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46
In the Problem Family Units the father lives with his family.
He is encouraged to find and keep employment and take interest
in the home budget.
These Units provide a service because children can be returned
to their parents. In our group 13 children have been reunited
and taking into consideration the 6 Units, they house 37
children between them.
This type of work could not be carried on without the help
and support from other Departments, voluntary organisations and
the Statutory Bodies.
The Potential Homeless Family is an acute problem, mainly
because they move from district to district either seeking
better employment or less expensive accommodation, and as the
family increases the threat of eviction becomes a reality. In
this group matrimonial troubles are more prominent and family
life less stable. They tend to think that permanent re-housing
will solve all their problems, but fail to realise that after so
many changes of accommodation, usually furnished, they have not
laid a foundation within the family for a definite plan for
their own happiness as a family group.
As these families could be presented as the makings of
Problem Families, the necessity of passing records from borough
to borough is shown here as in many cases continued supervision
in the new area may prevent family breakdown.
Owing to the Children and Young Person Act, 1963, which gave
more power to the Local Authority to give financial and material
help to families to prevent their breakdown and the necessity of
receiving children into care, it was decided that the Social
Welfare Officers dealing with Problem Families should be transferred
to the Children's Department. The work is essentially unchanged
and owing to the new legislation some aspects of rehabilitation
can be dealt with more quickly.
The general picture remains the same, but on the whole early
signs of a family breakdown are now more easily recognised by
the Officers in all branches of social work, and an additional
help is the new method of rehabilitation recently introduced.
For detailed figures see Appendix, page 127.