An editorial in The New York Times about the report cited the work as an unprecedented look behind the scenes of Children's Court, which is normally closed to the public and the press.
Kahn's recommendations included a new City Children's Bureau, or a strengthened existing one, that would oversee programs on a more systematic basis to address the issue that "inadequate measures are often taken because of community self-deception" that the institutions and resources available are capable of meeting a child's need.
[4] A 1960 report prepared by Kahn for the Citizens' Committee for Children showed that most juvenile delinquents sent to state facilities come out with their antisocial tendencies reinforced and these training schools focus too much stress on punishment than rehabilitation.
In the face of public pressure to do something about the growing delinquency problem, judges were deemed to ready to send youths to institutions despite knowing that these facilities have "so many negative features as to render [them] little more than a place to hold a child in custody".
[5] He served as chairman of the Committee on Child Development Research and Public Policy of the United States National Academy of Sciences in the early 1980s.