APPENDIX A.

LAWS RELATING TO THE ESTABLISHMENT AND GOVERNMENT OF THE STATE PUBLIC SCHOOL FOR DEPENDENT CHILDREN, LOCATED AT COLDWATER, MICH.

The first eight sections are omitted, as they relate only to the location of the school and the construction of the buildings.

SEC. 9. The general supervision and government of said State public school shall be vested in a board of control, to consist of three members, who shall be appointed by the governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, the members of which board shail hold their offices for the respective terms of two, four, and six years from the last day of the session of the legislature next after the completion of said State public school building and until their successors shall be appointed and qualified, said respective terms of office to be designated in their several appointments; and thereafter there shall be one of said board appointed every two years, whose term of office shall continue for six years, or until his successor is appointed and qualified. The members of said board shall constitute a body corporate, under the name and style of the "Board of Control of the State Public School," with the right of suing and being sued, of making and using a common seal, and altering it at pleasure. That said board of control shall have the power of taking and holding, by purchase, gift, dona⚫tion, device, or bequest, real or personal estate to be applied to the use of the institution.

SEC. 10. It shall be the duty of said board of control to meet once in three months on its own adjournments, and oftener if necessary; that the said board shall elect from its own number a president, secretary, and treasurer, each of whom shall hold his office during the pleasure of said board; that the said treasurer shall give his bond to the people of this State, with two or more sufficient sureties to be approved by said board and the governor, in the penal sum of at least ten thousand dollars, or in such additional penal sum as said board may require, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties required of him by law, and to account for and pay over as required by law all moneys received by him as such treasurer. The said board of control shall establish a system of government for the institution, and shall make all necessary rules and regulations for enforcing discipline, imparting instruction, preserving health, and for the [proper] physical, intellectual, and moral training of the children. The said board shall appoint a superintendent, a matron, and such other officers, teachers, and employés as shall be necessary, who shall severally hold their offices or places during the pleasure of said board; and that said board shall prescribe their duties and fix their salaries, subject to the approval of the governor.

SEC. 11. There shall be received as pupils in said school those children who are declared dependent on the public for support, as provided in this act, who are over three and under fourteen years of age, and who are in suitable condition of body and mind to receive instruction. That said board is authorized, in admitting children, to give preference to those under twelve years of age. That those admitted, unless sent from the institution as provided by this act, shall be retained until they are sixteen years of age, and may be retained after that age, in the option of said board, until a home is procured for them. That said board is authorized to return to the county sending it any child when it shall become sixteen years of age and no home has been procured, or whenever after its admission it shall be ascertained to the satisfaction of said board that the child was of unsound mind or unsound body at the time of its admission, or if for any other reason said board shall consider said child an improper inmate of said school; that, in the case of the return of any child as herein provided to the county sending it, the guardianship of this board shall cease, and the child shall again become a charge on the county sending it. The said board of control shall report in writing to the superintendents of the county poor of the proper county the reason for returning the child.

SEC. 12. The children in such school shall be maintained and educated in the branches usually taught in common schools, and shall have proper physical and moral training.

SEC. 13. It is declared to be the object of this act to provide for such children only temporary homes until homes can be procured for them in families. It shall be the duty of such board of control to use all diligence to provide suitable places in good families for all such pupils as have received an elementary education; and any other pupils may be placed in good families on condition that their education shall be provided for in the public schools of the town or city where they may reside. That said board of control are hereby made the legal guardians of all the children who may become inmates of said school, with authority to bind out any child to a pursuit or trade during minority, under a contract insuring the child kind and proper treatment and a fair elementary education.

SEC. 14. That whenever there shall be sufficient room for the reception of the class of children described in this act in such State public school, no such children shall hereafter be maintained in county poorhouses. That in receiving such children into such school preference shall be given first to dependent and indigent orphans or half orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors of this State.

SEC. 15. As soon as the State public school buildings are ready for the admission of inmates, and thereafter semiannually, and whenever inquired of by the superintendents of the poor, it shall be the duty of the secretary of the board of control to notify the superintendents of the poor of each county how many children of the county notified can be received in said school. That the admission for dependent children in said school shall be, as near as practical, divided among the several counties in proportion to the number of dependent children in each. That it shall be the duty of the superintendents of the poor of each county to forward to said school any dependent and neglected children that are entitled by this act to admission thereto in the manner herein provided. All expenses attending the forwarding of such children, and of the examination herein provided for, and of returning to the counties where they belong children not entitled to admission, shall be defrayed by the county to which they belong, by the county treasurer, out of the funds appropriated to the support of the poor belonging to such county, after being allowed and certified by the county super

intendents.

Section 15 was amended April 5, 1875, by the following section: "The expense of transportation of children who may be sent to said school pursuant to law shall be audited by the board of State auditors and paid out of the general fund."

