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This was due in some measure to the increased powers of local health
authorities to require registration provided by the amending legislation
contained in the Health Services and Public Health Act 1968.
At the end of 1970 there were 17 premises registered for the
sessional care of 532 children and 88 persons were registered in their
own homes to care for 163 children. In 1969 there were 12 premises
catering for 376 children and 48 persons registered to care for 96
children.
All the establishments were visited regularly by the health
visitors.
DAILY GUARDIAN SCHEME
The amending legislation mentioned above had the effect of
requiring all those mothers who had voluntarily registered under
the Daily Guardian Scheme to register formally as child-minders.
Thus the point of encouraging women to maintain a good standard
of care by making them a small payment and registering them
voluntarily no longer applied and this scheme which had been in
operation since the 1930's was discontinued.
In its place it was decided to offer a small payment to suitable
child-minders for accepting priority cases at short notice and a
small number of volunteers were enrolled.
KINGSLEY HALL ASSESSMENT CENTRE
Kingsley Hall Assessment Centre was opened in May 1960 and was
the outcome of a survey of handicapped children under the age of 5
years which was reported to the Health Committee in 1957. This Centre
has now been open for 11 years.
THE FUNCTIONS of the Assessment Centre can be described as follows:-
Assessment - With the growth of our understanding in the care
of children who are not developing normally it is becoming more and
more important that the entire child population of a district be kept
in close surveillance and that children who are found to be developing
at an abnormally slow rate or in an abnormal pattern should be discovered
as early as possible and the nature of their disorder assessed.
It is also important that even in cases where a child is known to be
handicapped that assessment is carried out to determine the extent of
the handicap and the measures which are required to assist the child
to attain his maximum function at home and at school and in the years
that follow.
Rehabilitation - This is an important aspect of the care of the
young physically handicapped child. Many of the children who attend
Kingsley Hall suffer from conditions which affect their mobility e.g.
children who are spastic or who suffer from spina bifida. In the
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