seeing that when the Congress gets down to appropriating money for H.R. 6693, that its appropriation will be in line with the authorization.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Ertel.

Mr. ERTEL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Congresswoman Mikulski, I enjoyed your statement. I have a couple of questions I would like to ask you.

No. 1, you have had experience obviously with the laws of the State of Maryland in relation to child abuse which you basically were talking about. Are those laws adequate in the State of Maryland to take care of the problems within the State of Maryland in relation to child abuse in this type of problem in your judgment? Do you have a Contributing to Delinquency, Corrupting the Morals of a Minor law?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Yes, sir, we have a wide range of categories within State law, both relate to neglect. In some instances we don't go directly to the child abuse but we go to something called Children in Need of Supervision where a petition may be filed in Juvenile Court in behalf of a concerned party saying this child needs supervision. It might be that that child needs supervision outside of his or her home. That could be, for example, filed by a school authority for a problem of chronic truancy by a public health nurse who sees these things, or a variety of other things.

Mr. ERTEL. Neglect, that come within it if a child is being neglected either physically

Ms. MIKULSKI. In Maryland, there were really, as I remember, two types of negligence. One is culpable and the other is nonculpable negligence. Nonculpable negligence would come under the children in need of supervision. That might be where a kid is absent from school but mommie is in the hospital and dad is a car washer and there is no homemaker service and the whole family is in disarray. What they really need is some kind of structure to help them straighten out their family, and the child doesn't have to be removed because there is good will on the part of the parent toward its own child.

Culpable neglect is where there has been actual abuse of the child and willful exploitation of the child.

Mr. ERTEL. I guess that brings me to my next question then, your statement here. Do you feel that the Federal Government should enact legislation which would either usurp or supplant that State legislation or is it better that that be handled at the State level where it is more of a personal, closer relationship than what I tend to think of the Federal Government being very impersonal, very standoffish. Aren't we better trying to deal with this more on a local level?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Well, I think the problem needs to be solved on the local level and it will be worked out in local courts, it will not necessarily end up in Federal court. However, when you get to the issue of kiddie porn

Mr. ERTEL. The transportation, I think. I was just directing myself to the child abuse end of it without getting into pornography and transportation.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I would have to carefully consider a preemption clause in here, Congressman Ertel, but one of the problems is that

บ

am not familiar with all of the State codes, nor their adequacy, nor their sense of urgency on this issue.

Mr. ERTEL. Well, I guess that brings me to my final question. You talked about funding a voluntary agency like United Fund. And if in fact we get the Federal Government giving money there, then if we are going to go along with the Federal Government giving money we are going to go along with restrictions by the Federal Government, we are going to have Federal control. I have some question whether or not the Federal Government wants to get into funding United Fund. They are a charitable organization. In my judgment, at least generally from what I have seen, they have done an excellent job.

In my area we have a hot line funded by a charitable organization. I am sure we don't want the Federal Government in there.

Ms. MIKULSKI. They are already in it. For example, there is Federal support for programs like Meals on Wheels, Family and Children Society.

Mr. ERTEL. But it is not directly to the United Fund as an agency? Ms. MIKULSKI. I am talking about agencies within the United Fund. First of all, they tend to have a legitimizing record of service in the community. I am really talking about the local Family and Children Society, I am talking about a consortium of services, perhaps Catholic charities, Jewish charities, Lutheran social services, who sometimes form a consortium.

Mr. MILLER. They are agencies that get money?

Mr. ERTEL. Yes.

Ms. MIKULSKI. They do receive Federal funds.

Mr. ERTEL. I hope we are looking at United Fund and those things as voluntary.

MS. MIKULSKI. I am not talking about

Mr. ERTEL. That function without getting the Government in there telling them how to run it.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I am also saying that I don't think that Federal funds should ever support private support for local charitable and volunteer organizations. That is what provides the vitality and commitment to do a good job.

Mr. ERTEL. I think once we get down to the basics we are much more in agreement. I was worried about the broader sweep.

Mr. MILLER. Mr. Railsback.

Mr. RAILSBACK. Yes; I, too, would like to commend and thank you for what I think has been very helpful. May I ask you, based on your experience, do you know of any instances where somebody acting as a legal guardian or a foster parent has abused or exploited a child?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Yes, sir, it is with a great deal of pain that I have to say that in my experience as a child welfare worker this has occurred, a stepfather, and also a stepfather, primarily not so much the stepmother, and then in foster care situations.

Mr. ÉRTEL. What, if anything, do you think we can do about that? Would that more properly be left to the local people?

MS. MIKULSKI. I think that is done by the local people through more screening of applicants for foster care.

Mr. ERTEL. I think that is all I have.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Mr. MILLER. Thank you, Congresswoman Mikulski.

