Abbott, Grace (1878–1939)

American social worker. Born on Grand Island, Nebraska, on November 17, 1878; died in Chicago, Illinois, on June 19, 1939; daughter of Othman A. and Elizabeth (Griffin) Abbott (a noted pioneer in educational work in the West); younger sister of Edith Abbott (dean of School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago); graduated Grand Island College, Ph.B., 1898; attended University of Nebraska, 1902; awarded M.A. in political science from University of Chicago, 1909; never married; no children.

Grace Abbott's social work began with a residency at Jane Addams ' Hull House in 1907. Following that, she helped organize the Immigrants' Protective League with Sophonisba Breckinridge . Abbott's involvement with the League eventually led to her studying conditions on Ellis Island, testifying before Congress, and publishing numerous articles along with her book The Immigrant and the Community (1917).

Abbott devoted most of her life to child welfare. In 1917, at the invitation of Julia Lathrop , she joined the staff of the U.S. Children's Bureau. From 1921 to 1934, Abbott succeeded Lathrop as chief of its Child Labor Division and turned her attention to the Sheppard-Towner Act, which extended federal aid for maternal and infant health care; the bureau opened 3,000 child-health and prenatal-care clinics throughout the United States. During her involvement with the bureau, Abbott was also president of the National Conference of Social Workers (1924). After 1934, she served as professor of public welfare at the University of Chicago, where her sister Edith Abbott was dean. In 1934–35, Grace was editor of Social Service Review and a member of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Council on Economic Security, which helped devise the social security system. She also authored works on social welfare, including the two-volume Child and the State (1931).