efforts being made to help them find the right kind of job and to pro-
tect them from injury and exploitation. To insure safe employment for
young people, special provisions have been written into the law relating
to child labor, and it is one of the important functions of the Depart-
ment of Labor and Industry to carry out and enforce the provisions of
these laws. The most important event in this field of endeavor in the
last decade was the rewriting of these laws along modern lines in 1950.

Everyone agrees about the importance of happy family life for chil-
dren, and about the importance of parents who are themselves good
citizens and good models for their children. Unfortunately, each year
there are thousands of families in Maryland which are broken, some-
times by death, but more often by divorce or desertion. For those of us
who are interested in children, these families present a special challenge,
and during the last ten years an increasing effort has been made to help
stabilize them. Religious leaders have increased their counseling serv-
ices and both public and private social agencies have placed more
emphasis on work with these families.

Family stabilization remains, however, the number one challenge fac-
ing our social welfare agencies. Although many of these families are in
need of financial assistance, some of them would be in dire need and
some children would, of necessity, be separated from their mothers if it
were not for the financial aid and counseling services available to them
through the Aid to Dependent Children Program. In spite of all efforts
of the community, some parents are unable to care for their own chil-
dren and many parents are found so seriously wanting in those qualities
adjudged necessary for good parenthood, that children must be removed
by the court....

Beginning in 1950, much concern was expressed concerning the prob-
lem of juvenile delinquency. No statistics were kept during the early
part of this decade which would give an indication of the extent of this
problem. In 1957 the Bureau of Child Welfare of the State Department
of Public Welfare, in cooperation with the juvenile courts of the State,
gathered for the first time, statistics on the number of delinquents
appearing in juvenile courts. During 1958 there were 8, 056 children
who were brought into Maryland juvenile courts upon charges of delin-
quency.

Essential to the attack on juvenile delinquency in every community
is the juvenile court. Every judge needs the help of a skilled staff
operating as part of the court to gather facts, to recommend plans for
children, and to give probation services. Much progress has been made

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