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Children Act, 1908.—Section 2 (2) of the Children Act, 1908,
provides for the Local Authority appointing one or more persons
to be Infant Protection Officers, whose duty it shall be from lime
to time to visit any infants referred to in any notice given under
Part I. of the Act, and the premises in which they are kept, in
order to satisfy themselves as to the proper nursing and maintenance
of the infants, or to give any necessary advice or directions
as to their nursing and maintenance.
The Act further provides for the registration as a foster-mother
of any person who undertakes for reward the nursing and maintenance
of one or more infants under the age of seven years apart
from their parents for a longer period than forty-eight hours.
In June, 1920, the Greenwich Borough Council made formal
application to the London County Council in regard to the appropriate
officers of the Greenwich,Borough Council being authorised, to
exercise the powers of Infant Welfare Protection Visitors under
Section 2 (2) of the Children Act, 1908, and at the meeting of
the Greenwich Borough Council on 6th April, 1921, it was reported
that the London County Council were prepared to authorise the
officers of the Greenwich Borough Council to exercise the powers in
question for a period of one year in the place of t)he visitors who
had formerly been working under the direct supervision of the
London County Council.
For a considerable period it had been only too evident that
there was a good deal of duplication of work in connection with
the supervision of nurse children.
Many of the foster-mothers were in the habit of bringing their
nurse children to the Infant Consultations, where they were, of