Hannah Bachman Einstein

Hannah Bachman Einstein (28 January 1862, in New York City - 28 November 1929) was an American Jewish social worker and activist who was instrumental in the establishment of child welfare boards in the United States.

Born to German immigrants and married to a wool manufacturer, this mother of two children became involved with the Temple Emanu-El Sisterhood - a Jewish benevolent organisation dedicated to charitable causes. In 1897, she became the head of the sisterhood, and two years later the president of the New York chapter of the National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods.

She studied sociology and criminology at various colleges and came to the conclusion that many of the social problems she saw in her charitable work could be traced to the breakup of families and that the institutions in place for orphans were a poor solution. The frequent absence of children's mothers - who in broken homes usually had to find work - were in her opinion the cause of delinquency and social dysfunction.

Einstein advocated, along with Sophie Irene Loeb, the establishment of a "mother's pension" - a source of public funds to support single mothers so that they could remain with their children. This was approved by state legislators in New York in 1915, paving the way for the New York Child Welfare Law. By 1920, most American states had established mother's pensions or child welfare laws of some description, leading to the almost complete elimination of orphanages in America.

Hannah Einstein also served in other charities, and was one of the founders of the Federation of Jewish Women's Organizations.

External links

• Hannah Bachman Einstein at the Jewish Virtual Library