WISCONSIN. [Wisconsin Statutes 1917, pp. 481-2, as amended by Laws 1919, chs. 251 and 308.] SECTION 573f. 1. Petition to court for aid.-If any person shall have knowledge that any child is dependent upon the public for proper support or that the interests of the public requires that such child be granted aid, such person may bring any such fact to the notice of a judge of a juvenile court or of a county court of the county in which such child resides. 2. Investigation-County boards of child welfare.-The said judge may make or cause to be made such investigation and examination before the granting of aid for such child as he may deem necessary. To assist in making investigations and examinations the judge of the juvenile court or of the county court may on July 1, 1917, appoint a board of child welfare for his county to consist of three members, who shall hold office at the pleasure of the judge making the appointment. No salary or wages shall be paid to the members of said committee, but they shall be reimbursed their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their duties, such expenses to be approved by the appointing judge and to be audited and paid by the county as other claims against such county are audited and paid. Such board shall advise and consult with the judge regarding the best method of investigating cases under the provisions of this section; establish a basis of household expenses to compute the amount of aid to be extended to needy families; help needy mothers to expend aid granted economically, and advise them how to keep accounts of expenses; recommend discontinuance and reductions in aid and generally to act, consult, and confer with each other and the court relative to any and all problems relating to families to be aided and as to the best methods of carrying out the provisions of this section economically and efficiently. 3. Proceedings.-The proceedings provided for by this section may include one or more children, all of whom may be named in the same notice, and order of the judge thereon. 4. Court to fix allowance or commit to State school.-Upon such investigation the judge may, as the best interest of such child requires, grant aid to it 1 Same as Laws 1915, ch. 637, as amended by Laws 1917, ch. 589, which repealed an earlier law passed in 1913 (Laws 1913, ch. 669). Among the changes made in the 1915 revised law was an increase in the maximum amount of aid from $12 to $15 a month for the first child and from $4 to $10 for each additional child, with a limit set of $40 for any one family. The amendment of 1917 increased this limit to $50 in counties of 300,000 or more population; extended the provisions of the law to divorced mothers and to cover children between 14 and 16 years of age unable to secure work permits; and made more elastic the provisions relating to abandoned mothers. A new section 6a was added requiring monthly reports from all mothers receiving aid. The 1917 amendment further authorized the judge of the juvenile or county court to appoint a county board of child welfare to assist the court in administering the law, in accordance with the recommendations made by the State board of control in its report to the legislature in 1915. (See Nos. 530-531 of List of References.) The Laws of 1919, ch. 308, changes the requirement of " legal residence" to one year in the county. For the decisions of the State attorney general relating to the provisions of this act see pamphlet issued by the State board of control entitled "Law providing aid to dependent children (mothers' pension law), with the opinions of the attorney general thereon and statement of expenditures, 1918." or to its parents or to any person having the care and custody of such child, or commit such child to the State public school, or place such child in the home of a relative or friend of the family or in the home of a person interested in public welfare or make such other disposition of such child as he may deem wise. 5. Conditions of allowance.-Aid for dependent children shall only be granted upon the following conditions: There must be one or more children living with or dependent upon the mother or grandparents or person having the care and custody of such children, one or more of whom shall be under the age of fourteen or between the ages of fourteen and sixteen and unable to secure a permit to work; the mother or grandparent or such other person must have resided in the county in which application is made for aid for at least one year prior to the date of such application; the mother must be without a husband or the wife of a husband who is incapacitated for gainful work by permanent mental or physical disability, or of a husband who has been sentenced to a penal institution for one year or more, or of a husband who has continuously deserted her for six months or more during which time all provisions of law have been used to enforce support and none has been obtained, or such mother must be divorced from her husband and must show that she has used all provisions of law to compel her former husband to support her and has not been able to do so. Such deserted or divorced woman need not show that she has used all provisions of law to enforce support, if the court shall be of the opinion that such procedure on her part would be of no avail; the mother or grandparents or person having the care and custody of such children must be a fit and proper person to have the custody and care of the dependent children and the period of aid must be likely to continue longer than one year. The ownership by a mother of a homestead shall not prevent the granting of aid under the provisions of this section if the rental thereof would not exceed the rental which a family of the same size as the family of such parent, receiving aid, would be obliged to pay for living quarters. 6. Amount of allowance.-The aid granted shall be sufficient to enable the mother, grandparents, or person having the custody of such children to properly care for the children and shall not exceed fifteen dollars per month for the first child, excepting in emergency cases, where the aid to such first child shall be left to the discretion of the court and ten dollars per month for each additional child and in no case shall any one family receive more than forty dollars per month, excepting in counties containing a population of three hundred thousand or over where the maximum for any one family shall not exceed fifty dollars. Such aid shall be the only form of public assistance granted to the family and no aid shall continue longer than one year without reinvestigation. 6a. Monthly reports.—The parent or other person receiving aid under the provisions of this section shall file monthly with the judge of the juvenile or county court of the proper county a statement showing the expenditures of all moneys received as aid under the provisions of this section together with the original receipts or vouchers therefor. The judge may require the mother to do such remunerative work as in his judgment she can do without detriment to her health or the neglect of her children or her home, and may prescribe the hours during which the mother may work outside of her home. 7. County appropriations.—The county board of each county shall annually appropriate a sum of money sufficient to carry out the provisions of this act. Upon the orders of the judge of the court having jurisdiction, the county treasurer shall pay out the amount ordered to be paid as aid, under the provisions of this section. 