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attend their employment regularly; the wives are supervised in their domestic duties and
shown how to fit their domestic budget to their weekly incomes. They are taught to
cook, sew and 'make-do-and-mend' A high standard of hygiene and cleanliness,
both in their personal habits and in the care of their accommodation, is insisted on.
Families are expected to save a small sum from their weekly income towards the
furnishing of their future home. Constant supervision of the families is maintained by
the warden and her deputy who undertake alternate tours of duty of 24 hours on
and 24 hours off. The warden of each special unit is a member of the local Care Committee
and in this way the influence and help of the care committee organisation in
the education officer's department can also be brought to bear. The health visitor
makes regular calls on the families.
Notwithstanding set-backs and frustrations, families over a period have in general
responded to ordered routine; nearly all have been rehoused and have succeeded in
retaining their accommodation. In addition to admitting families from the accommodation
for homeless, 13 cases have been accepted on the recommendation of the
children's officer, with the result that 45 children have been taken out of care and
reunited with their parents, with gratifying results. A considerable saving in expense
to the Council by reason of the children being removed from care is a factor deserving
of consideration.
In consequence of the results achieved the Welfare Committee have authorised the
opening of two further units both of which will be brought into use in 1957.
Since the units were opened in May, 1953, 48 families have been admitted; 29 have
been rehoused and 16 arc in residence. In only three instances have the families failed
to take advantage of the facilities offered to them.
As a further experiment the Housing and Welfare Committees have agreed that a
number of old houses shall be made available to the welfare department for occupation
by families who are in urgent housing need but who need some training before they
can be regarded as suitable for normal rehousing. This rehabilitation will be carried
out by welfare department staff under arrangements similar to those adopted in the
special units for homeless families.
Problem family survey
The Minister of Health in Circular 27/54 drew the attention of local health authorities
to the importance of developing their work in the field of the prevention of the
break-up of families, and suggested that this work might well be done through the
redeployment of existing health visiting staff, rather than by an increase in the number
of health visitors but that the employment of a trained social worker to study and meet
the needs of these families might be helpful.
The first task was to ascertain the number of families in London who required help
on the lines suggested in the circular and to estimate the number of those who needed
the intensive care which could only be undertaken by a case worker with a small case
load or a combination of social case workers. A survey was therefore carried out in
association with the education and welfare departments and covered all families with a
child or children under the age of 15 years. The planning of this survey and the way in
which it was carried out are set out in succeeding paragraphs. It was decided that the
public health department would investigate all the families in which there was a child or
children under the age of five years living at home, the education department would
cover families in which all the children were five years and over, and the welfare
department would deal with families in homeless family units or halfway houses:
provision was made for the avoidance of duplication. As far as numbers are concerned
therefore the data given is complete but the detail relates only to the families with which
the public health department was primarily concerned.
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