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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 161 unsupported mothers from Ealing, 30 from
Hounslow and 39 from Hillingdon.
The Council has its own mother and baby home to which the unsupported mother can be
admitted, usually six weeks before confinement until 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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