possible should be done to strengthen such ties with church, relatives,
and friends as may be helpful, but the social worker should be slow to
encourage the family to form new ties with other social agencies at this
time. She should avoid the possibility of judging the woman harshly in a
period of stress, but be watchful for signs of deterioration and
resourceful to combat them. This is the stage, of course, when all
energies should be bent toward finding the man.

In this as in the other situations about to be discussed, the question
of whether or not the home should be broken up and the children
committed should be decided on other grounds than on the desertion
alone. Under many circumstances, it is the best thing to do. The woman,
worn out with anxiety or abuse, may be unequal to their physical care
for the present; or they may be running wild and in danger of becoming
delinquent. The mother may be morally an unfit guardian, and the
desertion may furnish the long-sought opportunity to interfere for the
children's protection. Commitment may have to be planned, and the
mother's consent won, to save the children from the return of a brutal
father, against whom she cannot protect them. Or she may desire a
temporary commitment in order to give her husband a severe lesson. The
main consideration, however, ought to be what is going, in the long run,
to be best for the children concerned.


2. Man's Whereabouts Unknown, Desertion of Long Standing.--A very
different problem from the preceding may be presented in the family of a
man who disappeared some time ago. Where the desertion is bona fide and
has persisted over a period of years, it is often possible to treat the
family as if the man were dead, and, if other circumstances make this
advisable, to plan comprehensively for the future. There is always the