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bruises and abrasions reputed to be caused by inexplicable "falls"
have, in fact, been assaulted by their parents.
These parents are often very young, immature and mentally
disturbed, unable to budget adequately or provide themselves with
proper housing in which to rear a family. If evidence of illtreatment
is sufficiently strong and it is thought that the child's life
is in danger, legal proceedings are undertaken by the Children's
Officer to receive the child into Care. The child may be removed
from its parents or may remain at home while the family is supervised
and guided by frequent visits from a Child Care Officer and
Health Visitor.
However, usually it is impossible to obtain such definite evidence
so an attempt is made to protect these children by encouraging
local paediatricians to notify this department when it is suspected
that their young patients' injuries are inadequately explained by the
parent. Thereafter, the family is kept under strict observation.
These children are thought to be free from serious danger after
the age of three years, when most toddlers would not be the silent
recipients of ill-treatment. (Elsewhere in Britain where death has
occurred in such circumstances, the child has been under the age
of two years.) If the mental health of the parents of these children
is in doubt, an attempt is made to persuade them to seek treatment,
but they will rarely agree to this.
On school entry, all records of handicapped children are available
to School Medical Officers. Some handicapped children cannot
receive the necessary care at home and in such cases residential care
is arranged making sure that the child is kept in touch with its
family. Great importance is attached to the consideration of these
families as complete units containing a handicapped member rather
than as a group which has an isolated "patient" attached to it.
The Council's arrangements for the co-ordination of services for
the handicapped, a report on which was requested by the Ministry
of Health and the Department of Education and Science in their
respective Circulars 7/66 and 9/66, were given in toto in the 1966
Report.
Deaf Register (Including Partially Hearing)
The comprehensive register containing the names of all children
known to be deaf or with partial hearing was maintained by the
department throughout the year.
At the end of 1967, the register contained the names of 171
deaf or partially hearing children, 159 of whom were of school age,
the majority having been diagnosed following the "sweep" hearing
test which all children undergo on entering school.