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51
to maintenance of health." The arrangements, therefore,
include tuberculous as well as healthy children,
but only tuberculous children in whose cases the disease
has become quiescent.
The original arrangement was to board out children
for three or four months, for example, during the last
stages of the father's or mother's illness, but the Council,
in a letter dated 8th July, 1925, extended the scheme
so as to permit children to remain away from home as
long as the conditions in the home remained unfavourable.
The Council's letter also stated that children
were to be eligible even if their parents were in 'a
sanatorium.
The procedure after obtaining the parents' sanction
is for the Tuberculosis Officer to apply to the London
County Council stating the facts of the case, forwarding
a medical report on the condition of the patient and a
report by the Health Visitor on the home conditions
of the family. If the County Council accept the case
for boarding out it is referred to the Invalid Children's
Aid Association who arrange the boarding out. Each
family is asked to make a small contribution towards
the cost and the Council pay the entire cost minus the
parents' contribution. The amount of the contribution
is decided by the Invalid Children's Aid
Association.
With regard to the necessity for such a scheme, the
Dispensary records show that at the end of the year
270 Fulham patients, suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis,
had tubercle bacilli in the sputum. Many of
them were living in over-crowded homes under bad
conditions with children, in close contact. It is obvious,
therefore, that a considerable number of children are
eligible for boarding out.
Difficulties have, however, arisen in carrying out
the scheme; it is a comparatively easy matter to
persuade parents to have their children sent to a Convalescent
Home when the children are ill; it is much
more difficult to prove the necessity for sending them