Massachusetts. Division of Public Assistance

The Division of State Adult Poor was established within the State Board of Lunacy and Charity in 1898 and continued in that year under the State Board of Charity. (It was recognized by statute per St 1908, c 598.) The division's superintendent administered the law relating to sane inmates of the State Hospital (later State Infirmary) at Tewksbury and the State Farm at Bridgewater, the sick state poor, those ill of dangerous diseases, and those receiving temporary relief.

St 1919, c 350, ss 87-95, which established the Dept. of Public Welfare as a successor to the State Board of Charity, provided for a Division of Aid and Relief to continue the functions of the Division of State Adult Poor, to include also a board of trustees of the State Infirmary (heretofore also supervising the State Farm.)

The Division of Aid and Relief was initially comprised of: Subdivision of Settlements (including supervision of wayfarers' lodges and public lodging houses, temporary aid, shipwrecked seamen, sick state poor, dangerous diseases, wife settlement, burial, audit, removals); Subdivision of Mothers' Aid; and Subdivision of Social Service (including the State Infirmary and cases referred from other divisions). A Subdivision of Relief (to supervise public relief by local boards of public welfare and public health to those in homes or hospitals without legal settlement) and a Bureau of Old Age Assistance were added in 1931 (St 1930, c 402).

The Subdivision of Mothers' Aid was renamed Subdivision of Aid to Dependent Children by 1937 (per St 1935, c 494). In 1939 that unit, the Subdivision of Relief, and the Bureau of Old Age Assistance were abolished and seven welfare district offices were established to supervise aid to dependent children, old age assistance, and general relief, under a Subdivision of Supervisory Service. A Subdivision of Research and Statistics was established in 1937, known by 1939 as Bureau of Research and Statistics, then by 1940 no longer part of the division. A Subdivision of Appeals was established pursuant to St 1939, c 248 and c 481, adopting a referee system of hearing grievances relating to old age assistance and aid to dependent children. By 1951 the Division of Aid and Relief's named subunits included only the Subdivision of Social Service to Tewksbury State Hospital and Infirmary, and the Subdivision of Appeals.

Reorganization of the Dept. of Public Welfare by St 1952, c 602 provided for a Division of Public Assistance, succeeding the Division of Aid and Relief as of 1953 to supervise public welfare by municipalities, aid to dependent children, and old age assistance. The division remained until another reorganization of the Dept. of Public Welfare in Feb. 1971, pursuant to St 1969, c 885.

NAME AUTHORITY NOTE. Series relating to the agencies described above can be found by searching the following access points for the time period stated: 1898-1919--Massachusetts. Division of State Adult Poor; 1919-1952--Massachusetts. Division of Aid and Relief; 1953-1971--Massachusetts. Division of Public Assistance.