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15
mother shall know to whom to turn immediately an emergency
arises needing extra equipment, help in feeding the infant, and so on.
Of the 296 premature children notified in the year, 71 were born
at home and 225 in hospital. Of the former, 8 died in the first
24 hours, 4 died later and 59 survived the first month. Of the 225
born in hospital, 21 died in the first 24 hours, 9 died later and 190
are known to have survived the first month. The remaining 5
were taken away by their parents who could not subsequently be
traced.
Illegitimate Children
The Southwark Diocesan Association for Moral Welfare undertakes
on the Council's behalf the Lambeth part of the joint London
Scheme. The Council's grant to the Association was £233; assistance
was given to 83 unmarried mothers and their children, and
to 19 married mothers and their illegitimate babies. As the result
of the efforts of the Welfare visitors, no less than 54 girls were able
to return home with their babies which is the best solution of the
difficulty. Of the rest, 3 babies were cared for by foster mothers,
22 were adopted, 6 babies were cared for in homes and residential
nurseries, 3 to situations with mothers, 4 in hostels with mothers,
and 2 mothers made their own arrangements. The remaining 8
babies did not survive the year.
Home Helps
633 (513) applications and home helps provided—cost to Council,
£1,092 18s. Od. (£922 15s. 0d.), the rest of the gross cost of
£1,955 13s. 6d. being paid by the applicants.
The service is designed to help those women who find it impossible
to arrange otherwise for their home duties to be performed without
assistance during the lying-in period. Often a relative or friend is
willing to act as home help but to do so must give up remunerative
employment which she cannot afford. The Council's home help
service covers just such cases and assistance towards a financial
loss of up to as much as £3 a week was given during the year. The
more general charge is £4 for the fortnight.
Again it is possible to record that no application was refused
except in those cases where the income was £7 a week or more
when financial assistance towards the cost was deemed not to be
necessary.
Domestic Helps
The domestic help scheme is run upon entirely different lines
from the home help service. Here there is no time for making