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The office of the Social Welfare Worker is based upon the Health
Centre, where she holds the goodwill of the Health Visitors, whose
co-operation is a first essential. From there she acts as liaison officer
between the Richmond Welfare Authority and the many voluntary
and religious organisations interested in rescue work. Among her other
regular contacts are officials of the Public Assistance Department, Lady
Almoners covering a wide range of hospitals, Probation Officers, and
Clergy of many denominations.
As friend to the expectant mother, she acts as chaperone during
her interviews with the putative father and with legal advisers. She
goes with her to reason with relatives; to find alternative accom
modation; to secure suitable work. She attends with her to book her
stay at some hostel or other institution, often many miles distant, and
to arrange for her confinement. She travels with her upon her
admission, makes repeated journeys to visit her during her stay, and
finally goes and fetches her home together with the baby. In one
instance it was necessary for a mother and her baby to be given
personal conduct all the way to her parents' home in Eire.
The cases handled by the Social Welfare Worker fall commonly
into two classes.
There is first the illegitimate child who has been conceived extramaritally.
These cases have naturally multiplied during the War. Here,
the ideal aimed at is a reconciliation with the husband, which has the
effect of preserving intact the home for the child. Alternatively, in
some cases the home may yet be reconstituted by divorce and
remarriage. In others there remains only adoption.
The second class of case is by far the more common. It is that of
the unmarried girl whose partner will not or cannot marry her. The
policy here is to hope for a reconciliation with the grandparents, who
may then accept the child as their own; unfortunately they cannot
always afford the expense.
Since the line of least resistance, both for the unwed mother and
for her scandalised parents, is to seek secrecy in hasty adoption, it
speaks volumes for the success of the Social Welfare Worker in
Richmond that, with 157 officially ascertained cases upon the illegitimacy
register, in only seven instances during the year was it found
necessary to place the child apart from its mother.