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67
At the end of the year there were five foster-mothers on the active
list in this area. One had retired because of ill-health during 1935, and
one had given up, a third had moved away. One new foster-mother had
been registered. All five are decent women, and are giving good care to
their foster children, no trouble having arisen during the year. As in
former years, applications to place children with foster mothers have
been greatly in excess of the available foster mothers.
General Observations—St. Stephen's Ante-Natal Clinic.—The regular
supervision of mothers booked for admission to St. Stephen's Hospital
has been one of the most satisfactory developments of 1935. Mothers
now receive at St. Stephen's treatment that could formerly only be obtained
at up-to-date General or Lying-in Hospitals.
There are still a great number of young women who come up to London
from the depressed areas in Wales, Scotland, the north-east coast and
Ireland, to find domestic work, but they soon get married here and settle.
Some of these make excellent mothers, others are woefully ignorant of
all matters pertaining to child welfare. A good many of our young
parents tire of matrimony when offspring arrive, and there is an increase
in the number who wish to "get a separation" directly any trouble
arises. The Police Court Missionary has been of great help in these cases.
Marshall Street.—The work at this centre grows annually. The
increasing amount of clerical work now to be done occupies a great part of
the Health Visitor's time and detracts from the visiting which should be
her chief work.
The work of guiding and teaching the mother must be done in the home
because it is the mothers who never enter a welfare Centre who require
the most help and advice and this cannot be completed in one visit: the
same thing must be said again and again and these visits take time.
The population of Soho is ever changing and now there seems to be a
greater influx of Cypriots and men of coloured races. They marry
or contract irregular unions with the women of the neighbourhood and
their children require the most care and attention.
There has been an increase in the attendances at the various clinics,
noticeably at the infant consultation clinic, the Schick clinic and the
mothercraft class. It is pleasing to see so many young mothers attending
the sewing class for instruction and turning out really useful and pretty
garments.