gain recognition on the state level where change can occur more rapidly. The first statewide legislation on mothers' pensions passed in Chicago in 1911. In effect, the Chicago Juvenile Court created a system that included both an "institutional track" and a "home-based" track. Both systems were based on two different ideas of what constituted family preservation. The Institutional track was based on the nineteenth- century model of family preservation which actually physically separated the child from the family. Because children were considered part of the "natural" family, the family was considered preserved even in their absence. The children were expected to return home when conditions improved. The home-based track resembled today's idea of family preservation, in which the family is able to remain physically together with monetary aid from the state. The track chosen was often dependent upon which parent was the primary care-giver. "Motherless children generally ended up on the institutional track and fatherless ones in the home-based track." Fathers with their children in institutions would often pay the state for this service. This distinction was made due to the gender roles of the women raising the children and the men earning a living. Due to the limited guidelines of the mothers' pension act, each case was dependent upon the interpretation of the judges. Guidelines did not even limit pensions to mother's thus allowing judges to grant them to father's. By 1916, 21 states had passed mothers' pensions which grew to 40 by 1920. The Children's Bureau studied mothers' pensions in the United States, Denmark and New Zealand, so that they could guide states as they made such plans. The creation of the Children's Bureau and the mothers' pension act both contributed substantially to today's welfare system. The Children's Bureau made child welfare the responsibility of the Federal Government and worked to define and shape better policies. The movement to create this Bureau helped the idea of family preservation spread and shape new policy. The mothers' pension was given credit for the development of the American Welfare State as it exists today. The statewide, and therefore local administration that characterized mothers' pensions is blamed for the absence of a more centralized approach to public welfare. Many historians believe that a centralized approach would be more efficient and rational. Today's policy lacks centralized control, as states are given freedom to set their own guidelines. Despite this fact, family preservation remains