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5. CARE OF THE UNSUPPORTED MOTHER AND HER CHILD
Under Section 22 of the National Health Service Act, the Council is responsible for the care of
the unsupported mother and her child. The majority of these mothers are unmarried but a few are
separated or homeless. Two medical social workers are employed to advise such mothers and their
families of the services available to support them in planning the future for themselves and their
children. The mother, her parents and sometimes the putative father are offered a personal casework
service to enable them to understand something of the causes of the present situation and to prevent
further social breakdown in the future. The medical social workers have a responsibility for the care
of girls needing help who reside in the borough and also, by a special arrangement, for those living
in the boroughs of Hounslow and Hillingdon. They are referred to the department's medical social
workers by medical social workers in hospitals, health visitors, general practitioners, and other social
workers including the staff of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child, to whom
many unmarried mothers write for help in the first instance. As the service is becoming more widely
known some girls contact the medical social workers themselves or are referred by their employers or
families.
During the ante-natal period the medical social worker advises on employment, accommodation,
finance and adoption procedure. If required she will arrange a Mother and Baby Home booking and
will co-operate with the general practitioner and the hospital where the confinement will take place.
Following the delivery, while the mother is resident in the Mother and Baby Home the medical social
worker will put her in touch with an Adoption Agency or alternatively help the girl to make constructive
plans to keep her baby. Preventive after-care following the girl's return home is also given.
During the year, the department helped 147 unsupported mothers from Ealing, 34 from Hounslow and
39 from Hillingdon.
The Council has its own M)ther and B^aby Home to which the unsupported mother can be admitted,
usually six weeks before confinement and six weeks after delivery. It can accommodate 12 ante-natal
and 14 post-natal patients and babies.
Ante-natal and mothercraft classes are given by the Matron since many girls lack the knowledge
of the basic domestic skills. Occupational therapy classes are held weekly, where the girls learn
dressmaking, knitting and other accomplishments. The Council's medical social workers give
support in what is a very difficult time for such mothers.
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