History

The centennial anniversary offers a valuable opportunity to look back and reflect on the Children’s Bureau’s impressive history. An engaging e-brochure, interactive timeline, commemorative e-book, and other resources help tell the Children’s Bureau’s story and feature the key issues, laws, and leaders that shaped that story.

100 Years of Serving Children and Families

On April 9, 1912, President William Howard Taft signed the Children’s Bureau into law and created the first government agency in the world focused solely on the needs of children. Over the next 100 years, the Children’s Bureau played a critical role in improving the lives of children and their families.

Throughout its history, the Children's Bureau has broken new ground on a range of social issues.

In its earliest years, the young Bureau worked to bring an end to infant deaths and child labor, understand juvenile delinquency, and offer relief from dire Depression-era conditions.
During World War II, the Bureau expanded maternal and child health services, while supervising foster care for child refugees. Postwar initiatives brought attention to vulnerable children, including children with disabilities, premature infants, and children of migrant families.
The 1970s and 1980s sharpened the Bureau’s focus on child abuse and neglect, foster care, and adoption as it guided efforts to respond to maltreatment, preserve families, and achieve timely permanence for children and youth.
The modern Children’s Bureau partners with States, Tribes, communities, and national organizations to strengthen families and foster permanency and connections for children and youth through evidence-based, culturally competent, and trauma-informed practices.

The Story of the Children's Bureau

While priorities and trends have changed over time, the Children’s Bureau's work has reflected:

Collaboration
Assistance to States and Tribes
Research and data collection
Getting the word out through campaigns, publications, and conferences
Leadership

Through engaging text and historical images, the Story of the Children's Bureau highlights key activities and accomplishments in each of these areas "then" and "now".

Timeline

Coming Soon: An interactive timeline of key events that shaped the course of the Children's Bureau history.

The Children’s Bureau Legacy: Ensuring the Right to Childhood

Take a detailed look at 10 decades of Children’s Bureau leadership and accomplishments presented within the context of changing world events and social movements. This commemorative e-book will be available in late 2012.

Justice, Not Pity: Julia Lathrop, First Chief of the U.S. Children's Bureau

Dr. Cecelia Tichi presents a captivating account of Julia Lathrop and her groundbreaking efforts as the first chief of the Children’s Bureau. Access the full online transcript, PDF (157 KB), and audio mp3 (9.01 MB) of the 2007 presentation.

To listen to this file, you must have an audio player on your computer. To download Windows Media Player for free visit: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/download/download.aspx

Watch the Video (10:53 minutes)

A new video captures 100 years of leadership in protecting children and strengthening families. Also available en Español.

Centennial Moments

The Children’s Bureau encouraged sun baths and cod liver oil for infants—a simple and low-cost solution to prevent rickets, a debilitating early childhood disease.

Babies sunbathing on garden lawn, circa February 1946.

The Bureau developed a reputation as an authority on child care, receiving as many as 400,000 letters per year. Mothers asked questions on diet, illnesses, how to keep a baby entertained, and more.

Raising a Baby the Government Way: Mothers' Letters to the Children's Bureau

In 1942, to promote the use of U.S. child welfare literature in other countries, the Bureau published a glossary of child welfare terms in Spanish, Portuguese, and French with English translations.

Glossary of Certain Child-Welfare Terms in Spanish, Portuguese, French & English

The Children’s Bureau proclaimed “Children’s Year” beginning April 1918 and mobilized 11 million volunteers across the nation to reduce infant deaths by educating parents.

Children’s Bureau poster commemorating Children’s Year, circa 1918.

The 1931 Children’s Charter supported the protection of 19 fundamental rights of children, including: For every child understanding and the guarding of his personality as his most precious right.

Since November 1995, National Adoption Month has focused on raising awareness about the adoption of children and youth in foster care.

President Clinton puts his arm around adopted child, Charday Mays

Following World War II, the Children’s Bureau sponsored back-to-school drives for youth who had left school to work on war-related efforts.

Poster promoting reading and library use; an Ill. Work Projects Adm. art project

Responding to the large numbers of women entering the workforce during WWII, the Children’s Bureau developed standards for day care for children of working mothers and a maternity policy for industry.

Women welders on the way to their job at the Todd Erie Basin dry dock, circa '43

“Justice for all children is the great ideal in democracy.” —Grace Abbott, 2nd Children’s Bureau Chief, c. 1930.

After WWII, the Children’s Bureau oversaw the placement of thousands of European children evacuees sent to the United States. The Bureau provided standards of care and helped State and local agencies place the children.

Cover of Care of Children Coming to the U.S. for Safety Under Atty. Gen's Order

By 1930, three popular Children’s Bureau publications—Prenatal Care, Infant Care, and Child Care—had a combined circulation of more than 10 million.