1934 In July the Indianapolis Orphans' Asylum merges with the Children's Bureau of the Family Service Association to become the Children's Bureau of the Indianapolis Orphans' Asylum.

1935 The United States Congress passes the Social Security Act, which has a provision for state grants for Aid to Dependent Children. This changes child welfare, putting a premium on keeping families together and leading to the eventual demise of orphanages.

1936 A transition begins in which responsibility for public child welfare cases (wards) is transferred to the Children's Division of the Marion County Department of Public Welfare. For the first time in its history, the Children's Bureau shifts from a primarily public institution to a more private agency

1937 The Indiana Department of Public Welfare is established as a result of the 1936 Welfare Act passed by the general assembly. This agency administers federal relief funds.

Records show that the auxiliary has funded such expenditures as a graduation dress, Butler College tuition, a scout uniform, business courses, and musical instruments.

1938 The Children's Bureau funds five full or partial scholarships for orphans to Butler College, Ball State Teachers College, Franklin College, Central Business College, and City Hospital.

1939 The auxiliary begins publishing Reflector, a mimeographed newsletter containing advice and guidance for foster parents.

1940 Indianapolis's population is 386,972.

Meta Gruner, director of the Children's Bureau, sets the stage for the closing of the orphanage next year: "I think we have progressed beyond . .. food, shelter, and clothing as substitutes for what a child has lost in his own home." Twenty-five percent of the children now come from divorced parents.

1941 With the bombing of Pearl Harbor -on 7 December, the United States enters World War II.

Meeting the "physical needs" of children is not enough, according to a statement released by the director of the asylum. "All our children needed individual attention and care." Institutional responsibility for the orphanage is transferred in October to the Protestant General Orphans' Home, 1404 South State Street. The orphanage building is sold, and the money is placed in an endowment fund. The Children's Bureau moves to the Odd Fellows building at the corner of Washington and Pennsylvania Streets in December.

For the past year, the Children's Bureau has been assisting the Day Nursery in placing children in daycare while their mothers are engaged in war work. With the closing of the orphanage, there is renewed emphasis on "Child Placing-to place children, both Negro and white, in foster homes, either as a temporary or permanent plan."

The orphanage remained central to the mission of the Children's Bureau of the Indianapolis Orphans' Asylum until it closed in 1941. The orphanage on East Washington Street was the third and final home.

"An era ends"

As the last of the children left the orphanage in 1941, an important chapter ended in the history of the Children's Bureau of the Indianapolis Orphans' Asylum. The closing of its orphanage maeked the Bureau's transition from a mostly public to a mostly private agency. Economics, as well as changes in the political environment, dealt the final blow. The ideological shift from institutional care to social work/case-managed care, however, had been under way for more than 30 years.

After the 1909 White House Conference on Dependent Children,

childcare experts increased their advocacy of preserving the family unit, or at least keeping mothers with their children. As a recult, states began to provide pensions for mothers so that they could keep their children with them even in tough times; the Indian General Assembly passed such legislation in 1919. Then in 1935 the Aid to Dependent Children provision of the Social Security Act made federal money available for mother's pensions on orfer to keep the family together.

Additionally, leaders in childcare had come to believe that orphanages were not the answer for "vulnerable" children. They felt that institutions could not meet the needs of the individual.

Meta Gruner, the director of the Children's Bureau, echoed their sentiments as she set the stage for the closing of the orphanage: "I think we have progressed beyond... food, shelter, and clothing as substitutes for what a child has lost in his own home."

Funds shrank for orphanages as othe relief measures grew during the Great Depression. Responsibility for public child welfare cases was transferred to the Children's Division of the Marion County Department of Public Welfare. The responsiblity for orphanage care for the county's wards shifted to the Protestant General Orphan's Home in 1941. An era had ended.

1945 World War II ends.

At the end of the war, the Children's Bureau reflects
on the wartime experience, especially as it related to children: "Too few mothers were able to make suitable arrangements for the care of their children while they were working." As a result, "children too often were dumped on or left with relatives or
neighbors who didn't want them." In the past year, 1,186 children "came to the agency's attention."

1948 Indiana has a staggering 13,772 open child welfare cases, with 2,938 children in foster homes, 1,779 in free or adoptive homes, and 2,093 still in institutions. The rest of the open cases involve children still living in their own homes.

1950 Indianapolis's population is 427,173. For many, this decade is an era of abundance as people rush to spend money on automobiles, homes, and appliances. People begin to worry about the Cold War, Communists, and the nuclear bomb.

1952 The board indicates that the press has an indifferent attitude toward the work of the Children's Bureau, except in regard to the efforts of the auxiliary However, a Carl Sandburg radio program gives the Bureau time to recruit foster parents. There are ongoing discussions with the board of the Suemma Coleman Home about having the Bureau assume responsibility for finding homes for infants born there.

1953 The Indianapolis Star publishes a series of articles examining the city's slums. Nearly 20 percent of the residents live in substandard housing, meaning they have neither indoor plumbing nor adequate living space. In March, three children under the age of four are found living with their parents in a hog house just west of Indianapolis.

The Children's Bureau moves to the new English Foundation Building. The Bureau gets three spots on Lynn Stevens' television show Guest Book, where the role of foster parents is discussed. Director Keith W Hardy questions the practice of accepting wards from public agencies at a fixed rate because private funds are then used to support public responsibility

1954 The Child Welfare League of America questions the Children's Bureau's practice of accepting wards from Marion County The Community Chest expresses the feeling that it is subsidizing a public, not a private, agency With the decrease in the number of wards this year, Director Hardy says this is a good time to end the practice.

1955 Planned Parenthood offers services for unmarried women for the first time; its services have previously been restricted to married women with two or more children.

1957 The United Fund is established from the old Community Chest, and the Children's Bureau is a charter member.

1958 James J. Mallon is appointed director of the Children's Bureau. He serves in this capacity until his death in 1983.

1959 The auxiliary sponsors a horse show to establish a scholarship fund. The Children's Bureau provides some care for 821 children and full care for 414. It helps 158 expectant mothers and places 53 children in adoptive homes.

1960 Indianapolis's population is 476,258. The Federal Drug Administration approves birth control pills.

The Children's Bureau initiates a pilot project of a small group home for adolescent girls. Located on the east side, Garrard House, named in honor of Jessie Belle Garrard, a board member for more than 50 years, is the first group home in Indiana. Auxiliary members clean and paint the house in preparation for the girls' occupancy