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New homes are being obtained at Kew and Teddington which the Council hopes to open
during 1966.
Juvenile Delinquency — Role of Special Officers.
The local authority (specified as the local children's authority in the Children Act, 1948,
Section 38), is required by Section 3 (2) of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, to make
available to Courts information of "Home surroundings", school record, health and character of
children (up to the fourteenth birthday), or young persons (fourteenth to seventeenth birthdays),
appearing before the Courts. It is the general duty of special officers (child care officers (special
duties) ), to provide all the information required by the Courts on behalf of the Council,
including details of "Home surroundings" where required.
In addition to providing this information, special officers are also required to carry out
duties which include the following:—
(a) Receiving police notifications of children to be brought before the Courts and keeping
records of them; advising the Court of children's previous Court records;
(b) Preparing the case, obtaining summonses and other duties involved in the bringing
before the Juvenile Court of a case initiated by the local authority. Examples of such
cases would be those brought under Section 62, Children and Young Persons Act
1933, where it had come to the local authority's attention that a child was in need of
care or protection; or bringing to Court, as refractory, children already in care; or
under the Education Acts, whether following a direction from a Petty Sessional Court
which had dealt with a summons served on the parents of a child who had failed to
attend school (in which case the special officer acts on behalf of the Education
Officer); or in the case of a child brought direct before the Juvenile Court for nonattendance
at school. These duties include the presentation of the Council's case
in Court and the examination of witnesses.
(c) Advising the Court as required of the availability of places, services and facilities
(e.g. remand homes or places of safety, special schools, welfare or health facilities).
(d) Making representations on behalf of the Council regarding proposed action by the
Court e.g. where a Fit Person Order is proposed to be made whilst a Probation or Supervision
Order is outstanding.
(c) Supplying information about Hammersmith children appearing before Courts outside
Hammersmith, and
(f) Occasionally taking responsibility for the care and custody of a child for whom a
residential place is being sought following a Court appearance.
Special officers also carry out certain well-defined duties in connection with adoption
cases before the Juvenile or County Courts e.g. if the Children's Officer has been asked to act
as guardian ad litem this duty is normally deputed to special officers. The work involves investigation
of all aspects of the adoption application, interviews with all interested parties, visits
to the home, and reporting fully to the Court on the results and findings. In adoption cases the
guardian ad litem is more an officer of the Court than of the local authority. Other work in connection
with adoptions arises from enquiries by local authorities outside Hammersmith and by
various other bodies and may involve a considerable amount of detailed enquiry work, and interviews
with interested parties. The work is separate from welfare supervision work and should
normally be done by different officers. Special officers generally do the guardian ad litem work,
and the Adoptions or Child Care Officers the welfare supervision work.
The special officer is, for all practical purposes, the representative of the Council in the
Juvenile Courts and is so regarded by the Justices who expect him to answer questions and make
arrangements on this basis and not only on Children's Department matters. To perform this
specialised duty satisfactorily calls for a high degree of devotion to duty — long hours in Court
are often involved — and much experience of the work. The latter often enables a special officer
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