DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION ON CHILD DEVELOPMENT BY FEDERAL AGENCIES

Abstract

In spreading of any sort, any agency, govermental or otherwise, has two sources which may be tapped. It may carry out, or facilitate the carrying out of, research which produces the facts to be publicized. Or it may utilize research findings of other groups, pool these findings, evaluate and synthesize them, and disseminate this through various media. Frequently, as in child development, a modification of this second method must be used for, unfortunately, much of our so-called knowledge does not rest on research of any kind. Then the disseminating agency must rely on accepted practice or opinion of experts for its source material. In general the university, or child-development center, follows the first course-production of facts which it then passes on to others. The government agency usually employs the second method-dissemination of the results of others' research or opinion-as far as children are concerned. I do not mean to imply that a rigid adherence to this pattern exists, nor that it should exist. Many research centers are active propaganda agencies for much material outside their own research activities, and governmental agencies have carried out and are now engaged in direct research. Child development research, however, is a minor activity in government compared with the dissemination of knowledge. At least 33 agencies or bureaus in the Federal government deal with programs and services for children and youth. Of these, 4 have a major interest in the dissemination of of child development-the Children's Bureau, Department of Agriculture, Public Health Service, and the Office of Education. A number of others carry a minor role in this fieldNational Housing Agency, Army and Navy, Federal Works (Lanham nurseries), Library of Congress, and others. The sequence of thought running through your mind at this moment is probably this: a multitude of agencies doing the same thing, overlapping of functions, confusion, waste of taxpayers' money. Regarding overlapping, some is not only inevitable but desirable. The function of an agency cannot be so limited that it may be carried on within sharply defined boundaries. As any agency carries out its job, its ramifications not only meet those of other groups but mingle with them. I cannot imagine writing about a healthful environment for a child without at least mentioning housing, nor would I expect the Farm Security Administration to be interested in nurseries for children of migrant workers without including health in their interest. Overlap in major function is, of course, bad, but some of the over-