Our next witness is Ken Wooden, founder and executive director of the National Coalition for Children's Justice, an advocacy organization working on behalf of institutionalized children. In constant trouble with school and law enforcement authorities while growing up, Mr. Wooden graduated from the New Jersey public school system without being able to read. He corrected this deficiency while serving a stint in the Army and later returned as a college graduate to teach in the same school system that had marked him out as a failure and christened him with an IQ of 78. Mr. Wooden is the author of a widely acclaimed book on the maltreatment of institutionalized children entitled "Weeping in the Playtime of Others" and serves as consultant to the CBS documentary series "Sixty Minutes" which recently featured an exposé on the sexual exploitation of children.

Mr. Wooden, sometime ago a book called "Weeping in the Playtime of Others" was published which was a rather dramatic exposé, unfortunately rather accurate, of the problems of institutionalization of children in this country. It is sort of with special thanks that I welcome him here today. It was almost 21/2 years ago that Mr. Wooden and I and a lot of other people sat in this room, and there were only 12 or 13 of us, talked about what we could do about institutionalization of children. I think it is related to this hearing because in terms of runways, we don't have alternatives for these children, and I would like to tell Mr. Wooden just on my own behalf 22 years later on Monday or Tuesday of next week, this House will vote on H.R. 7200, which will dramatically change the foster care system in this country. Hopefully never again will the accounts that took place in your book happen, and if we are going to move a child out of his home or out of a relative's home there is going to be a showing that it is to the benefit of the child and not to the convenience of the State, as you so clearly depicted in the issue of banishment and overinstitutionalization of children. I welcome you and look forward to your testimony. [Testimony of Kenneth Wooden follows:]

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON CHILD SEX-PORN

(By Kenneth Wooden, National Coalition for Children's Justice, Investigative Reporter, Consultant to CBS "Sixty Minutes")

In October of 1976, with the support of the National Coalition for Children's Justice and following the arrest of Reverend Bud Vermilye for running a porn operation from his Boys' Farm in Monteagle, Tennessee, I began an extensive investigation of children's sex and pornography throughout the United States. Reverend Vermilye contacted, me as a result of my appearance on the Today show and my book, "Weeping in the Playtime of Others”. He requested assistance from me in obtaining a boy from the state of Tennessee. His publicity, which I now make available to this committee, proved to be extremely interesting after his sexual exploitation of children came to light.

My investigation lasted nine months-actually, it still continues-thanks to the cooperation and trust of police departments, social workers, district attorneys and the children we all profess to protect. In January of this year, I collaborated with CBS "Sixty Minutes" on the program Kiddie Porn, which was aired May 15th. That program was the visual result of an investigation which took me into the following states: California, Washington, Colorado, Texas, Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Michigan, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

Child sex and pornography is an interrelated, massive industry, a deeply rooted phenomenon in our society that has insidious ramifications for every child and concerned parent. We now know it is not simply a multi-million dollar film-picture industry with distribution and related activities centered in large cities and their adult book stores. Instead, the largest bulk of kiddie porn is "brown bag" material (home-made) (see exhibit A & B)-inexpensive 8 MM film, sound cassettes and 35 MM home processed photos, along with magazines and ad letters.

We also find men (mainly)-chicken hawks-preying on the young (chickens) in small towns in Maine, Oklahoma, Colorado, Texas, Florida, etc., and in organizations once thought safe by parents-Boy Scouts, private schools, summer camps, church groups, children homes, etc. No child is safe from these adults who reap sexual as well as financial gratification from their victims. The material produced from their exploitation, like a stick in a stream, is swept into the interlocking streams of P.O. Boxes and finds its way to the delta of national distribution.

I am convinced that the use of adult book stores as outlets for child pornography is but the tip of the distribution iceberg: The vast bulk is carried through the mails. I have read scores of letters exchange by adults across this country which documents my premise. The following are portions of three letters, the first from a convicted Boy Scout leader in New Orleans:

"... Very good on Nelson's comment on young girls . . . sure would enjoy a home-made movie along those lines. Does he have any slides or pictures of an (undecipherable)? Sure would enjoy seeing some. . . . I have decided to loan you and Dave and Church movies . . . please return within a week . . . and I hope sincerely it will inspire you to make a movie there to share with me? A second letter:

"Honey I am glad that you like the dark room equipment I sent to boys farm. I knew they could make good use of it."

A third letter-ad:

"Special attention

Couple, experienced movie and still photographers, would like to hear from families and especially children for discreet documentary film and for still shots... we love children."

I would like to comment here on the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. On May 8th, The Chicago Sun-Times carried an article stating that the FBI "is attacking Kiddie Porn" and that "the flow of child porn (there) has slowed to a trickle. ." Mr. Chairman, that simply is not so and never has been the case. During the crucial period of piecing together the national porn scandal, the FBI stood far removed from local police departments, as city and county law enforcement officers tried to cope with a national investigation without national resources. Many police departments could make only collect long distance phone calls. Los Angeles' Children's Sex Abuse Unit, a special division headed by Sgt. L. Martin, told me they lacked the proper equipment and cars to fight the rising epidemic of child porn in that city. FBI agents walked out of a meeting in Boston between Massachusetts and Louisiana police and never returned. Without exception, every police department or district attorney I worked with voiced combined frustration and bitterness when the FBI's responsibility was discussed.