SEC. 16. Before the superintendents of the poor shall send any child to said school, they shall cause him to be brought before the judge of probate in the county where the child belongs, for examination by the judge of probate as to his alleged dependence; and it shall be the duty of the superintendents of the poor of each county, in the case of children in the poorhouses or other children which shall be found in a state of want or suffering or being abandoned or improperly exposed, or children in any orphan asylum where the officers thereof desire to surrender them to the care of the State, whenever there shall be a vacancy for their county in said school, to bring such children before the said judge of probate for said examination; and it shall thereupon be the duty of the said judge of probate to investigate the facts in each case and ascertain whether such children are dependent; their ages, names, and residence of parents, and in what county, poorhouse, or orphan asylum they have been kept, if any, and for how long a time; and said judge of probate shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses, and may, in his discretion, request the attendance of the prosecuting attorney for such examinations; and, if so requested, it shall be the duty of such prosecuting attorney to attend in behalf of the county. The parents or any friend may appear in behalf of any child, and, in his discretion, the said judge of probate may request any supervisor of any town or ward to appear in behalf of any child; and if, on such examination, the said judge of probate shall find that any child is dependent and neglected, he shall enter such finding by a proper order in the journal of the probate court in his office, and shall deliver to the superintendent of the poor procuring such examination a certified copy of such order, which shall contain, besides said findings, a statement of the facts, so far as ascertained, as to the age of the child, names and residence of parents, and name of the county poorhouse or orphan asylum where the child has been maintained, and the length of time of such maintenance; and in the case of the examination of two or more children at the same time, only one order need be made; and said certified copy of said order shall be delivered with the child at said school to the superintendent thereof.

SEC. 17. It shall be the duty of said board of control to provide and always keep open for inspection of all persons desiring to examine it a book in which shall be registered the names and ages of the children received in said school, and the residence of parents as near as can be ascertained, in which book shall also be recorded the date when the child is received and when the child left the school, and whether the child was apprenticed, placed in a family, or otherwise, and, if placed in a family, the name, residence, and occupation of the head of such family, and, if apprenticed, to whom.

SEC. 19. The said board of control is authorized to designate some officer, teacher, or other employé connected with said school to act as the agent thereof, and who shall act in that capacity during the pleasure of said board of control, and shall be known as the agent of the State public school; and his duties as such agent shall be prescribed by said board, and shall include the visiting, as often and at such times as said board of control shall determine, any and all children placed in charge of any person by said board of control; to inquire into the condition of such children, and make such investigation as may be necessary in relation thereto, and report the same to said board of control; to investigate all applications to take such children, by adoption or otherwise, to such suitable persons who are willing to adopt, take charge of, or otherwise take and keep any children sent to said school, and to enter into a contract in writing, in behalf and under the instructions of said board of control, with the persons taking such child; and all such contracts shall contain a clause reserving to said board of control the right to withdraw the child from any person having him when, in the opinion of the board, the welfare of the child requires it. The said agent, while acting as such, shall be paid his necessary travelling expenses by the treasurer of said board of control, after being allowed and certified by said board of control.

SEC. 20. The said board of control shall make out biennially and report to the legislature at its regular session a detailed statement of the operations of said institution for the two years closing with the fiscal year preceding said session, which shall include a report of the treasurer of the board of all receipts and disbursements for the same period. It shall also be the duty of said board to cause to be made out by the superintendent or other proper officer and forwarded to the office of the superintendent of public instruction, on or before the first day of November in each year, a report for the fiscal year, setting forth the condition of the institution, the amount of receipts and expenditures, the number of teachers and other officers and compensation of each, the number of inmates that have received instruction, the studies pursued and the books used; also, the mode of instruction and discipline prescribed, and such other information and suggestions as may be deemed important or the superintendent of public instruction may require to embody in the report of his department. The members of said board shall be allowed the expenses necessarily incurred by them in the discharge of their official duties and three dollars per day for their official services actually and necessarily performed, which shall be audited by the board of State auditors.

SEC. 21. That whenever the superintendents of the poor of any county shall bring any child before the judge of probate for examination as to his alleged dependence, as provided in section sixteen of this act, they shall present to said judge an application in writing, which shall be filed in his office for such examination, which shall be signed by at least two of said superintendents, in which they shall certify that in their opinion the child named is dependent on the public for support, and that he has no parents against whom his support can be enforced, as provided in chapter fortynine of the compiled laws of eighteen hundred and seventy-one.

SEC. 22. That the superintendent or agent or board of control of the State public school is hereby authorized to consent to the adoption of any child who has or shall become an inmate of said institution by any person or persons pursuant to the provisions of an act entitled an act to provide for changing the names of minor adopted children and of other persons, approved February second, eighteen hundred and sixtyone, and that on such adoption the said board of control shall cease to be the guardian of the child so adopted.

