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97
convener, I have been requested to ensure at least a monthly
meeting whatever the number of current cases for discussion. As
a generalisation, the problem families do not produce many
instances of active ill treatment of their children. Indeed,
against the gloom of squalor, dirt and apparent neglect, maternal
affection is often a shining virtue. It would be unreasonable to
expect a mother of very mediocre intelligence and exhausted by a
succession of pregnancies, to cope successfully with the care of
a large family of which probably four members are under the age
of 5 years. Male partners, are frequently unable or unwilling to
work, and in some cases, there may be a succession of men involved,
who depart leaving the children to the care of the mother or to
local or voluntary authorities. There is nothing new in these
observations and in former times, they would have been concluded
with the reflection "that the poor are always with us " . Today,
National Assistance benefit and family allowances ensure for any
family a regular weekly income, so that the poor are those destitute
for want of accommodation. The basic requirements to give
some form of stable family life can now be assured if there is a
mother with safe tenure of reasonable accommodation. It does seem
therefore, that the essential dutiesof those concerned to prevent
family break-up are to safeguard against eviction, to promote the
health of the mother and to preserve her presence as the pivot
of the family. While this may need the co-operation of many
organisations, as far as preventive work is concerned, the main
responsibility should rest upon the department providing most
domiciliary services. Admission of children to a "home" is required
when no practicable alternative exists. It is, however,
an indication of failure of the preventive services and it is
only right that Welfare and Children's Committees should stress
the need to obviate this course whenever possible, but questionable
that either should set up a separate organisation for domiciliary
preventive work. The members of the Croydon conference
on "Neglected Children" have frequently expressed the view that
with the effective system of co-ordination operating in the
borough, the need is for helpers rather than advisers. It was
first thought this could be supplied by a Family Service Unit,
but as single cases tend to occur in widely dispersed areas of
the borough, this did not seem the answer to the problem. We were
also warned that it was extremely difficult to find suitable
personnel for this work. On many occasions, the Home Help Service
has had to contend with the short-term care of families living