APPENDIX

State Public School.

REVISED LAWS 1905, CHAPTER 27.

1938. Location-Purpose-The state public school for dependent children shall be continued at Owatonna. Its purpose shall be to furnish a temporary home for dependent and neglected children, and to provide them with proper permanent homes, proper care and instruction, while in said home, in the branches usually taught in the common schools, and with morai, physical and industrial training. (3500, 3510, 3511 88 Minn. 382, 93 N. W. 3.

1939. Government-The board of control of said school shall consist of three members and shall be known as the "Board of Managers of the State Public School." Said board shall have the general care and management, other than financial, of said school. It shall be a body corporate under said name with a common seal and the usual powers of such bodies, and may take and hold all lands and other property acquired by purchase, gift, donation, devise, or bequest for the use of the institution. The members of said board shall be appointed by the governor, each for a term of six years, and until his successor qualifies. Each shall be allowed his necessary expenses, and three dollars per day for his actual and necessary services, to be audited by the State Board of Control. (3507, 3520.)

1940. Powers and Duties of Board-The board of managers shall elect from its members a president and a secretary, and shall appoint a superintendent, who shall appoint and may discharge such assistants, and employes as may be necessary. The said board shall determine the number of assistants and employes, their salaries and the salary of the superintendent, subject to the approval of the Board of Control. It shall prescribe regulations for the government and conduct of the institution, and shall meet on its own adjournment or otherwise at least once in three months. (3508.)

1941. Admission of Pupils-Children under fifteen years of age who are dependent on the public for support abandoned, neglected or ill treated, and who are sound of mind and free from disease, shall be received into said school. Whenever the number of such children shall exceed the capacity of the school preference shall be given to the younger children and to those in greatest need, and the children received shall be divided among the several counties as justly as possible, taking into consideration the number of such children in each county and its population. The board of managers or superintendent shall notify the county board of any county of the numher of children that can be received from such county, whenever vacancies exist, or upon inquiry from the county board. The children of deceased soldiers shall be given preference in admission. No child who can be received into the school shall be maintained in any poorhouse. Before any child under one year of age shall be ordered sent to said school, a written. statement from the superintendent shall be obtained, showing that said child can be received and cared for in said school. (3512, 3513.)

1942. Complaint to Judge of Probate-The county board, or any two of them, shall make a complaint in writing of any such child to the probate judge, stating that in their opinion such child is:

1.

2.

Dependent upon the public for support; or

In a state of habitual vagrancy or mendicity; or

3. Ill treated, and his life, health, or morals endangered by continued cruel treatment, or by the habitual intemperance or gross misconduct of parents or guardian.

It shall also state the names, nationality, residence, and occupation of the parents so far as the same can be ascertained, and whether either parent is dead or has abandoned the child, and shall ask that he be committed to the guardianship of the board of managers of the state public school. (3514, 3515, '95, c. 111.)

Complaint held insufficient. (54 Minn., 135, 55 N. W., 830.)

1943. Citation The judge shall thereupon cite the parents or guardian, if within the county, to show cause before the court, at a time and place named, why such child should not be so committed. If the child has no parent or guardian within the county, no citation need issue. The citation shall he served at least two days before the hearing. Any friend may appear on behalf of the child, and at the request of the judge, any member of any town board or municipal council shall so appear. Upon like request, the county attorney shall appear in support of the complaint; but the proceedings shall not be deemed invalid by reason of failure to serve such citation, or of any informality or irregularity in the service or in the complaint. (3514, 3515.)

1944. Examination-Said judge shall examine into the facts alleged, as in other hearings before him, and, if he find the allegation of the complaint true, he shall cause the child to be examined by the county physician, if there be one, otherwise by a practicing physician. If such physician shall certify in writing and under oath that upon such examination he finds the child of sound mind and free from chronic or communicable disease, and that in his opinion he has not within the past fifteen days been exposed to any such disease, the judge shall make specific findings upon each fact alleged in the complaint, and enter an order committing the child to the guardianship of said board; whereupon all rights of the parents or guardian to the custody, control service, or earnings of the child shall be suspended until he is returned to their custody. (3514-3516.)

Findings held sufficient.

(83 Minn., 252, 86 N. W., 89.)

1945. Discharge From Guardianship—A child admitted to said school shall remain therein and subject to the guardianship of the board until a proper home is procured for him. The board shall return or discharge each child when satisfied that he is unsound in mind, or diseased, or for other cause is not a proper inmate of this school. Upon such return or discharge the guardianship of the board shall cease and the child shall again be under the custody of his parents or guardian, or a charge upon the county from which he was sent. (3510, 88 Minn., 382, 93 N. W., 3.)

1946. Duty of Sheriff-If the parents or other persons having custody of the child shall refuse to surrender him to the custody of the court, the judge may make a written order requiring the sheriff to produce him in court. The sheriff shall thereupon take the child and shall keep him at a proper place, other than the county jail, at the expense of the county. (3514, 95, c. 160.)

