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Inadequate housing, e.g. highly priced furnished
rooms often with no water on same floor and no
playing space;
Lack of basic knowledge of child care often resulting
in serious maladjustment in the child.
For these children, who are clearly 'at risk' the Day Nursery provides amongst
other things, a stable background, good diet, space and facilities for the child to
develop naturally and to use his growing skills and a healthy outlet for his energies.
Typical examples of children admitted in this group are:-
Case A - Girl, aged 2 years, an illegitimate child whose mother is
mentally sub-normal and unemployable; her physical care of
the child was deplorable since she frequently did not get
up before 11 a. m. She loves the child possessively but no
attempt had been made towards habit training and the child
was still almost entirely bottle fed; she did not speak at
all.
After six months in the Nursery the child eats normally,
is reasonably clean, tolerates other children and has a
small vocabulary; she has put on 12 lbs.
Case B - Boy, aged 1 year and 4 months, Mother totally blind aged
42 years. Father aged about 50 years and almost blind.
These handicapped parents can manage their own lives but
quite unable to cope with an increasingly active child.
For this boy the Nursery provides a safe background for
his normal growth and development.
Case C - Girl aged 3½ years. The only child of older parents who
had been married 17 years when she was born; she has been
possessively loved since birth with consequent maladjustment
demonstrated by temper tantrums, excessive dependence
alternating with defiance.
After 6 months this child has made excellent progress, the
tension in the home has been relieved and the mother's
health greatly improved. It is thought likely that very
soon this child can discontinue attendance at the Nursery.
Short-term Admissions:
Short-term admissions include the children of mothers who are confined, acutely ill
or who are affected by other domestic crises. Alternative arrangements for such children
would often be residential care.
Training:
Both nurseries are training nurseries offering valuable training to girls who, after
two years training take the examination of The National Nursery Examination Board. Many
of these girls go on to further training in the field of social service.
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