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accommodation, is undertaken by the Chelmsford Diocesan Moral Welfare Association,
Mies Treacher, the trained social worker who covers the West Ham area., has an office in
Ilford, but may be consulted at St. Agatha's Hostel, Carnarvon Road, on Tuesdays from
4.30 p.m. Any unmarried mother may be referred to Miss Treacher for help and
counselling. There is free exchange of information and excellent co-operation between
Miss Treacher, and the local health authority officers, channelled mainly through the
Superintendent Health Visitor. Much work with unmarried mothers who do not need special
arrangements comes within the scope of the health visitor.
Miss Treacher reports that during 1959 her help was sought for 55 illegitimate
children and their parents resident in West Ham. There were, in addition, two families
for whom help was sought for other reasons. Five cases concerned married women having
illegitimate babies; the remainder were single women. Twenty-one were admitted to
Mother and Baby Homes, and in 12 of these, application was made to the local health
authority for financial assistance.
Altogether, the department was involved in the making of arrangements for the
accommodation of 24 West Ham mothers. Six were admitted to St. Agatha's Home during
pregnancy, and returned to the home after having the baby in hospital. Eighteen were
admitted to homes or hostels outside the Borough. When circumstances made it neoessary,
financial assistance was granted towards the cost of maintenance. Six of the girls
helped were under the age of l6 years; 2 are known to have had children previously and
in each case the putative father of the first and second child was the same man, and
the mother had kept the child with her. The following two stories from Miss Treacher's
case-book will illustrate the kind of work which she undertakes;-
(1) "Miss A was referred to us by her doctor. She was 30 years old and
expecting her first child. She had been engaged to be married and it had been a very
great shock when her fiance did not wish to proceed with the marriage. Her parents felt
quite unable to face the situation and wanted her to leave home. She went to a Mother
and Baby Home, and had a little girl, whom she was most anxious to keep. She did not want
to be separated from the child and, as she was a capable girl, was able to find a
residential domestic post, with our help".
(2) "Mrs. B asked our help concerning her daughter of 15, who was staying with
relatives outside the area until she had her baby. They had been able to make
arrangements for a foster-mother for the baby, pending adoption. Mrs. B had been a
widow since the girl was a few months old. The putative father in this case was a few
years older, and would have liked to have married the girl, but she was very immature
and not sufficiently fond of him to wish to marry. After medical investigation at
hospital the baby was placed for adoption".
It is not always easy to find room in a Mother and Baby Home for all the
mothers who require this type of care. Normally the mother is offered accommodation
for six weeks before the confinement, and may return for six weeks after her baby has
been born (usually in hospital). As might be expected, some mothers do not apply
until the last moment, while others only reveal that they have nowhere to go just before
they are due to leave hospital.
While some mothers can quickly reach a decision about the baby's future, others
have many conflicts to resolve, which they can only do satisfactorily if given ample
time. They often need more than six weeks, and at present it is difficult to find
anywhere where the mother can stay with her baby, and also earn her living, which
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