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72
It is especially desirable in view of the fact that the Guardians are unable
to grant out-relief in money to unmarried mothers, and are also precluded
from becoming responsible for the care of an illegitimate child unless the
mother remains in "the House"—surely a hopeless position ! A factor which is
of importance in this connection is that if the expense were incurred by the
Council with the approval of the Ministry of Health, the Government would
bear half the cost, whereas the whole of the expense now incurred by the
Guardians in respect of widowed, deserted and unmarried mothers and their
children has to be borne by the local rates.
A committee would need to be set up for the consideration of applications
made to the Council under this scheme. They would need to consider in regard
to each case such points as the particular form in which assistance should be
given ; its duration ; the payments which the mother should be required to
make; and the steps that shonld be taken to require an adequate payment
by the father. This would probably be a Sub-Committee of the Public
Health Committee or of its Maternity and Child Welfare Sub-Committee, and
it would appear desirable that it should include co-opted members of the
Guardians skilled in this kind of work. No doubt it would be necessary to
authorise the Medical Officer of Health to take certain action in emergencies
between the Meetings of the Committee.
There remain two phases of the work of the Guardians amongst illegitimate
and other mothers and their children to which I have not referred. One is the
treatment of sick children in the infirmaries and elsewhere, and in regard to
this I am not suggesting any action by the Council. The other is the
reception of expectant mothers for confinement in their maternity wards. In
regard to this, the Council's scheme of subsidizing intern and extern midwifery
irrespective of the question of legitimacy already enables the Medical
Officer of Health to secure admission for any woman for whom application is
made to him to one of the maternity hospitals in or near the borough. There
does not appear to be any need for arrangements in this way to be made by
the Council specially for unmarried women, the question being one rather
concerning maternity generally.
Estimatet.—In the absence of experience of the working of such a scheme it
is not possible to give a definite estimate of its cost. One cannot even estimate
in advance the number of mothers for whom application would be made. During
the years 1918, 1917, 1916, 1915 and 1914 the number of illegitimate
births that were notified in St. Pancras were 314, 275, 318, 256, and 230
respectively. Probably only a part of these would have applied for assistance.
On the assumption that 100 cases came up for consideration in the first year of
the scheme, and that 50 of them were dealt with through Leavesden or fostermothers,
20 by day nurseries only, 12 at a hostel, and 16 by subsidization, the
cost might be estimated as follows (apart from initial equipment).
Per Annum.
£
50 children at 18s. a week (the Leavesden figure) 2,340
Annual cost of hostel for 12 mothers 1,000
Gross annual subsidy to the four day nurseries 1,265
16 mothers subsidized at 6s. a week 250
£4,855