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32
PREVENTION OF BREAK-UP OF FAMILIES
Co-ordination of Services
Machinery developed by the London County Council and used in Health
Division 8 for inter-departmental co-ordination of efforts to prevent child neglect
and family break-up continued in use after 1st April, 1965. Lambeth Standing Committee
for Co-ordination was set up in June, 1965, including the Chief Officers of the
Health, Children's, Welfare and Housing Departments, the divisional officer and
divisional school care organiser of the Inner London Education Authority and the
senior manager of the three National Assistance Board Offices concerned. The
Principal Social Worker (Health Services) continued as secretary. Representatives
of voluntary agencies were invited to attend meetings as appropriate.
In October, 1965 a meeting attended by 105 representatives of social agencies,
both Statutory and Voluntary, was held to explain the co-ordinating machinery.
Seventy six case conferences on individual families were held at the request
of the following
Housing Departments
Health Department
Children's Department
Education Authority
Welfare Department
National Assistance Board
Probation Service
Family Service Unit
28
18
13
6
5
2
2
2
76
All case conferences requested by the Housing Departments concerned
families in danger of eviction and therefore liable to become a charge to other
services.
Casework
Much of the preventive work with socially inadequate families and those whose
problems they could not solve unaided was done by health visitors. Some families
with specially difficult or intractable problems who needed more concentrated and
prolonged help than could be given by health visitors were referred through the
co-ordinating machinery to two family case workers employed in the Health
Department for this purpose The essence of their work is that it shall be both
intensive and prolonged, and it follows that they can be concerned with only a
small number of families at a time.