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7. CARE OF THE UNSUPPORTED MOTHER AND HER CHILD
The Council is charged with the care of the unsupported mother and her child
under Section 22 of the National Health Service Act, 1946. This it carries out by
the provision of a mother and baby home to which an unsupported mother can be
admitted during her pregnancy and again after confinement in a nearby hospital,
and by the employment of a medical social worker who gives the necessary support
concerning services needed for this type of patient. The unsupported mothers are,
in the main, unmarried girls though a few may be married but homeless. They are
referred to the Department's medical social worker by health visitors, midwives,
child care and welfare officers, general practitioners, medical social workers in
hospitals, moral welfare workers and the staff of the National Council for the
Unmarried Mother and her Child to whom many girls in trouble write for advice.
The medical social worker is responsible for the care of girls needing help who reside
in the Borough, and also by a special arrangement for those girls living in the
Boroughs of Hillingdon and Hounslow. Her duties are many and varied. During
the ante-natal period she helps with finding suitable temporary employment, arranges
a booking in the Council's Mother and Baby Home, or one organized by a voluntary
association, advises about claims for maternity grants, National Assistance, and gives
information in general terms about adoption. Following the birth of the baby, and
usually whilst the unsupported mother is resident in the Mother and Baby Home,
the medical social worker makes arrangements for adoption of the baby if the mother
so wishes, or should the mother wish to keep her baby, finds work and accommodation
where the mother can have the baby with her, or places the baby with a fosterparent
until such time as the mother can look after the baby herself.
During the year, the medical social worker interviewed and helped 186 unsupported
mothers from Ealing, 111 from Hounslow and 96 from Hillingdon.
The Council's Mother and Baby Home has accommodation for 12 ante-natal
unsupported mothers and for 14 post-natal mothers and their babies. The Home
is staffed by a matron who is a state certified midwife, a deputy matron, a staff nurse,
four female attendants and three domestic staff. Unsupported mothers can be
admitted to the Home at any stage of pregnancy but usually enter six weeks before
delivery and remain a further six weeks after delivery. They are delivered in the
obstetric units of the neighbouring hospitals with whom a very close liaison is
maintained; an ante-natal and post-natal session is conducted every week in the
Home by the Principal Medical Officer (Maternal and Child Health), obviating
where possible the need for long and tiring journeys to the hospitals; all new babies
are also examined on admission to the Home. Ante-natal and mothercraft classes
are given by the Matron-in-Charge and, as many of the unsupported mothers lack
the knowledge of normal domestic skills, an occupational class is held weekly by an
occupational therapist during which baby clothes, lampshades, trays, dolls and
suchlike are made. A course of health and good grooming lectures conducted by
the Health Education Officer over several weeks also proves very popular.
125 mothers were accommodated in the Home during the year, of whom 45 lived
in the Borough.
There is a need for a voluntary association to take a general interest in the Home.
Apart from the many ways in which an organization could be of service, such a link
with the community would undoubtedly play a valuable part in assisting the mothers
with the many problems of successful rehabilitation. It is hoped that in the near
future an organization of this kind might offer its services.
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