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69
Dr. Russell remarks that, in many cases, the conditions are such that restful
sleep is almost impossible to obtain.
Following-up.
When it became incumbent by law in 1907 and 1908 for the Education Authority
to assume responsibility for the feeding of necessitous children in the schools, and for
the medical inspection of the scholars, the London County Council found that already
voluntary agencies existed which were carrying out a great deal of the work. It
was, therefore, determined that in no case where a voluntary society or institution
existed would the Council supersede them ; further, that where insufficient provision
existed, efforts should be made to induce voluntary agencies to step in and fill the
gap.
In practically all the schools of the London Education authority a voluntary
school care committee has been established, and it is around these school care
committees that the whole system revolves. Upon them have devolved some of the
important powers enjoyed by the Education Committee, and they thus became
responsible for the whole of the social service work of the schools. Consisting
entirely of unpaid volunteers, these committees undertake the attendance with the
doctor at the medical inspections, they are responsible for interviewing the parents,
for following-up the defective children, for persuading the parents to send the children
for treatment, for distributing vouchers entitling attendance at hospitals, and treatment
centres, for assessing the amounts that parents should pay towards the cost
and for permitting free treatment in cases of necessity. They decide which children
should be fed at school, how much the parents should pay, and which cases should
be fed free of cost to the parents. They also undertake the work of after-care;
they hold a school-leaving conference at the school at which each leaving child
is interviewed with his parents, having before them the head teacher's and the
school doctor's reports upon the child; with the help of the agents of the local
employment exchange, they decide which would be the best career for the child,
and endeavour to see that he is placed in a suitable situation when he leaves. The
children's care committees have been recently reconstituted. There are now 922
Committees and they cover the whole of the schools except five small non-provided
and two special schools. The number of workers who are full members of committees
is 5,105, and there are, in addition, 179 approved workers.
The voluntary committees are under the direction of a corps of trained organisers
who are salaried officers of the Council. The organisers are women who have taken
degrees or diplomas in social science in the various Universities. They train new
voluntary workers, and are available always to advise, assist and supplement the
school care committees. The twelve district organisers direct the social services
of the schools in the twelve educational districts, and each maintains a bureau for
mutual exchange of information with all the voluntary and municipal social services
in her district operating in other spheres than that of the school.
In each of the five medical divisions there is a divisional treatment organiser
with a staff of assistant organisers who attend at all the treatment centres and
hospitals within the Council's scheme. They mark and regulate the attendance of
the children, they inform the school care committees of failure to attend so that the
latter can take action to secure regular attendance, they inform the care committees
when children are discharged, and, above all, convey to the care committees the
advice of the treating doctor in regard to action which should be suitably taken in
the home.
It must be recognised that what are "diseases" to the medical department
are "symptoms" to the social service department. If even such a simple condition
as chronic inflammation of the eyes exists in a school child, the real cause of
chronicity is some defect in the home: there is parental ignorance, parental neglect,
School Care
Committees.
Organising
staff.