1947. Adoption and Apprenticeship-Said board, so far as practicable, shall secure permanent homes for such children in proper families, by adoption or apprenticeship, and for that purpose may consent or authorize the superintendent to consent to the legal adoption of any such child in the same manner as his parents might have done; or it may place him in a proper family, during minority or for a shorter period, under a written contract providing for his proper education, in public schools, for teaching him some useful occupation, for kind and proper treatment as a member of such family, and for payment to the coard at the termination of the apprenticeship, for the use of the child, of such sum as may be provided in the contract. Such contract shall reserve to the board the right of cancellation whenever in its judgment the interest of the child requires it, and to the person taking the child the right so to cancel at any time within ninety days, upon returning the child to the school free of expense. (3511, 3517, 3518.)

1948. Discharge of Child-Whenever any such child, not indentured, has become self-supporting, or his parents have become able to provide for him and are otherwise suitable, the board, by resolution, may discharge him; whereupon the guardianship of the board shall cease, and he shall be entitled to his earnings, with power to contract for his services, or shall be returned to the custody of his parents as the board shall direct. (3511.) 1949. Agents-Appointment-Duties Suitable persons shall be appointed to act as agents of the school. They shall visit the wards of the

board, at its direction, and report to it their condition, and any violation of contracts, and shall perform such other duties as the board may direct. They or the superintendent shall provide homes for the wards, investigate applications for apprentices, and, on behalf of the board, execute contracts of apprenticeship. They shall be allowed, in addition to their salaries, their necessary traveling expenses, to be audited by the State Board of Control. (3517.)

1950. Record of Wards-The board shall cause to be kept at the home a record, containing the names, ages, and residences of all children received; the names, residence, occupation, and character, so far as known, of the living parents; the date of reception, and of adoption or indenture, with the name, occupation, and residence of the person with whom the child is placed; the date and cause of the cancellation of any contract; the date and cause of discharge; and a brief history of each child during minority. (3519.)

1951. Biennial Reports-The board shall report to the governor, on or before December 1 preceding each regular session of the legislature, the operations of the home for the two preceding fiscal years in detail; and shall at the same time report to the state superintendent the condition of its schools, the names and salaries of teachers, the number of children who have received instruction therein, the average number in the schools during each year, the discipline prescribed, the studies pursued, the industrial training given, the books used, and such other matters as it may deem of importance or as may be required. (3520.)

1952. Penalties Any parent, guardian, or other person who shall abduct, conceal, entice, carry away, or improperly interfere with any child committed to the guardianship of said board, or who shall obstruct or interfere with any officer or agent in the performance of any duty imposed by this chapter, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. (3514.) 88 Minn., 382, 93

N. W. 3.

General Laws 1909-Chapter 232.

AN ACT for the appointment of guardians for dependent, neglected and delinquent children and for the proceeding against persons at fault for such dependency, neglect or delinquency.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota:

Section 1. This act shall apply only to children under the age of seventeen (17) years. For the purpose of this act the words "dependent child" and "neglected child" shall mean any child who for any reason is destitute or homeless or abandoned; or dependent upon the public for support; or has not proper parental care or guardianship; or who habitually begs or receives alms; or who is found living in any house of ill-fame, or with any vicious or disreputable persons, or whose home, by reason of neglect, cruelty or depravity on the part of its parents, guardian or other person in whose care it may be, is an unfit place for such child; and any child under the age of ten (10) years who is found begging, peddling or selling any article or singing or playing any musical instrument upon the street, or giving any public entertainment, or who accompanies or is used in aid of any person so doing. The words "delinquent child" shall include any child under the age of seventeen (17) years who violates any law of this state or any city or village ordinance; or who is incorrigible, or who knowingly associates with thieves, vicious or immoral persons, or who without just cause and without the consent of its parents or custodian absents itself from its home or place of abode or who is growing up in idleness or who knowingly frequents a house of ill-fame; or who knowingly patronizes any policy shop or place where any gambling device is or shail be operated; or who frequents any saloon or dram shop where intoxicating liquors are sold, or who patronizes or visits any public pool room or bucket shop; or who wanders about the streets in the night time without being in any lawful business or occupation; or who habitually wanders about any railroad yard or tracks, or jumps or hooks on to any moving train; or enters any car or

engine without lawful authority; or who habitually uses vile, obscene, vulgar, profane, or indecent language; or who is guilty of immoral conduct in any public place or about any school house. Any child committing any of the acts herein mentioned shall be deemed a delinquent child, and shall be liable to guardianship as hereinafter provided. The word "child" or "children” may mean one or more children, and the word "parent" or "parents" may be held to mean one or both parents, when consistent with the intent of this act. The word "association" shall include any corporation which includes in its purpose the care or disposition of children coming within the meaning of this act. That a child is dependent, neglected or delinquent shall be a ground for the appointment of a guardian for such child.

Sec. 2. The judge of probate shall have jurisdiction over the appointment of guardians for dependent, neglected and delinquent children. He shall provide himself with a suitable book in which to record all proceedings taken under the provisions of this act, at the expense of the county, and he shall record in said book all proceedings taken in each case coming before him under this act, but need not record any evidence taken except as it shall seem to him proper and necessary. The reasons for appointing such a guardian shall be entered therein and any parent or the attorney for any child may appeal from the final disposition of the guardianship matter by complying with the law regulating appeals from probate courts.

