Oregon. State Public Welfare Commission

The Public Welfare Commission was created in 1939 as a result of the combination of duties of the Child Welfare Commission and the State Relief Committee. The Welfare Commission was created in 1919 succeeding the state-aided Child Welfare Committee founded in 1913. The Child Welfare Commission was responsible for licensing institutions which cared for neglected and dependent children, preparing adoption reports for courts, and investigating reports of child abuse and neglect.

The State Relief Committee was created in 1933 at the onset of the Great Depression. This Committee supervised unemployment relief in Oregon and conducted unemployment surveys and research. In 1933 thirty-six county welfare commissions were also created to oversee local public

assistance activities in each Oregon county. These commissions operated until 1971.

Earlier organized efforts to care for the poor, destitute, and unemployed citizens of Oregon came with the creation of the Portland Board of Charities (1889-1907) and the Associated Charities of Portland. These private organizations were primarily funded by the business community in Portland and were designed to give temporary aid to persons in need of food and shelter. The two charities were replaced by state and county aided organizations such as the Multnomah County Welfare Bureau (1918-1923) and the Multnomah County Relief Committee (1932-1936) during the Great Depression.

The Multnomah County Relief Committee, along with the State Relief Commission was responsible for overseeing the administration of Depression era Federal programs including the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, the Civil Works Administration, and the State Emergency Relief Administration.

A State Welfare Commission was established in 1931 to fix standards and conditions of employment, sanitation and minimum wages for women and minors, and to investigate all violations of the law. In 1941, the Commission became the Wage and Hour Commission.

The administration of all state public assistance programs including old age assistance, aid to dependent children and blind persons, and child welfare services became the responsibility of the Public Welfare Commission in 1939. In 1971 the duties of the Public Welfare Commission were transferred to the Department of Human Resources. The child welfare and public assistance duties of the new Department were divided into the Public Welfare Division and the Child Services Division. In 1977 the legislative assembly changed the Public Welfare Division name to Adult and Family Services Division.

From the description of Agency history record. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 150501531