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Dental Care
Provision of dental care is made in combination with the service provided for
school children, but the use of the word "care" in the Act appears to suggest a
wider provision than inspection and treatment referred to in the legislation dealing
with school children.
Combined use is made of staff and premises of all the dental clinics in the
borough, and during the year 130 attendances for treatment were made by mothers
and 907 by children.
While advice on care of the teeth is given on a personal basis, not only by
dentists but also by doctors and nurses, use is made of all the armamentary of
health education.
An effort is being made to ensure that an increasing number of children under
school age enter school with a reasonably sound set of teeth.
Care of the Unsupported Mother and Her Child
Although the majority of unsupported mothers are unmarried, occasionally
a married woman may for some reason or another find herself without support.
The services of a fully qualified social worker are shared by the borough with two
neighbouring boroughs.
As there is no local authority mother and baby home in the borough, use
is made of those of other authorities and of voluntary society homes, one of which
caters especially for the very young expectant mother.
Of the 71 cases referred through various channels such as social workers,
general practitioners, health visitors, voluntary social workers, the National Council
for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child, etc., 62 were admitted to mother and
baby homes and arrangements were made for most of the remainder to be
admitted in due course.
From her first contact with the medical social worker the patient is supported
and cared for through this difficult period. Much time is also spent in reassuring
or advising shocked parents, and this often results in a re-assessment of the situation
so that the problem is handled within the family — often the most happy and
satisfactory solution.
Where it is the wish of the mother to have the baby adopted, application is
made on her behalf to registered adoption agencies.
Of the 63 babies born to 62 unmarried girls admitted to mother and baby
homes during 1967, 25 were kept by their mothers, 17 were adopted or awaiting
adoption, four were taken into care of the local authority, one child was stillborn,
and the final placement of the rest has not been decided yet.
Fortunately, the illegitimate birth rate which had been rising steeply up to
1964, has fallen steadily since then and it seems probable that this trend will
continue with the increased use of birth control methods by unmarried women.
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