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62
Adoption and boarding-out
During the year 767 children were referred by the Children's Officer for opinion as to
their suitability on medical grounds for adoption or boarding-out in accordance with
the duties placed upon the Council by the Children Act, 1948. Of these all except three
were passed as fit for adoption or for boarding-out. Of the three children who were
considered unfit, one was feeble-minded, one mentally backward and the other had a
positive Wassermann reaction. The remaining 764 children were grouped as follows :
1. Referred for adoption 188
(a) Normal, fit for adoption 162
(b) Abnormal, but fit for adoption,
subject to certain provisions 6
(c)abnormal, unfit for adoption,
fit for boarding-out 20
2. Referred for boarding-out 576
Fit for boarding-out 576
Care of the unmarried mother and her child
The Council's duties for the care of expectant and nursing mothers and young children
include the care of unmarried mothers and their babies. This duty is performed mainly
through the agency of voluntary organisations, as recommended by the Ministry of
Health in circular 2866/43 and endorsed by the Council in its proposals under the
National Health Service Act, 1946. Some women not admitted to voluntary mother
and baby homes, chiefly because of their unsuitability, are admitted to homes under the
management of the Welfare Committee. Unmarried expectant mothers in voluntary
homes, who are unable to pay for their own maintenance, are paid for through the
Welfare Committee.
Grants in aid for the maintenance and upkeep of voluntary mother and baby homes
are paid annually by the Council under section 22 of the National Health Service Act,
1946. In 1953 20 homes were supported in this way, the total payments amounting to
£13,429.
The voluntary homes take expectant unmarried mothers during the later stages of
pregnancy and for two to three months after confinement, which, except at two homes,
takes place in hospital. The homes are visited by medical officers of the public health
department at least twice a year to ensure that satisfactory standards of diet, staffing
and accommodation are maintained. The Medical Officer of Health is represented on
the Committees of these voluntary homes. Grants towards their maintenance are made
subject to the carrying out by the voluntary bodies of any improvements suggested by
the Council.
A grant, at present £800 a year, is paid towards the maintenance of a hostel for
women in work, which takes women and their babies on discharge from mother and
baby homes. Two similar hostels are provided by the Council under the management
of the Welfare Committee. The mothers remain in the hostels for periods up to one year.
The Council also makes grants under Section 22 of the Act to five moral welfare
associations, two Church of England, two Roman Catholic and one Jewish, and in
1953, the grants amounted to £8,610. The headquarters of these associations are visited
periodically to review the service provided. A conference is held each year, to which
representatives of the moral welfare associations are invited so that the work of the past
year may be reviewed and current problems discussed. A survey was undertaken relating
to all mothers entering the Council's and the voluntary mother and baby homes between
1st January and 30th June, 1953, to try to obtain information about ante-natal care
sought by these mothers. A preliminary look at the data obtained shows that some
mothers attend a doctor or hospital to get a medical certificate of pregnancy and the
Wassermann test—both of which are essential for admission to mother and baby homes