacy organization was further strengthened by the presentation of an influential committee report by Carl Christian Carstens, Secretary and General Agent, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, Boston. Carstens report was presented at the National Conference of Charities and Corrections (NCCC) in 1915 in Baltimore, MD. His presentation was entitled: “Report of the Committee: A Community Plan in Children’s Work.”
In his opening statement to Conference participants, Carstens described the nature of the child serving problem: “The diversity of race, of social interests and of political development, which is almost the most important feature to be noticed when we come to examine carefully the political and social institutions of the United States, have led to a diversity in children’s laws and children’s institutions that is to the casual student and beginner in social work positively bewildering. While this diversity yields somewhat, upon more careful analysis, it is none the less so great that at the various conferences of this and other bodies, it would seem as though we were not all speaking the same language. Diversity of interests and of method are not always to be decried. A uniformity of method may be merely a dead uniformity, while a diversity of method may become a vital striving after standards and results that are alive to the needs of the day and successful in meeting them. For these many years diversity of method has been the most noticeable factor in children’s work in the various states, but long steps have been taken in the development of a national spirit, and our social institutions are beginning to feel an impetus leading them also to consider ways and means that are national in their form and scope if not federal in their scheme of organization.”
Carstens went on to describe the committee’s proposal: “In the development of children’s work in the United States, it is the opinion of many who have been active in one or the other phase of the subject, that the time has come for giving shape to some general plan which shall have gathered together the successful experiences of various states and cities, shall weave them into a harmonious whole and make it possible for those who are working at the development of our various institutions in our newer communities, or who are interested in reshaping the children’s institutions of the older states, to see what various forms of service it is necessary for communities to provide for the proper safeguarding of the children’s interests.”
Carstens stressed in his report that he was focusing children’s work to the care of (1) dependent, (2) neglected, (3) delinquent and (4) defective children. He concluded with this statement: “It is the hope of the Chairman of your Committee that this imperfect presentation may be the beginning of a more adequate statement and that out of this humble beginning there may come an impetus for a children’s charter with a series of drafts of laws consistent with each other, to which our various states may turn for direction when they are ready to take steps forward for the better care of the next generation.” (Source: National Conference on Social Welfare Proceedings On-Line)
http://www.hti.umich.edu/n/ncosw/
The Beginning: Following Carstens’ report, on May 17 representatives of fourteen child welfare organizations, while in Baltimore, agreed to establish a Bureau for the Exchange of Information among Child Helping Agencies (BEI). Five years later the executive committee of BEI, with the assistance of a grant from the Commonwealth Fund, agreed to organize their sixty-five members into a new national organization. C.C. Carstens was elected Director in September 1920 to head the new agency, to be known as the Child Welfare League of America. The organization was formally launched January, 2 1921 as a federation of approximately seventy service-providing organizations. (Note: A copy of the 1921 Constitution of CWLA is available at the Adoption History Project: http://www.uoregon.edu/~adoption/archive/CwlaCONST.htm )
(Note: The Social Welfare Archives at the University of Minnesota has an extensive file on the history of the CWLA. The following summary of CWLA history since it’s founding is taken directly from their files.)
In 1923, CWLA adopted a statement of purpose and formalized the services it would provide. These included: studying child welfare in order to develop better standards and methods; providing information and assistance to social welfare agencies and non-social service groups; and promoting community planning for children’s work. The organization took a position on the long-standing debate over institutionalizing and “placing out” of dependent children. Standards promulgated by the CWLA stressed temporary rather than permanent institutional care for dependent children and the preservation of the family. At the same time, the CWLA recognized the continuing need for children’s institutions in the total child care system. In order to improve the institutional system, it conducted surveys of childcare facilities and developed standards and guidelines. In 1924, CWLA established a children’s casework department and, by the end of the decade, it was conducting regional conferences for workers in the field and holding training institutes for executives and experienced staff workers.
Following Carstens’ death in 1939, CWLA went through a period of self-evaluation. It established a Special Committee on Reorganization to study its mission in light of emerging government programs. The committee also studied whether the League should disband. In 1940, CWLA affirmed its commitment to national work in all areas of child welfare and stressed the importance of maintaining a major non-governmental agency. The reorganization committee proposed continuing the league’s information exchange, as well as its accrediting and consulting services. It also recommended: establishing a personnel placement bureau, preparing materials for social work training in child welfare, setting standards, promoting child welfare legislation and advising agencies on legislation, and advocating for child welfare issues. Howard W. Hopkirk succeeded Carstens as executive director and served until 1948. Continuity in leadership remained a hallmark of the League. Hopkirk’s successor, Joseph Reid, was executive director from 1953 until 1978. Major reevaluation of League activities accompanied administrative transitions in 1939 to 1940 and in 1953 to 1955 as the CWLA reshaped its program to meet members’ needs and changes in child welfare programs.
(Source: Child Welfare League of America Papers, Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota.)
For additional and more current information visit: www.cwla.org/