During this past winter, as the story was being put together like a massive picture puzzle, the chief spokesman for the FBI in Washington, D.C., Mr. Thomas Coll, told Christian Science Monitor reporter, Robert Press, that they lacked the jurisdiction to intervene in child pornography unless it occurs on an Indian Reservation, which only then makes it a federal offense. Since sexual abuse of children isn't a federal offense, the FBI maintains no separate statistics on its frequency and according to Mr. Coll, he "(doesn't) think such data would be available anywhere."

Because the Federal Bureau of Investigation lacked the interest and/or will to help local law enforcement agencies on this issue, I found myself in the role of a national resource center for both police and district attorneys. However, the modest budget of the National Coalition for Children's Justice is insufficient for carrying on this role, and I respectfully submit to the Congress that the Federal government can and should be providing more practical assistance to local law enforcement investigators. Because of the FBI's lack of concern, untold numbers of children are currently being exploited.

Child porn has not slowed to a trickle. As recently as two weeks ago, the outlet I have been monitoring through the mails was very much like a mountain

stream after winter snows have melted-a flood of filth, overflowing the banks of P.O. Boxes, credit companies and bank accounts. There is nothing you can't obtain via the mail with your Master Charge and/or Bank Americard (Exhibit C)-from hard porn kiddie porn (age 4 to 16) to actual sex with the child model of your choice. (Exhibit D & E). And all this goes unchecked by postal authorities with effective laws that are not enforced and ineffective ones that are enforced.

Let me cite four examples:

1. I requested, by mail, child porn material from forty different distributors. Three of my letters were opened and returned by the post office with the following reply:

DEAR POSTAL CUSTOMER: The enclosed letter was undeliverable as addressed and contained no visible return address. This accounts for the delay in return and the 20 cents service charge. It is suggested that you place your complete address, including ZIP Code number in the upperleft hand corner on the front side of envelopes mailed in the future."

LIM P. LEE,
Postmaster.

2. Rules for use of P.O. Boxes state: "Post Office Boxes or caller service may not be used for any purpose prohibited by postal regulations."

I believe enforcement of Postal Law Title 24, Section 1461: "Mailing Obscene or Crime-Inciting Matter" (See Exhibit F) could succeed in cleaning out the neglected work of postal authorities whose P.O. Boxes provide a haven for photos and films of children who most certainly will be destroyed for life.

3. A person receiving porn mail can fill out postal form 2201 (Exhibit G) which requests that they "not receive sexually oriented mail". All such names are compiled on a monthly master list which, in accordance with Postal Law Title 39, Section 3010 (Exhibit H) is sold by the Postal Service to smut distributors-if they wish to purchase and/or honor them! I leave the logic and effectiveness of such a statute with you to ponder.

4. When I recently interviewed Postal Inspector Kurt Similes of the Washington, D.C. L'Enfant Plaza West Office about the progress of their campaign to clean up the mails, he stated that no new postal directive concerning child pornography has been passed on to employees and that they can only inspect and investigate when there is a complaint.

With that knowledge, therefore, Mr. Chairman, for the kids we are charged to protect and on behalf of the National Coalition for Children's Justice, I would like to make a formal public complaint against the following groups, companies and people who may be in violation of postal laws as defined by the Congress :

1. The Broad Street Journal-(The Best & Most Popular Personal Ad Listing Services), P.O. Box 337, Milliken, Colorado 80543 (Exhibit I)

2. Boy Studies, Timely Books & Overstock Book Co., 519 Acorn St., Deer Park, New York 11729

3. T.B.C. (Teddy Bear Club) P.O. Box 91, Sinclair, Maine 94109 (Exhibit J) 4. Team, 1255 Post Office Street, Suite 625, San Francisco, California 94109 (Exhibit K)

5.

-P.O. Box 808, North Chicago, Illinois (Exhibit L-tape cassette on a house parent seducing a boy in a boy's home. Instructions on how to infiltrate Boy Scouts, church groups, etc.)

6. New World Sales, 7247 Eccles, Dallas, Texas 73227

7. CC, Box 85417, Hollywood, California 90072

8. Club-FW, 216 W. Jackson, #6121A6, Chicago, Illinois 60606

9. Hollywood Color, Box 27932, Hollywood, California 90027 10. Mr. Ingred Johannsen, P.O. Box 924, Houston, Texas 77001

While most agree that child sex and pornography is basically a boy-man phenomenon, I still believe that the victims of the post outrageous and hardest core porn I have encountered are the young girls being raped day by day in city and county jails across the country. It is a fact too that Chicago girls in summer camps have been used in porno films and still pictures. And tragically, many social workers have simply given up on the frequency with which young daughters and foster care daughters are used as sexual playthings by poorly chosen foster parents or real fathers with serious incest problems. It is a problem that neither child nor parent can handle or cope with.

What can be done? I have been out of the country for the last week, so hope I will not go into what has already been discussed. However, I want to stress four areas that have been lacking in testimony I have followed to date: