View report page

Divisional co-ordinating committees were set up, under the chairmanship of divisional
medical officers, with the object of bringing together all interests and activities available
to help in the prevention of ill-treatment or neglect of children, the prevention of juvenile
delinquency and the prevention of family break up. The committees have gained most
valuable experience in the years since their formation in 1952. They have had to give
particular attention to the problems of families facing eviction as unsatisfactory tenants.
In each division the divisional social worker, the successor to the divisional treatment
organiser of the school health service, acts as secretary, strengthening the links between
the social agencies in the area, both voluntary and statutory. Increasingly the Children's,
Education, Housing and Welfare departments, as well as other statutory and voluntary
agencies and individuals, have referred families for the consideration of these committees.
Family and hospital doctors seek help with their cases and often give active support to
the co-ordinating committee.
As much as possible is done to ensure that all those who come into contact with families
and children know and understand the Council's policies and procedures and the interest
of and the part played by each department. To help in this, a directory of social services
has been issued to field workers and others, describing the arrangements made by the
several departments of the Council and by other agencies (both national and local, and
statutory and voluntary) for carrying out their aims and duties.
In 1955 an approximate estimate of the number and distribution of problem families
was made. The survey also revealed that there was good co-operation between the health
visiting service and other statutory and voluntary bodies, but that the distribution of
problem families, who tended to be found in or drift to areas of poorer housing, had
resulted in some health visitors bearing a disproportionate case-load.
The health visitor is well placed to recognise the early stages of family breakdown and
her continued support of the family is essential when her special skills are needed to cope
with health problems. On the other hand, she has not the time to spend from her normal
duties to carry out intensive time-consuming casework with these families. In 1957 four
full-time and two part-time social workers were appointed experimentally to do family
casework in some of the divisions, the divisional social workers acting as their consultants
and supervisors.
Families are selected for this intensive casework by the divisional co-ordinating committees.
Broadly the families fall into two main groups:
(a) those in which there is some inherent or permanent disability such as severe subnormality,
mental illness or low mentality which limits the extent to which the family is
able to carry on without support;
(b) those where it can be assumed that, given intensive support, the family will in time
be enabled to become independent of the social caseworker, although still needing support
from the ordinary social services.
Early in 1959 an attempt was made to assess the work of the social caseworkers using
the points system introduced for the 1955 survey. It appeared that more than half the families
referred to social caseworkers had shown some definite improvement and there was no
doubt that intensive casework could be successfully carried out within the framework of
a statutory authority. It was decided, therefore, to appoint further caseworkers to bring
the total staff up to fifteen. In addition, a number of health service social workers was
selected, each to do similar work with two or three families and continuing their former
duties in the school health service for the rest of the time. A casework consultant was
appointed in 1962—the first appointment of its kind by a local health authority.
Family Service Units, voluntary organisations employing trained caseworkers, carry out
with substantial grants from the Council similar intensive work in several parts of the
56