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13
MENTAL WELFARE.
The work of Mental Welfare has been carried out in accordance
with the provisions of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, and
the amendments to that Act.
All new cases have been carefully investigated; enquiries for
the information of the Visiting Justices on home conditions of
defectives under Order have been prepared; reports made for the
Board of Control where parents have applied for "leave of
absence," or for holiday for defectives living in certified
institutions.
Defectives placed under statutory supervision or under
guardianship in their own homes have been regularly visited;
advice on training, diet and suitable clothing has been given to
the mother where necessary, and a few lessons have been given
in the home, where the defective has been unsuitable to be
admitted to one of the Training Centres.
Suitable and capable foster-parents have been found for
urgent cases, when vacancies in certified institutions have not been
available.
It has been proved by experience that the "Cottage Home"
is not in most cases a suitable place in which to place a defective,
as a foster-mother with no special training is usually not a very
suitable guardian, so that homes have been chosen where the
foster-parent has received some recognised training in nursing or
teaching, and the results have thoroughly justified the choice.
Training Centre.
New and suitable accommodation has been found for the
Training Centre, at the Church Army Hall in Barking Road. A
large, well lighted and comfortably heated room which is used for
the big boys' handicrafts class in the mornings and the girls and
little boys in the afternoons. There is a good-sized piece of
ground attached on which the children can recreate.
Besides being taught (boys) woodwork, various kinds of
useful mat-making; (girls) plain needlework, knitting, fancy and
raffia work, etc.; speech training, drill, and suitable physical
exercises are given, which these children need so badly for their
physical development.
The Training Centre was opened in April with 30 children,
divided into two classes. At the end of the year there