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Night helps—Introduced in 1953, they provide service for one or two nights a week,
generally from about 11 p.m.-7 a.m., in households where old or sick patients may require
constant attention; the rest of the family are given some relief from broken nights when
a help can sit up with the patient and attend to his needs.
The case of Mrs. N. is an example; she lived with her widowed daughter, who had also
her own son and another young man, both of whom were blind, to care for. Mrs. N. took
to wandering at night, when she would go down the road in her nightdress or turn on
and light the gas on her cooker, thus endangering herself and the home, and so a home help
was sent twice weekly to give her daughter some respite. Applications for this sort of
assistance were met in 40 cases in 1959.
Child help—The child help service was also introduced in 1953 with the object of avoiding
wherever possible the necessity for receiving children into care when they are temporarily
left on their own, for example, because both parents are in hospital. Child helps work
in the children's own homes, run the household and sleep in. Demand for this service has
been small but new families assisted in this way in 1959 numbered 20; two households
continued to receive help commenced before 1959. The service has to be adapted to meet
the needs of individual cases. The V. family illustrates one rather unorthodox way in which
this has been done: Mrs. V. who suffers from steadily worsening disseminated sclerosis,
was obliged at last to enter a home; at the same time as she was admitted her husband
had to go into hospital for three weeks leaving two children, aged six and three, without
friends or relatives to care for them. The home help who had undertaken the household
duties over the last four years offered to take the children to stay with her in her own
home, and she was allowed for this the two hours daily which she had spent in the family's
home with an additional two hours of paid time in order that she might look after them;
she wanted no other remuneration for this work. The older child attended school while
the younger was placed in a day nursery. In this way it was made possible for them to be
looked after temporarily by somebody they knew and trusted.
Early morning and evening help—Where children need care during the day-time only,
help is supplied outside the normal hours starting, if necessary, as early as 7 a.m. and
resuming in the evenings to continue until 7 p.m., so that children can be sent to school or
day nursery in the morning and be given tea and cared for on their return until the parent
is back from work.
Such a case is that of Mr. G., a widower with two sons aged nine and eleven. After his
wife's death a home help was provided from 8.30 to 10.30 in the morning to get the boys
ready for school and help generally in the home. The father, who is capable, is thus enabled
to keep his home together and follow his usual occupation. In school holidays help is
continued and the boys go to their grandmother for the day.
200 new applications for assistance of this sort were met in 1959 and service continued
for 49 additional families from the previous year.
Special help—Problem families may be supplied not only with normal home help but
also with the service of a special home help. As already indicated, selected helps undergo
a short training course on problem family work; their function is not merely to do the
domestic chores but to encourage the mother to undertake them herself and teach her
proper home and financial management. The special home help must gain the family's
friendship and confidence and plays in this way an important part in their social
rehabilitation. There is close co-operation with the health visitor or social case-worker.
Typical of the problem families assisted by the service of a special home help is the S.
family where the mother seemed unable to cope with running the home and the care of
her five children. Little was achieved by the first special home help provided who tended
to treat Mrs. S. like a naughty child. The home help organiser and the social case-worker
therefore took the opportunity when she was on sick leave to change to another help.
Considerable improvement in the routine and management of the home has resulted, the
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