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11
CARE OF THE UNSUPPORTED MOTHER AND HER CHILD
(Table 9)
To meet the needs of the unsupported mother and her child, the Council provides residential accommodation
in the Belle Vue Mother and Baby Home, and the services of a Medical Social Worker.
Cases were referred to the Medical Social Worker both by the Council's own staff and by moral
welfare workers of all denominations. Admission to a mother and baby home was arranged at the appropriate
time, until suitable arrangements could be made for them. The importance of after-care work—of ensuring
that proper and permanent arrangements are made for both mother and baby—is fully realised. This needs
not only experience and farsightedness on the part of the Medical Social Worker and the staff of the mother
and baby home, but a knowledge of human nature and a certain detachment from sentimentality.
In addition to the Council's own home, use was also made of the homes run by other London
Boroughs who, indeed, made use of the vacancies that were available in Belle Vue.
Apart from the actual placements in mother and baby homes, a large number of mothers were interviewed
and necessary arrangements made.
Although there was no appreciable drop in the number of applications for help during the year,
there was a noticeable decrease in the number of mothers entering mother and baby homes.
This was felt to be due to the more accepting attitude of the general public towards the unmarried
mother and to the fact that a landlord can no longer refuse to accept a tenant back from hospital with a baby.
Also an increasing number of mothers are seeking fostering prior to adoption for their babies. In spite of this,
the Council's home has been full for practically the whole year and the average length of stay has been longer,
particularly in the post-natal period.
As always the greatest problem facing a mother who decides to keep her child is that of accommodation.
Voluntary organisations such as the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and Her Child do
receive offers of accommodation and are able to help from time to time, but the demand is far in excess of their
resources. More hostels for the working mother and her child, where the child is cared for in the Day Nursery
whilst she goes to work, are needed. Although these hostels only keep a mother for a limited period, usually
two years, they do offer security and help over the most difficult period when her child is very young and she
is adjusting to her new role as a mother.
At last a Deputy Matron has been appointed to Belle Vue and with the exception of a staff nurse it
is now fully staffed. Decorations have been carried out during the year, and burglar alarms fitted to the fire
escape doors as on three occasions intruders have tried to gain entrance.
During 1967, the social side of caring for the mothers and babies was carried out by one full-time
Medical Social Worker whose services are shared with the London Borough of Harrow at an appropriate
financial adjustment.
FAMILY PLANNING
Ministry of Health Circular 15/67 drew attention to the fact that the National Health Service (Family
Planning) Act, 1967, came into operation on 28th June, 1967, and requested local health authorities to examine
the services available, review these and, if thought necessary, plan extensions to the service already provided.
At the time, five weekly family planning sessions were held in the Borough, all of which dealt with
cases on medical grounds only :—
London Road Clinic Run by the Council — morning
One Tree Hill Clinic „ „ „ Family Planning Association — morning
Stag Lane Clinic „ „ „ „ „ „ — evening
Neasden Clinic „ „ „ „ „ „ —
Pound Lane Clinic „ „ „ „ „ „ —
The Clinics were provided free of charge to the Family Planning Association for holding sessions.
The Council considered the Act and Circular and agreed to a proposal that in 1968 a further weekly
session be run by the Council at Kilburn Square Clinic, and that the Family Planning Association be asked to
provide two additional weekly sessions preferably in areas of the Borough not already covered by the service.
They also agreed that advice, examination, prescriptions and supplies should be free in medical cases; that a
charge for prescriptions and supplies be made in non-medical cases; and that advice and supplies be given to
either unmarried or married women. With regard to a domiciliary service, it was decided that this should not
be provided until further experience is obtained both by the Council and the Family Planning Association.
The Council made a grant of £100 to the Family Planning Association in 1967, and provision for a
grant of £300 in 1968 has been made in the Annual Estimates for 1968/69.
INCIDENCE OF CONGENITAL MALFORMATION
In accordance with the requirements of the Chief Medical Officer of the Ministry of Health, information
is supplied to the Registrar General concerning congenital defects apparent at birth.
A summary of notifications received and an analysis of malformations notified are shown in Tables
10 and 11.
MIDWIFERY SERVICE
(Table 12)
There are 16 full-time midwives and 4 part-time midwives on the establishment, but there was a
shortage of staff for several months due to the retirement of two officers and the resignation of another for
health reasons.