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101
The total number of notifications followed up was 1,134, leaving 2,252 which
have not been dealt with.
Of these 2,252 notifications, 283 were excluded. This number is composed of:—
1. Seventy-six Notifications concerned births occuring in the Holborn
Infirmary, the parents not being resident in this Borough.
2. 123 Notifications concerned those births occurring in families not so
likely to require visits as others.
3. 84 Notifications related to still born children.
The remaining 1,969, which were not followed up, include those cases where
the infant died shortly after birth.
In respect of this branch of the work there has been little which calls for comment
other than that made in my two previous reports. The disadvantages attached to
the endeavour to carry out the whole of the infant visiting in the Borough
remained the same during the greater part of the year, but were removed in
November, by the appointment of a second health visitor. This division of the
Borough will give opportunity for better work, both in quality and quantity, for
it will be possible to take a keener interest in a smaller number of people, and time
will not be spent in traversing so large an area. This, in conjunction with the
plans already made for the establishment of a weighing centre, leads me to believe
that considerable progress can be made during the forthcoming year.
The Problem of the Mentally Defective Parent.
There still remains the extreme difficulty of dealing with the mentally
defective parent who is often unable to respond to any form of education, and who
has no idea of parental responsibility ; their children more often than not being
in a more or less neglected state. Experience having shown me the unsatisfactory
condition of the homes of mentally defective parents, I have redoubled my efforts
to induce parents and guardians of mentally deficient children to allow them to
be placed under permanent care, both for the happiness of the children and that
of future generations. But my reasons have been met with sentimental prejudice,
and only once in the course of my three years work have I been successful in
this direction.
Early in the year I came across a young adult woman, obviously mentally
deficient, who was vainly trying to care for her illegitimate child, itself of a degenerate
type. The girl lived with her married sister, for whose young children she was a
most undesirable companion, and on this account alone she should have been removed.
But though I several times urged the reasons for her removal, none of which her
relatives could deny, they declined to part with her, and I was at last obliged to
abandon the attempt. Nothing short of compulsory powers is likely to secure
permanent care for such people.