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Provision of Milk to Necessitous, Expectant, and Nursing
Mothers and Children under Five Years of Age.
In my Annual Report for 1933 the Council's Milk Distribution
Scheme, which provides for the issue of dried milk, and in exceptional
medical circumstances fluid milk, free or at half-price according
to an income scale, to expectant mothers during the last three months
of pregnancy, nursing mothers and children under five years was
fully reported on. During the year under review no alteration was
made in this scheme. The approximate cost of this service to the
Council during the year was £1,130 0s. 0d.
Infant Life Protection.
At the end of 1934 there were 119 foster mothers on the
register of persons receiving children for reward complying with
the provisions of the Children and Young Persons Acts 1908 to 1932.
The number of children in the care of these foster mothers at
December 31st, 1934, was 133. During the year, 1,535 visits were
paid by the Infant Life Protection Visitor, who is a qualified Health
Visitor, to the homes of these boarded-out children. The Sanitary
Inspectors also visited the premises of every applicant desirous to
act as a foster mother for the first time, and in cases where the
foster mother moved to another address in the area, for the purpose
of furnishing a report as to the suitability or otherwise of the
environmental circumstances, before authority was given for the
acceptance of a nurse child. These inspections numbered 63. Every
foster child under two years was visited by the Infant Life Protection
Visitor on an average once a month, and children between two and
nine years of age every two months. In ten instances visits were
paid between the hours of 7 and 9 p.m.
The number of foster children under five years of age who
attended the Infant Welfare Centres in the Borough was 77. One
child died during 1934, whilst in the care of a foster mother, and the
facts were duly reported to the Coroner for the District, as required
by Section 6 (1) of the 1908 Act. It is satisfactory to report that
there was no cause for complaint against the foster mother in this
case.
The number and nature of the infringements by foster mothers
of the requirements of the Children and Young Persons Acts discovered
during the year were as follows:—
Neglecting to notify the acceptance of a nurse child for reward 9
Failing to give the required notice of change of address 2
Failing to notify removal of nurse child to the care of other persons 2
Infants kept in excess of number fixed 1
No legal proceedings were instituted nor was it necessary to
compulsorily remove any child to a place of safety.