The Dependent Child 183 



The formation of a unit involves first the 

 selection of a number of promising homes after 

 the preliminary survey. Our experience has 

 shown that it is a mistake to be too fastidious 

 at first in selecting the homes. If the woman 

 of the household has motherly instincts and 

 fairly healthy children of her own, and seems 

 teachable, a certain amount of dirt and dis- 

 order can well be overlooked at the start. A 

 porch or back yard, or some open space, is most 

 essential, as plenty of fresh air is one of the im- 

 portant features of this work. 



The next step is to select a committee of 

 women living in or near the locality selected for 

 the unit, who are familiar with the neighbor- 

 hood and the people, and who constitute the 

 local managers of the undertaking. They may 

 help in raising money and supplies, assist in 

 friendly visiting in the homes, acquaint them- 

 selves with neighborhood conditions, and in 

 these and other ways exercise general super- 

 vision of the work. A further possibility of 

 this endeavor may be to enable the well-to-do 

 classes to properly envisage the life conditions 



