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CHILDREN'S DEPARTMENT
Contributed by Geo.H.Baker, Children's Officer
The year 1st April, 1968 to the 31st March, 1969 has been one of accelerated and
increasing demands on the Children's Department services which have strained our resources
in every way to maintain the high standards we had reached in previous years. We are now
much engaged in preventive work in helping families not to break up and lose their children
to the care of the department or of approved schools.
On the 3 Ist March, 1969, we were working with 150 families comprising 33 I children
and during the whole of the year we had 558 families referred to us with a total of 1,145
children. This has meant more intensive and close casework on the part of our Child Care
Officers increasing their caseloads and the amount of work they each have to do and the
amount of strain they have to bear. However, the result has been that only those children
whose needs cannot be dealt with in any other way have had to come into care, but their
problems were such that still a large proportion of them needed residential care and
consequently at times we have had great difficulty in placing these children in our own homes
and nursery due to the shortage of vacancies. Our residential staff have risen to the occasion
in a most praise-worthy effort and have taken children when they have already the maximum
number in their care. This is a matter of expediency to meet a difficult situation, but is not
in the children's interest or that of the staff to continue indefinitely. We have also placed
children in children's homes, in hostels run by voluntary associations such as St. Mary's
Convent in Walthamstow and Dr. Barnardo's Home because of our increasing need of residential
vacancies at certain periods during the year.
On the 31st March, 1969, we had 209 children in care, 42% of whom were boarded out
with foster parents, 44% in residential establishments and 12% were children who had been
committed to care and allowed home on trial (the odd 2% consisted of children who were
temporarily in hospital). These figures show a slight decrease in the number of children in
care since last year (215) and I feel that the fact that we have maintained the figure more or
less as before is due to the preventive work carried out by the department. However, the
number of children boarded out has decreased and this is not a very welcome fact. We are
finding more and more difficulty in obtaining suitable foster homes in the area for the children
received into care. Some of the children are the children of immigrant families. Unfortunately
we have not found many immigrant families who will act as foster parents and this is disturbing
as the children remain in residential care much longer than they should. We also experience
difficulty in finding foster homes for brothers and sisters to be together or Roman Catholic
children who should have Roman Catholic foster parents, and for those children who have
special needs because of physical or mental handicaps.
They has always been a consistent demand for placements for children usually of the
younger age group to be received into care for only short periods, sometimes for only as little
as ten days, but in other cases up to three months when the mother is seriously ill and in
hospital. Though the demand has been as great as ever, we have decreased the number
actually taken into care as such cases by working with the father of the children and involving
the help of relatives or neighbours and using the special provisions of the authority,
principally that of day nurseries and daily minders. Many of these children whenever possible
have been boarded out with foster parents who are prepared to take children on a short term
basis. However, quite a number of them have had to have residential placement especially in
the nursery, therefore increasing the demand for residential vacancies.
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