to adjust to the program, had a profoundly disturbing affect upon chil-
dren committed to the training schools for long time re-training and
treatment period. "

In 1954, the Baltimore Council of Social Agencies reported to the
State Board on the detention needs in the State of Maryland, and
strongly urged that steps be taken to provide the courts and the State
with adequate detention and study facilities. It said that the practice
of detaining children in the training schools was making the rehabili-
tation program for the committed children less effective. Responding
to the pleas of the courts, the training school officials and to the various
commissions, and following the recommendations of the Baltimore
Council of Social Agencies, the Maryland General Assembly in 1956
appropriated $525, 000 for the construction of the Maryland Children's
Center which we dedicate today. The Legislature subsequently appro-
priated funds for equipment and furnishings for the center and opera-
tional funds.

In 1958, the Maryland General Assembly enacted a law which placed
the Maryland Children's Center under the administrative control of the
State Department of Public Welfare. Within the last few days it has
been my privilege to appoint the nine-member Advisory Board for the
Center. For membership on this Advisory Board, headed by Dr. Peter
Lejins, I have selected some of Maryland's most outstanding citizens,
some of whom are experts and all of whom are deeply concerned with
this problem of delinquent children.

This 1958 Act, which met with the approval of the judges of the
State, bearing responsibility for juvenile problems, provides also that
the Maryland Children's Center shall accept from courts of proper
jurisdiction children who are judged delinquent. It requires the Center
to provide a program of residential care and study, and states that
within 30 days after admission, every child detained must be returned
for study to the court of jurisdiction with proper recommendations as
to final disposition by the court. Of the approximate 1, 000 children a
year passing through the State training schools on detention, 15 per cent
later are committed to the training schools for long term institutional
care. It is believed that a substantial percentage of the children studied
here at this institution will require care in the State training schools.
For certain other children, the courts will decide upon probation super-
vision, while other children may be placed in public or foster homes or
institutions. An extremely small percentage of children may be released
from the jurisdiction of the court. The authorized capacity of this
institution is 56 beds: Since the training schools carry an average of 90

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