made by the district committees, while special inspection duties may be assigned by the Board. 2. The relation of inspectors to the institution which they inspect. 1. In all visitations and inspections, inspectors, while maintaining their statutory privileges, will so conduct their investigations as to avoid unnecessary friction on the part of the officers of institutions, or to disturb the usual daily routine of the service. The establishment of cordial co-operation on the part of the managers and officers of institutions will facilitate the work of inspection. 2. Inspectors must not criticise the management of institutions, either publicly or privately, but in their reports to the Board they shall accurately describe such defects as, in their opinion, require to be remedied; nor shall they direct or advise changes to be made of any matter or thing in any institution unless first specifically authorized by the Board, the district committee, the commissioner of the district, or in his absence, some other commissioner. 3. The conduct of inspections. 1. Special inspections.-A special inspection is a visit to an institution to inquire or examine as to some particular fact or condition. It may be made at any time, the hour selected being the best adapted to obtain the desired information. For example, the inspector might wish to learn by his own obser vation of the kind of food served to the inmates at dinner. This information could be secured only by a personal visit unannounced at the dinner hour. 2. General inspections.-All general inspections should be made in accordance with a plan which, while it economizes the time of the inspector and officials, and creates the least possible disturbance of the ordinary details of daily management, will secure a thorough inquiry into the operations and condition of every department of an institution. The inspector should always carry a notebook and make an immediate entry of every observation. The following scheme of a general inspection is best adapted to secure reliable results: 1. Before visiting an institution, the inspector should familiarize himself, as far as possible, with the law relating to it and the objects it is designed to accomplish, as set forth in its charter and its previous history. This information can be obtained at the offices of the Board and will enable the inspector to anticipate the defects of management which may exist. 2. On entering the institution the inspector should first call on the chief officer and inform him of his intention to make a general inspection. If this officer volunteers to accompany him he should accept the offer, but the inspector should not be diverted from the plan of inspection proposed, unless the suggestions of such officer would manifestly facilitate the work or accomplish some other useful purpose. 3. In order to see the institution in its usual every-day working condition, the inspector should at once visit those parts where such changes may readily be made in existing conditions as will give false impressions if there is any delay. The changes more likely to be made are in the clothing, location or surroundings of certain troublesome inmates. The inspector should, therefore, first make a rapid tour of the institution and endeavor to see all of the inmates in whatever place and condition they may be found. He should next pass rapidly through the dormitories, the kitchen, the laundry and other departments. Having completed this preliminary survey, he should commence a detailed, exhaustive examination of the entire establishment. Every room in the entire building should be examined in regular succession, with the single exception of the chief officers' living rooms. No attendants' rooms, no closets or clothes room, no pantry or cupboard, no wardrobe or recess, no cellar or attic should be exempt from inspection. Every inmate should be seen, and those whose appearance indicates diseases of the eyes or scalp, or uncleanliness of person, or deficient clothing or any other evidence of neglect, should be made the subject of special inquiry. If there is a farm connected with the institution, inquiry should be made as to the crops raised and their value, the amount of labor of inmates, and the cost of hired labor, and the final disposition of the products of the farm. The inspection may close with the examination of the books, records and papers. Field book for Inspectors of Charitable Institutions and Societies. Preface. This manual is not designed to supersede or to be in any sense a substitute for the larger manual published by the Board in 1903, with which the inspectors of the Board are expected to be entirely familiar, but is intended to supplement and interpret for the use of inspectors the laws and those portions of the manual which relate to the scope of inspections. The Department of Inspection was organized for the purpose of carrying out the following provisions of the State Charities Law: Seetion 12 of Article 2.-Powers and duties of the board on visits and inspections. On such visits inquiry shall be made to ascertain: 1. Whether all parts of the state are equally benefited by the institutions requiring state aid. 2. The merits of any and all requests on the part of any such institution for state aid, for any purpose, other than the usual expenses thereof; and the amount required to accomplish the object desired. 3. The sources of public moneys received for the benefit of such institution, as to the proper and economical expenditure of such moneys and the condition of the finances generally. 4. Whether the objects of the institution are being accomplished. 5. Whether the laws and the rules and regulations of this board in relation to it are fully complied with. 6. Its methods of industrial, educational and moral training, if any, and whether the same are best adapted to the needs of its inmates. 7. The methods of government and discipline of its inmates. 8. The qualifications and general conduct of its officers and employees. 9. The condition of its grounds, buildings and other property. 10. Any other matter connected with or pertaining to its usefulness and good management. It will be seen from the above statute that the ground to be covered in the inspection of a given institution is quite extensive and that a thorough inquiry is required if the Board is to perform conscientiously the duties laid upon it by the Constitution and the law. Reduced to concrete terms the subjects to be covered in a general inspection are indicated by the following outlines for such inspections of each of the following classes of institutions or societies: A. Orphan Asylums or Homes for Children. B. Hospitals. C. Dispensaries. D. Agencies for Placing Out or Boarding Out Children in Families. E. Homes for the Aged. F. Reformatories (under private management). G. Fresh air Charities. I. Temporary Homes. Each outline is intended to cover the essential points in a careful inspection, but other matters will doubtless suggest themselves from time to time as proper subjects for inquiry. It will be noted that such outline is divided into sections corresponding to the different phases of institution management, viz.: supervison, administration, plant, education, census, etc. A. Orphan Asylums or Homes for Children. General inspections and reports upon institutions in this class should cover the following points. In writing these reports follow this outline, so far as possible: I. INTRODUCTION. Give name and location of institution. Secure names and addresses of the president, the secretary and the treasurer of the governing board and of the chief officer and the attending physician of the institution, and note them in the report. Give dates of present and last inspections. II. IMPROVEMENTS AND CHANGES SINCE LAST INSPECTION. Note under this head what action has been taken in regard to the defects enumerated in the last report upon the institution in question and any improvements made by the management on its own initiative. III. APPROPRIATIONS OR RECEIPTS OF PUBLIC MONEY. Note: 1. Appropriations or receipts of public money for current or last fiscal year and state whether from city, town and county, gross or per capita and also similar facts in regard to all appropriations for educational work. 2. The authority for such appropriations. IV. CAPACITY, CENSUS, AGES AND CLASSIFICATION OF INMATES. Note: 1. The number of beds for boys. The number of beds for girls. Total capacity. 2. The number of boys, the number of girls, and the total number present. 3. The number of public charges, the number of private charges. 4. The ages of the children: a. The number under 2. b. The number from 2 to 12 years of age.* 5. Is due attention given to securing a careful and sensible 6. What are the bases of classification and how far fol lowed? 7. Whether the system of classification meets the needs of the children. V. SUPERVISION. Note: 1. The frequency and regularity of meetings of the gov erning body. 2. The character and frequency of visits by officers and members of the governing body. Differentiation of the ages between 2 and 12 is left to the judgment of the inspector. |