A nation-wide organization called the Non-Sectarian Committee for German Refugee Children has been formed, it was announced today, to assume responsibility for placing children in foster homes of their own faith throughout the country.
The announcement was made by Clarence E. Pickett, executive secretary of the (Quaker) American Friends Service Committee and temporary executive director of the new committee, who said that offers had already been received from persons in 41 states to receive German children. One agency alone, he said, has on file 2,500 requests to adopt refugee children which have so far been turned down because of this country’s failure to admit more than a handful.
The non-sectarian committee will implement the Wagner-Rogers Bill which would permit admission of a maximum of 10,000 German children under the age of 14 in 1939 and the same maximum in 1940, depending on the number which can be adequately cared for. “We have guarantees of adequate financial backing from responsible organizations and substantial private sources to assure that the refugees will not become public charges,” Mr. Pickett said.
Heading the committee as co-chairmen are George Cardinal Mundelein, represented by Bishop Bernard J. Sheil; the Rev. Anson Phelps Stokes, dean of Washington Cathedral; Governor Herbert H. Lehman, William Allen White, Dean Helen Taft Manning of Bryn Mawr College, President Frank Porter Graham of the University of North Carolina and Mr. Pickett.
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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.