8. Levy on towns and villages.-The county clerk of each county having a population of one hundred thousand or more shall make a report to the county board at its annual November meeting, showing in detail the amount of money advanced by the county to the residents of each town, village, and city under the provisions of this section. The county board at such meeting shall determine the amount to be raised and paid by each such town, village, and city to reimburse the county for the money so advanced. Within ten days after such determination the county clerk of each county shall certify to the clerk of and charge to each such town, village, and city the amount so advanced. Each such town, city, and village shall levy a tax sufficient to reimburse the county for such advances to be collected as other taxes and paid into the county treasury. If any town, city, or village shall fail to raise and pay over such money to the county the county board shall have authority to compel such payment. 9. County treasurer to report to State Board of Control-State aid.-On the first day of January of each year the county treasurer shall certify under oath, in duplicate, to the Secretary of State and the State board of control the amount paid out by such county during the preceding year for aid under this section, and if the board of control shall approve the same and shall cause its approval to be indorsed by the president and secretary of said board on the certificate received by the Secretary of State, the Secretary of State shall credit one-third of the amount so certified to be due such county on the State taxes next due therefrom, and the State Treasurer shall credit such county with said one-third of such amount in his annual settlement with said county for taxes due the State: Provided, That the amount paid by the State to any county in any one year shall not exceed a sum equal to one dollar for each thirty inhabitants thereof. Provided further, That if the total amount paid by all the counties under this act as certified by the county treasurers shall exceed the sum appropriated by subsection 13 of section 20.17,' the Secretary of State and the State Treasurer shall prorate the said sum among the various counties according to the amount paid out.2 [Forms prepared by State board of control for use of juvenile and county courts.] (1) is (3) (State relationship.) of (Name persons having custody.) of good moral character and dependent child_---- -.) (2). legal resident of said county (and the proper person to have the custody and care of said That the mother of said child_. That the period for which aid for said child. will be required is likely to continue longer than one year, and that aid is reasonably necessary to save the said child_. from neglect or danger to health. Dated this day of 1 Annual appropriation of $30,000 (Laws 1917, ch. 14, p. 43). 111) 19____. Petitioner. 2 The above (sec. 573f) is renumbered 48.33 by Laws of 1919, ch. 614. STATE OF WISCONSIN, County.} SS. being duly sworn, on oath says that affiant is the petitioner named in the foregoing petition, by affiant subscribed, and knows the contents of said petition, and that the same is true to the best of affiant's knowledge and belief. Subscribed and sworn to before me this day of -----, A. D. 19............. 1. Iere state whether the child or children are: (b) dependent upon the public for support; or, 2. If it is alleged that the children are neglected, or that their health is endangered, strike out the words inclosed in parentheses, 3. Here state whether the mother is a widow or is divorced or deceased; if living and married, then state: That she is the wife of: (a) a husband who is incapacitated for gainful work, or, (b) a husband who has been sentenced to a penal institution for one year or more; or, (c) a husband who has continuously deserted her for one year or more, during which time all provisions of law have been used to enforce support and none has been obtained. The application of. of the. ._Court. in said county, for the granting of aid for the above-named. alleged to be... signed, judge of the_. child. having been presented to the under-court of said county, and upon due investigation and examination it satisfactorily appearing : 1. That the said.. was born on the_ ------day of____. was born on the. -years of age. 2. That the said child__ reside. with -was born on -years of age; and --day of at the_ and now the mother of said child----, is *. _____who ha____ the care and custody of said of__ 4. That the said.. child. --of good moral character and----------the proper person--to have -custody and care. 5. That the best interests of said child_-__require____that aid be granted to and that the period for which aid will be required is likely to continue longer than one year, and that such aid is reasonably necessary to save the said child----from neglect or danger to health. 6. That the sum of__ enable the said.. --dollars per month is reasonably necessary to ---to properly care for said child.. Therefore, it is ordered, That the county treasurer of said. County be and he hereby is authorized and directed to pay to said. the sum of... (d) who is incapacitated for gainful work by permanent mental or physical disa (e) who has been sentenced to a penal institution for one year or more; or, NOTE. This order should be made out in triplicate-one copy should go to the county treasurer; one copy to the State Board of Control of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis.; and the other copy should be kept with the court's records. aid by an order of this court under the provisions of Section 573f of the Statutes, dated for a period not to exceed one year from the date fixed for making the first payment and upon due investigation and examination it appearing: That the said. day of.. and is. age was born on the -County That said term has expired and that aid should be continued. Therefore, it is ordered, That the County Treasurer of.. be and he is hereby authorized and directed to pay to said the sum of day of of said Dollars per month, the first payment to be made on the 19, and monthly thereafter until the further order of the Judge ---Court, but not longer than one year from the date herein fixed for making such first payment. Made in triplicate and dated this19-- It appearing to the Court that- Order discontinuing aid. was (were) granted aid by an order of this court under the provisions of Section 573f of the Statutes dated It further appearing that the said. are no longer entitled to aid under the provisions of that Statute, for the reasons hereinafter set forth Therefore, it is hereby ordered that the order heretofore made granting the aid to the said child -be and the same is hereby revoked, to take effect upon this date. Dated:. child ---Court. .Court. 19____, and is It appearing to the Court that was, (were) granted aid by an order of this court under the provisions of section 573f of the Statutes, dated for a period not to exceed one year from the date tixed for making the first payment and upon due investigation and examination it appearing: That the said day of was born on the was born on the years of age; that said. was born on the day of 19--- and that, for the reasons stated, aid should - per month to Therefore, it is ordered, That the county treasurer of County be and he is hereby authorized and directed to pay to said.. the sum of dollars per month, the first payment to be made on the --------- per |