CHILDREN, Neglected.— The term °neg lected children* is often confused in the minds of people and even in the laws of the State with the terms *dependent* and °delinquent,* but while these conditions shade into each other so that the same child may even be in all three conditions, neglected, dependent and delinquent, nevertheless, it is important to distinguish these three classes, as clearly as possible, both in language and in law.
A delinquent child is one who has trans gressed the law or is incorrigible, or who knowingly associates with criminals or vicious persons. A dependent child is one who is orphaned or homeless, or has no responsible relative or guardian to care for him. A neg lected child is one whose relatives or guardians fail to perform their duty, do not provide a proper home, do not care properly for him or treat him with cruelty. Examples of neglect would be a father who spends his earnings in dissipation, leaving his family to suffer; a well-to-do widower who brings to his home a woman of bad character and puts his daughters under her charge; a mother who is slatternly, lazy and dirty, and who allows her children to run the street without restraint; a mother who leads an immoral life in her own home; parents who do not send their children to school or who send them out to beg or to steal, or who beat them cruelly; quarrelsome and divorced parents whose conduct deprives their children of home life and alienates them from their natural protectors.
In many communities there have been or ganized societies for the prevention of cruelty to children, which are designed for the pro tection of neglected children and whose serv ices are invaluable. About 150 such societies are registered in the United States. Some of the societies for the prevention of cruelty are militant. Their policy is to deal promptly and
sternly with recreant parents and to make them realize that neglected children have a power ful and active friend acting swiftly and aggres sively against those who do them wrong. Other societies are constructive in their policy. When they find a child who is neglected or ill-treated by his parents or employers, they first seek to discover the cause of such conduct. Is it be cause the parents are ignorant or because they are following the practices which prevail in their native country or because they have not been able to adjust themselves to the novel conditions which they find in this country? Can the home conditions be remedied by ad monition, advice or supervision? If so tin effort is made to rehabilitate the home before resorting to extreme measures, and arrest, trial and punishment are used only after milder measures have failed. This method has been used successfully in Boston and Philadelphia.
In the smaller communities, it is difficult to maintain, separately, aid societies for the care of dependent children and societies for the pre vention of cruelty, to care for neglected chil dren. It is very desirable that the two func tions should be united in one society and the constructive method lends itself readily to this consolidation. Most of the societies for the prevention of cruelty to children co-operate closely with the juvenile courts. In New York city the society furnishes investigating officers for the children's court, maintains a detention home for children awaiting trial, and has offi cers in attendance upon all sessions of the court to attend to the interests of children. See CHILDREN, DEFECTIVE; CHILDREN, DELINQUENT; CH U-DkEN'S COURTS.