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'The Council has created children's care committees whose province it should
be to deal with all matters which affect the welfare of the child outside the curriculum
—home conditions, medical treatment and after-care should be part of the work and
should all be brought into close connection with the feeding problem.'
In 1909 the Council recognised care committees in all elementary schools (and later
all day special schools) and extended the scope of their work to after-care and advice
to school-leavers on the choice of employment in co-operation with the local juvenile
advisory committees appointed by the Board of Trade in 1910 under the Labour
Exchange Act (1909).
A care committee was formed for every elementary school; members were appointed
by the Children's Care (Central) Sub-Committee of the Education Committee. The
link between the individual care committees and the Central Care Sub-Committee was
through the local associations of care committees which were formed for each
borough. The first care committees had, in poor neighbourhoods, to struggle with want
and disease and a great deal of prejudice in parents.
The part played by those committees when the treatment centres were established is
described in the section on 'Medical inspection and treatment'. page 177.
A small body of paid social workers was appointed by the Council to assist in the
formation of care committees, to recruit, train and advise voluntary workers and to
interpret the rules and policy of the Council. These children's care organisers are
employed in both the Education and Public Health Departments. The division in the
organising staff between the two departments was necessitated by the growth of the
school health service. At the present time there are approximately 65 children's care
organisers in the Education Department, working from offices in each of the nine
administrative divisions, and a Principal Organiser (and her assistant) at the County Hall.
There are also about 84 children's care organisers and a Principal Organiser in the Public
Health Department, and a District Care Organiser and a Divisional Treatment Organiser
in each division.
The organisers in the Public Health Department co-operate with those in the
Education Department in the recruitment and training of voluntary workers and the
training of students. They attend the school health service clinics and many hospitals,
and they control the appointments and are present at the doctors' sessions, talking to
the parents and children, when possible explaining the routine of the individual treatment
involved, and hearing personal problems with which parents do not like to bother the
doctor. The organisers 'follow-up' after the session, arrange for any further treatment
and re-appointments, and report to both the Care Committee and to the school doctor on
what has been done or decided for the child at hospital clinics. There is continual
exchange of information between care committee workers (some 2,400) and the
organisers.
In the hospitals the organiser's position is unique. She attends the clinics specially
provided for London children, works in the same room as the physician or surgeon and
interviews every mother and child personally. As such her work differs from that of an
almoner who, generally speaking, is not present at examinations and can, therefore,
normally only meet the problems referred to her by the medical staff. The organiser
is regarded as the link with the Council.
At the request of the Ministry of Education, the Council now has under consideration
the question whether some modifications should be made in the duties of organisers in
the Public Health Department. The need for such a review was emphasised by the
opportunity provided by the National Health Service Act for the Council to bring
together for the first time its health visiting and school nursing services.
Children's
care
organisers
170