Illinois. Dept. of Public Welfare.

In 1917 the oversight of all state charitable and correctional institutions was consolidated in the Department of Public Welfare. This new department gained the powers and duties formerly exercised by the Board of Administration, State Deportation Agent, State Agent for the Visitation of Children, Illinois Penitentiary Commissioners, Southern Illinois Penitentiary Commissioners, Board of Managers of the Illinois State Reformatory, Board of Prison Industries of Illinois, Board of Classification, and the Board of Pardons (L. 1917, p. 2).

These duties included the operation of all state charitable and correctional institutions; the visitation, inspection, and licensing of all institutions providing services for children or the mentally ill; the administration of state and federal appropriations for the care of veterans in state institutions; the investigation of complaints against charitable groups that appealed for public aid or received trust funds; the visitation and instruction of the adult blind; the administration of public assistance legislation; the selection of superintendents and staff for county departments of public welfare; the development of programs for the prevention of delinquency; and the gathering and filing of information concerning all known criminals. The Department was abolished in 1961; its powers and duties were transferred to the Department of Mental Health.