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NOTES ON THE LOCAL ADMINISTRATION OF THE
TRANSFERRED SERVICES.
1. Maternity and Child Welfare Service.
Although some work for the care of Mothers and Babies had been
done by voluntary committees in various parts of the Country for some
years, the Act of Parliament which laid the foundation of the Maternity
and Child Welfare Services was not passed until 1907.
In that year an adoptive Act, called the Notification of Births Act
was placed on the Statute Book, and this Act gave powers to those Local
Authorities who adopted it to make provision for the care of mothers
and young children.
The Urban District Council of that time adopted the Act in April,
1908 : but they anticipated the formal adoption of the Act by appointing
a Lady Health Visitor in the middle of 1907.
Dr. George Carpenter, a distinguished children's physician, was
then carrying out, on a part-time basis, the duties of Medical Officer of
Health. He prepared a leaflet giving comprehensive instruction on the
feeding, care and general management of babies, and this leaflet was
handed to mothers by the Health Visitor who visited the homes. Dr.
Carpenter, was however, a realist : he incorporated this leaflet in bis
Annual Report for 1907, but added :—
" after an experience of twenty years at two of the leading
Children's Hospitals in London, I am no firm believer in medical
literature for the poor."
His experience had apparently made him somewhat pessimistic,
for in the same report he said :—
" it cannot be expected that the unmarried Health Visitor will
be received with open arms by the young British matron. The young
woman who has been presented with a baby feels that its presentation
to her carries with it a profundity of knowledge as to its feeding
and treatment, and no amount of literature or health visiting will
alter that feeling."
Still, Dr. Carpenter was quite willing to try : he felt that it was
necessary to go further than—
" thrusting pamphlets into their often unwilling hands."
He recommended that personal instruction in the ordinary management
of infants be given to (a) School Girls, and (b) young mothers, and
he regarded the School Girls as the most fruitful soil. In this, Dr.
Carpenter was well in advance of his times, because, although the
instruction of the young mother has been developed to a high degree,
the instruction of the School Girls in the care of infants by qualified and
experienced persons has not so far found its way into the regular School
curriculum.
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