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(2) The girl who has fled from her home or her own locality because she has been betrayed
by her lover, or some man, and to hide her shame, she comes to London, and needs prompt
and proper handling of a sympathetic character and a suitable place found for her confinement
and then setting up again in life.
(3) The girl with a little child she has to support out of her earnings, and whom it often
takes some time to place in a situation because of the difficulty of providing for the child.
(4) The deserted wife and the penniless widow.
(5) The wife generally young who has left her husband because of his cruelty, legal or
actual, or for a petty quarrel, and so on.
(6) The stranded husband and wife, often with children, the first generally an ex-soldier
out of work, the woman very often able, because of previous experience, to take domestic
service.
(7) The discharged prisoner, naturally presenting exceptional difficulty.
Such problems as these are increasing and hardly a night passes at the bureau, but we have one
or more of such cases with which to deal.
Under existing conditions it means 'phoning round to various and sundry agencies, often to
find them full, frequently to be told they do not come under their rules, at times to have to plead for
accommodation even for the one night, and hence often it happens that a single case may take two
hours before it is disposed of.
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No. 1 is perhaps the most difficult of all to place satisfactorily, for it does not seem right to offer
such shelter that means mixing with those of immoral tendencies, and there is an undoubted lack of
free accommodation for this class of girl.
No. 2.—We find these, when a genuine first fall, the easiest and most grateful to deal with, and
the kindly help often given by the Y.W.C.A. at Warwick-square has been of very great assistance to us.
No. 3.—The difficulties to be faced here are obvious; the girl herself from whom her full story
can only be obtained by degrees; then the placing of the baby either in a creche or by adoption ; and
finally the situation to be obtained.
No. 4.—Each case may be dealt with on its own merits; no one story is exactly like the other,
but if the woman is capable, we can generally soon find her work, through one or other of our agencies.
No. 5.—Our general rule is wherever possible to effect a re-conciliation for obvious reasons,
though sometimes we find a period of waiting till we can hear both sides, is advisable, and meanwhile
the wife has to be provided for and guided.
No. 6.—We find it much more difficult to deal satisfactorily with such cases especially where
there are children, and at times we have to exercise all our ingenuity to do so.
Very few hostels will take cases with children, especially if stranded, and usually in any case
their financial means are very small and the outgoings large.
The House of Charity, Soho, has been very good to us, but often they are full. At our wits end,
we frequently have to transfer them to the Church Army Headquarters, as they have a larger organisation
for the women and children's provision.
We are often faced with these problems late at night, and then, of course, our difficulties are
intensified.
Sometimes we have been obliged to send women and girls to the M.A.B. office on the Embankment,
but we shrink from such a course for many reasons—first, the publicity attached to it, then the
long wait and the probable dispatch to some S.A. hostel, generally in the City ; it also means one of our
lady patrols going with them (if a girl) to guard her from other dangers.
A clearing house centrally situated, a hostel such as is outlined in our previous report where at
any time, day or night, whatever the case, it could be taken, at all events for that evening (we are
referring, of course, to the women and girls) straight away would be a great boon, of inestimable value
and a real service to the community.
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At the other end of the chain comes the after care, more particularly of the cured girl and the
maternity cases.
The girl declared free from infection, the mother after her confinement, the delicate ones, and the
inexperienced who need training for domestic service—all want after care.
The ideal would be a country home (with proper provision for training where needed), and where
the convalescence, both physical and moral, could be spent in congenial surroundings, and under the
right influence. It is most disheartening when, after months perhaps in hospital, a girl is discharged
only to find her in a few weeks, even days, sometimes, back at her old life and exposing herself to all the
risks of fresh infection, besides which all that has been done seems to have been wasted. Much of this
could be avoided if she could have been placed as above. There is also the brighter side which must not be
lost sight of. These girls who have or are making good.
Many of them have no home or friends of the right kind except ourselves, and actually their
greatest enjoyment on their night off is to come down to the bureau (not a very enlivening place) and
spend two or three hours in talk with those who have helped in their rescue.
Recently one such spent her 21st birthday, and another her 18th.
A club for such would be a great boon, and though perhaps outside the scope of this enquiry,
would be a final link to completely provide for all sides of the great problem.
After note.—A careful co-ordination of all the efforts on behalf of the girls would be one immediate