LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND TAXATION 95 



ance of ordinary activities for which eyesight is essential. No person is 

 eligible to receive aid to the blind while receiving aid to the aged. 

 Persons are eligible for aid to dependent children if they are in need, 

 if they are under the age of 16 years, if they have been deprived of 

 parental support or care by reason of death, continued absence from 

 the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent, and if they are 

 living with a parent or near relative in a place of residence maintained 

 by one or more of such relatives. 



For these three types of special relief it is the responsibility of 

 the state commissioner to determine the amount of assistance which 

 any person shall receive. However, he first consults the proper offi- 

 cials of counties or towns required to contribute to the cost. Appli- 

 cation for assistance in the first instance is made to the commissioner 

 who immediately notifies the selectmen of the town in which the ap- 

 plicant claims a legal settlement, or the county commissioners if no 

 settlement is established. Assistance is not granted to those whose 

 near relatives are financially able to support them, and any assistance 

 to persons having in the state a father, mother, stepfather, stepmother, 

 son, or daughter whose weekly income or other resources are more 

 than sufficient to provide a reasonable subsistance may be recovered 

 from such relatives. 



Child welfare service is largely a matter of cooperation between 

 the state department and local officials, the state assuming general 

 supervision and the town and county officials assuming active admin- 

 istration. More exactly the law provides for child welfare service as 

 follows : 



Develop and administer state responsibilities for child welfare; 

 supervise the administration of the same by county and town offi- 

 cials, and may administer directly such child welfare activities. Child 

 welfare activities shall include: protection and care of homeless, 

 dependent and neglected children, and children in danger of becom- 

 ing delinquent; cooperation with any court and with state and other 

 institutions for children, including investigation and follow up serv- 

 ices; services and care of children in foster homes; and all other 

 child welfare activities authorized by law; . . . 68 



There is no separate juvenile Court in New Hampshire. Before 

 1937 both municipal and justice courts had original jurisdiction over 

 juvenile cases. In 1937, however, the municipal courts in each county 

 were given exclusive original jurisdiction over juvenile cases. All 

 cases brought before a municipal court in which the ofifense consti- 

 tutes a felony may be certified to the superior court. Moreover, any 

 appeals are taken to the superior court. 



Provisions of law concerned with "neglected and delinquent 

 children" ^^ refer to children under the age of 18 years. In the pro- 

 cedure the child is brought before the municipal court upon a sum- 

 mons of the justice or clerk of court. The court hears the case in an 

 informal manner but makes no final disposition until an investigation 

 has been made. The court may then issue an order committing the 



88 Revised Laws, 1941, Chapter 126. Section 6. 

 69 Revised Laws, 1941, Chapter 132. 



