A tribute to American methods in child care is reflected in the recent joining of the public nonsectarian work for orphans in Czecho-Slovakia with the Joint Distribution Committee child care work in that country. The step was taken at the request of the daughter of President Masaryk, who is the head of the organization under whose auspices the national work for orphans is conducted, and which is known as the Masaryk League.
This development is reported by James N. Rosenberg of New York, vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee, in an account of his observations of the results accomplished by the Joint Distribution Committee activities in the various countries which he visited while on a recent tour abroad. The statement as transmitted to the officers of the Joint Distribution Committee has just been made public by the United Jewish Campaign.
The work in Czecho-Slovakia is instanced as showing how America is setting an example in child welfare service in all the countries of Eastern Europe. The uniting of the national non-sectarian work, which is subventioned by the government, with that of the Joint Distribution Committee, makes for the greater effectiveness of both, by giving the benefit of American training and organization standards to the native workers on the one hand, and bringing the Committee’s work into direct alliance with the government on the other.
In the various districts of Czecho-slovakia at present close to 1,000 children are being maintained in homes and under institutional care with Joint Distribution Committee funds. The cost to the committee for supporting these children is $3 per month per child. This low cost is made possible by the fact that the balance of the needs for the work are provided by the Jews of Czecho-Slovakia themselves and by the government.
The administrative expenses of the J. D. C. child care work in Czecho-slovakia, Mr. Rosenberg reports, are “just exactly zero.” The organization does not have a single paid inspector, because the work is managed by local committees whose personnel is made up of the leaders of the Jewish communities in all the cities and towns, who give their services without expense of any kind.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