Sec. 3. Any reputable person resident in the county, having knowledge of a child in his county, who appears to be either neglected, dependent, cr delinquent may file with the probate court of the county where such child resides, a petition in writing, setting forth the facts verified by affidavit. The petition shall set forth the name and residence of each parent, if known, and if both are dead or the residence unknown, then the name and residence of the legal guardian, if known, or if not known, then the name and residence of some near relative, if there be eeone, and his residence is known. It shall be sufficient that the affidavit is upon information and belief.

Sec. 4. Upon the filing of the petition a summons shall be issued y the judge of probate of such county, requiring the person having custody or control of the child, or with whom the child may be, to appear with the child at a place and time stated in the summons, which time shall not be less than twenty-four (24) hours after service. Such summons shall be served as provided by law for the service of summons in civil actions. The parents of the child, if living, and their residence is known, or its legal guardian, if one there be, or if there is neither parent nor guardian, or if his or her residence is not known, then some relative, if there be one and his residence is known, shall be notified of the proceedings. In every case the judge shall appoint some suitable person to act in behalf of the child. Where the person to be notified resides within the county, service of notice shall be the same as service of the summons, but in any other case service of notice shall be made in such manner as the court may direct. Notice by registered mail proven by receipt of letter containing same, shall be sufficient. If the person summoned as herein provided shall fail without reasonable cause to appear and abide the order of the court, or bring the child, he may be proceeded against as in case of contempt of court. In case the party served fails to obey the summons, and in any case when it shall be made to appear to the court that such summons will be ineffectual, a warrant may issue on the order of the court, either against the parent or guardian or the person having custody of the child or with whom the child may be, or against the child itself. On the return of the summons or other process, or on the appearance of the child with or without summons or other process in person before the court, and on return of the service of notice, if there be any person to be notified, or a personal appearance or written consent to the proceedings of the person or persons, if any to be notified, or as soon thereafter as may be, the court shall proceed to hear and dispose of the case. Pending the final dispositon of any case, the child may be retained in the possession of the person having the charge of the same, or may be kept in some suitable place designated by the judge of probate, at the expense of the county.

Sec. 5. The court shall have authority to appoint or designate one or more discreet persons of good character to serve as probation officers during the pleasure of the court; such probation officers shall act under the orders of the court in reference to any child or children, committed to his care, and it shall be the duty of said probation officers to make such investigations with regard to any child or children as may be required by the court before or during the hearing of the application for a guardian, and to furnish to the court such information and assistance as the judge may require, and to take charge of any child or children before hearing, during the continuance of the hearing, and after hearing until the guardian shall assume the custody of the child, whenever he may be so directed by the court, and to keep such records, and to make such reports to the court as the court may order or direct. Probation officers appointed under authority of this act shall serve without compensation from the county save only that they may have the same fees as constables for similar service, including all travel, when the judge of probate court shall so direct.

Sec. 6. When any child under the age of seventeen (17) years, shali be found to be dependent or neglected, within the meaning of this act, the court may make any order appointing a suitable guardian for such child, and such guardian may be any state institution or association willing to receive it, embracing in its objects the purpose of caring for or obtaining homes for dependent or neglected children, which association shall have been accredited as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 7. In any case where the court shall appoint as guardian of any child, any association or individual in accordance with the provisions of this act, the child shall, unless otherwise ordered, become a ward, and be subject to the guardianship of the association or individual to whose care it is committed. Such association shall have authority to place such child in a family home of the same religious belief as the parents of such child, with or without indenture, and may be made party to any proceedings for the legal adoption of the child, and may by its attorney or agent appear in any court where such proceedings are pending and assent to such adoption. And such assent shall be sufficient to authorize the court to enter the proper order or decree of adoption. When adoption proceedings for any such child or children are commenced, a copy of the petition in such adoption proceedings shall be filed in the court which appointed the guardian for such child, at least thirty (30) days before any final decree of adoption shall be entered. Such guardianship shall not include the guardianship of any estate of the child.

Sec. 8. If any child so put under guardianship have any property, the income of said property shall, unless more than is necessary, be applied to the education of such child, and upon cause shown to the probate court appointing such guardian, the principal or any part thereof, may be used for the same purpose. Any parent may, after the expiration of any year of such guardianship apply to the probate court which has created such guardianship for the termination thereof; and if it appears by clear and convincing evidence that the causes, which produced or contributed to the dependency, neglect or delinquency of such child no longer exist, the child. unless previously adopted, shall be restored to its parents. Ten days' notice by registered mail or by personal service, of the hearing upon said application, shall be given to such child and the guardian thereof, and such guardian shall produce such child at such hearing.

Sec. 9. In the case of a dependent, neglected or delinquent child the court may continue the hearing from time to time, for the purpose of doing more exact justice according to the fact, including such facts as may thereby become known to him, and may commit the child to the care or custody of a probation officer as a temporary guardian, or may allow said child to remain in its own home subject to the visitation of the probation officer, to be returned to the court for further proceedings at the time to which the case may have been continued, in case provision is made by voluntary contribution or otherwise for the payment of the board of such