State, Religion and Child Welfare

Publication Date: September 1956

Publisher: Jewish Communal Service Association of North America

Author(s): Justine Wise Polier

Research Area: Culture and religion; Social conditions

Keywords: Church and State; Government Agencies; Children; Family

Type: Report

Coverage: New York

Abstract:

The author discusses church-state issues surrounding adoption and child welfare. Despite the court-upheld definition of the separation of church and state, the author asserts that breaches in the wall of separation abound in the realm of child welfare. For example, she notes, government agencies go to great lengths to assign children in need of care to homes of the same faith, even when that means delays in full service to the child. In addition, the author asserts, New York employs religious tests in hiring probation officers (a clear violation of the national Constitution) in order to adjust the religious composition of staff, so as to assign children to officers of the same faith. The author makes recommendations for new courses of action maintaining services sensitive to faith needs of children and families while doing more to separate religion and government.

In Journal of Jewish Communal Service, ed. By Sanford Sherman, v.33, no.1, Fall 1956, p.41-47.