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34
Institutional Provision for Unmarried Mothers.
An annual contribution towards the cost of the maintenance
of unmarried Camberwell girls in suitable homes is made by the
Council to the Southwark Diocesan Association for Preventive
and Rescue Work.
Health Visiting.
At the end of the year there were four municipal Health
Visitors and ten Health Visitors employed by voluntary associations
undertaking Maternity and Child Welfare duties in the area The
Council's Infant Life Protection Visitor also devotes part of her
time to visiting children under 5 years of age in the extreme south
of the Borough, and cases of ophthalmia neonatorum. A standard
of one Health Visitor to 250 births is considered reasonable. The
number of births registered in 1935 was 3,155. The Health Visitors
divide their time between attendance at Clinic Sessions at the
Infant Welfare Centre and visiting the homes of mothers and
children in the district.
The number of visits recorded in 1935 to children and expectant
mothers was 36,465 and 3,576 respectively.A summary of the
attendances and visits in respect of each Infant Welfare Centre
in the Borough appears on pages 36 and 37.
Infant Life Protection.
This important branch of Child Welfare work received the
usual care and attention. At the end of 1935 the names of 122
persons appeared in the register of foster mothers. These persons
collectively have in their care 177 children under the age of 9 years
The corresponding figures for 1934 were 119 foster mothers and
133 foster children.
The Infant Life Protection Visitor who is a qualified Health
Visitor pays frequent visits to every home where a foster child is
kept for reward. The number of visits paid was 1,087. The houses
of 59 new foster mothers were inspected by the district Sanitary
Inspectors before the arrival of a foster child, who furnished in each
case a report as to the suitability of the premises. These reports
are required in addition to the reports of the Protection Visitor.
All foster mothers are urged to take the foster children under
school age in their care to the Infant Welfare Centre in the district
in which they live. The departmental records show that 93 of
these children attended the Infant Welfare Centre during 1935
for the district in which they live. Notices of removal of foster
mothers and children to other Boroughs were notified to the Medical
Officer of Health concerned.