biography
| name: |
Lathrop, Julia Clifford
|
pronunciation:
[laythrop]
| sex:
| female
|
| lived:
| (1858–1932)
|
| biography:
| Social worker, born in Rockford, Illinois, USA. The daughter of affluent but reform-minded parents, she graduated from Vassar College (1880 BA) and then worked for some 10 years in her father's law office. In 1890 she joined Jane Addams at the newly founded Hull House in Chicago and stayed there until 1909. Her main work was not at the Chicago house itself but in visiting social welfare institutions throughout Illinois and in promoting reforms in the treatment of people in public institutions for the insane, indigent, delinquent, and children. She especially pioneered more humane treatment of the mentally ill and helped establish the first juvenile court in the USA (1899). In 1903–4 she also helped organize the courses in social work that became the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy. After a world tour (1910–11), she was appointed the first head of the federal Childrens' Bureau (1912–21) and made major reforms in legislation and general treatment of children. Retiring to Rockford, IL with her sister, she remained engaged as president of the Illinois League of Women Voters (1922–4) and served as US commissioner to the Child Welfare Committee of the League of Nations (1925–31). |
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