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51
PREVENTION OF ILLNESS. CARE AND AFTER CARE
Family Casework Team
This year the team have worked with 76 of the 204- families
on the "at risk" register besides a number of other families with
less threatening problems. We have again had many occasions to be
grateful to various statutory and voluntary agencies, both local and
national, and private firms for their co-operation and generosity in
the work we have tried to do with the families. One instance of
this can be illustrated by the case of an unsupported mother with
three school age daughters. This woman had accumulated an extremely
large debt to the Electricity Board and as a result her supply had
been disconnected. Her income was so low it was impossible for her
to find more than a small sum towards the arrears but money was
raised from local and national voluntary agencies to assist her and
after consideration of the social worker's written appeal the
Electricity Board agreed to reconnect the supply and to install a
pre-payment meter calibrated to collect a sum each week off the
balance of the account. In this case there was also liaison between
the family caseworker, the Children's Department and the Education
Welfare Department in an attempt to ensure that should there be any
real evidence of the children being in danger immediate action would
be taken.
Although assisting with practical problems the team are
primarily concerned with helping clients with their emotional problems.
This may involve a degree of marital casework, child guidance, or even
casework with clients who have milder forms of mental illness such as
chronic depression or anxiety states. Wherever possible the opinion,
advice, guidance and support of the specialists in these fields is
sought.
A number of unmarried mothers are being assisted, and this
year practical help was given to a young woman from Australia who had
come to England to join the putative father of her child, only to find
on arrival at the airport a letter from the man declining any responsibility
for her or the child. By a technicality she was able to claim
British citizenship and for some time was unable to consider returning
to her home and leaving her friends in Kingston who had given her
accommodation on an emergency basis. However, with help from the caseworker,
which involved frequent and intensive visiting, she was able
to face the reality of her situation and came to recognise that she