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orderly routine. The staff at the Homes for toddlers should be
not only adequate in number but competent by training to deal
with the child's needs, physically, mentally and psychologically.
The regular life, discipline and companionship ot other children
of the same age exert a wonderful effect, so that there is a steady
return to good health. Fresh air, a good, well-balanced diet, and
long periods of rest play no small part in this improvement. In
their own homes many of these small children do not have sufficient
rest at night, and the daily rest is generally foregone after
the first two years of life.
In the treatment of early Rickets with complicating deformities
such as bowlegs, good surroundings and suitable diet with
additional rest will cure the condition effectively. Money spent
by any authority in sending a case of Rickets to a Convalescent
Home for a prolonged period will be repaid in saving the cost of
orthopaedic treatment later; in this way, too, the child leads a
healthy, normal life, free from the physical and mental distress
occasioned by the necessity perhaps for operative treatment or
the wearing of unsightly surgical splints.
In a poor district with overcrowded home conditions and
considerable unemployment, there will always be a need for convalescent
treatment as an important adjunct in the Maternity and
Child Welfare Services of the area. The resulting benefits are
permanent in many cases, particularly where the mother is willing
to co-operate and to continue as far as possible the regular ways
developed in the child while at a Convalescent Home.
For the after-treatment in young children of pneumonia,
acute bronchitis, bronchiectasis after whooping cough, or pulmonary
congestion after measles, there is no remedy so effective
in completely clearing up the pulmonary condition as prolonged
convalescence, whereby the general resistance of the child to
subsequent infection, such as tuberculosis, is also greatly
increased.
Children and Young Persons' Act, 1932.
Foster Children.
Under Part 1 ot this Act the supervision of the foster children
and of the homes of the foster mothers is carried out by the
Municipal Health Visitors in their respective districts. Application
for registration as a foster mother under the Act is sanctioned
by the Council on the recommendation of the Maternity and Child
Welfare Committee.
Before the foster mother's application is approved, a detailed
enquiry is made by the Infant Life Protection Visitor of the district,
and in all those cases that are known to the Public Assistance
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