SEC. 23. That whenever on [the] examination provided for in this act the judge of probate shall determine that the child is dependent on the public for support, he shall cause it to be examined by the county physician, if there be one, and, if not, then by a respectable practising physician, and shall in no case enter the order in his journal showing the child is admissible to this school unless the physician making such examination shall certify in writing, under oath, filed in said court, that the child examined by him is, in his opinion, of sound mind and has no chronic or contagious disease, and in his opinion has not been exposed to any contagious disease within fifteen days previous to such examination before the judge of probate; that a copy of such certificate shall be attached to the other papers provided by this act, to accompany each child to this school.

DUTIES OF COUNTY AGENT REPRESENTING STATE BOARD OF CORRECTIONS AND CHARITIES.

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SECTION 1. The people of the State of Michigan enact, That the governor may appoint in each county of this State an agent of the board of State commissioners for the general supervision of charitable, penal, pauper, and reformatory institutions, who shall hold his office at the pleasure of the governor. Said agent shall receive as. compensation for his time and services his actual expenses necessarily incurred while engaged in the performance of his duties under this act, on being fully stated in account and verified by the affidavit of the agent, together with the sum of three dollars in full for his services in each case investigated and reported upon, as hereinafter prescribed; [which] when approved by the governor, shall be paid by the State treasurer, on the warrant of the auditor general, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That the sum so allowed for the services of such agent in any county, except the county of Wayne, shall not in any one year exceed the sum of one hundred dollars, and that in the county of Wayne the sum so allowed for such services shall not in any one year exceed the sum of two hundred dollars.

SEC. 3. Said agent shall as often as once in each year visit all children resident in the county for which he is appointed who shall have been indentured or placed in charge of any person therein by any State board or officer of the State, and shall inquire into the management, condition, and treatment of such children, and for that purpose may have private interviews with such children at any time; and if it shall come to the knowledge of such agent that any child thus placed in charge of any person as aforesaid is neglected, abused, or improperly treated by the person having such child in charge, or that the person holding the child is unfit to have the care thereof, he shall report the fact to the board or officers of the institution by which such child was indentured, and such board or officers shall cancel the contract and cause the child to be returned to the institution from whence he or she was taken, or indentured to some other person, or to be discharged, in the discretion of the board of officers. In all contracts or indentures for binding out children from any State institution the officers making the same shall expressly reserve the right to cancel the contract whenever in their judgment the interests of the child are not properly cared for.

SEC. 4. No child shall be indentured, adopted, or taken during minority by any person not of kin thereto from a State institution until notice of an application therefor has been given to the agent aforesaid residing in the county from which such application is made, and until his report in writing, made after an investigation into the propriety thereof, has been made and filed with the officers of such institution. And all applications for the release or discharge of any children so indentured or placed in charge of persons in such county shall be given to said agent for his report in like

manneг.

SEC. 5. It shall be the duty of said agents in their respective counties to seek out suitable persons who are willing to adopt, take charge of, educate, and maintain children arrested for offenses, committed to any State institution, or abandoned and neglected children in charge of any State institution or officers, and to give notice thereof to the boards or officers having authority to dispose of such children. And said agents shall from time to time make report of their doings under this section to the board of which they are agents.

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SEC. 6. Said agent shall also keep a brief history of each child within his county discharged as aforesaid, in a manner and form to be prescribed by the board of which he is agent, and report the same from time to time to said board as it may require, to the end that the effect of the treatment and discipline of the several institutions of the State for the care and reformation of juvenile delinquents upon their discharge therefrom may be better known and understood.

SEC. 7. This act shall not apply to any county of the State in which no agent shall be appointed by the governor under and by virtue of the provisions hereof.

REGULATIONS OF THE BOARD OF CONTROL CONCERNING RECEIVING AND INDENTURING CHILDREN.

(1) The superintendent is authorized and instructed to be and act as the agent of the State Public School. All correspondence between the institution and county officials agents of the board of corrections and charities, and those to whom children are indent ured, shall be conducted by him. He shall divide the admissions pro rata amongthe counties, as provided by law, and shall notify county officials when children can be admitted. When practicable, on receiving new children, they shall be detained ten days in the hospital for quarantine.

(2) It is also the special duty of the agent to procure good homes for the children and supervise them after indenture. He shall cause each child indentured to be visited at least once each year by the agent of the State board of charities and corrections of the proper county where there is one, and where there is none by some county officer. He shall also require the person with whom the child lives to report concerning the child at least once in each year. It shall be the duty of the agent to see that all contracts of indenture are faithfully executed and that all violations of such contracts are promptly reported to the board. Whenever he shall ascertain that the interest of the child requires the can cellation of any such contract, he is authorized, with the approval of the agent of the State board of charities and corrections, to return such child to the school, subject to the action of th board.

(3) No child shall be indentured for a less term than provided by law. In all in