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where statutory benefits fall short of needs, facilities exist for the
Council to subvent.
Long and short term care schemes are successfully introduced
and advantage is taken of hospital facilities, approved voluntary
homes and of private accommodation supervised by the Brighton
Guardianship Society. Financial responsibility is assumed by the
Council and no charge accrues to the parents but the Council's
assessment scale is applied to adults entitled to grants from the
Ministry of Social Security.
Clubs
Club facilities for the "over 16's" are provided on Thursday
evening at the Park Vista Adult Centre and attendances usually
range between 25 and 3D. Managed mainly by members of the
Blackwall Centre staff, the club is visited on occasions by the
Principal Mental Health Officer.
At the Albany Institute, Creek Road, a club organised by the
Blackfriars Settlement caters for the needs of E.S.N, boys and girls
from the Greenwich and Lewisham boroughs and this Council
meets half the cost of the social worker's salary.
The Court Youth Club, held at the Congregational Church
Rooms, Court Road, Eltham, on Monday evenings encourages the
mixing of normal "teenagers" with the mentally handicapped but
this attempt at integration has not been too successful. This
venture is entirely voluntary and no financial responsibility devolves
on the Council.
Support is provided by the Council in the shape of a minibus
to convey children on Wednesday evenings to a club at Griffin
Manor School which is organised for the "under 16's" by the
Greenwich Society for Mentally Handicapped Children. Attendances
vary between 18 and 20.
Hostels or Homes
(for Subnormal Patients)
At present there is no Borough Hostel. Such a situation will
persist until the completion of the one envisaged at Ashburnham
Grove where the intention is to provide emergency long and short
term care for 25 subnormal girls and boys between the ages of 3
and 16 years. While in occupation at this Hostel, the children will
attend the Maze Hill Training Centre. Suitably placing the "16years-old"
who cannot be accommodated in private lodgings will
constitute a serious problem but consideration may be given in the
future to a scheme involving co-operation with an adjacent
authority to provide adult hostel accommodation on a shared basis.