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short time with a second illegitimate child, thus
increasing the size of the problem.
5. At present a number of girls can obtain posts in domestic
service where they can keep the baby with them,
but in many cases it is a struggle to do domestic
service and look after the baby satisfactorily. This
is especially marked in the case of young mothers of
16 to 17 years of age, who at present make up a large
number of the cases. A number of the girls have
had no domestic training or experience but have had
various types of technical training, e.g., shorthand
typists.
6. That foster-mothers are frequently unsatisfactory and in
any case they are at present almost impossible to
find. Usually the charges are beyond the means of
the mother and the care the child receives is most
unsatisfactory.
One city has successfully used a foster-mother scheme
where the Welfare Authority have been responsible
for the payment of the foster-mothers' fees, and have
assisted the mother during times of financial difficulty.
This scheme does not overcome the difficulties
of finding suitable foster-mothers, but by paying
higher fees than can normally be afforded by the
children's mothers, the Welfare Authority may command
a much higher standard of care and exercise
stricter supervision.
7. That institutions for these cases should not be too large.
The maximum accommodation recommended for one
unit is 20 beds. It is essential that the grounds of a
hostel should be both private and spacious. Many of
the girls in the later stages of pregnancy are very
self-conscious of their appearance and spend much
of their time in the garden. Matrons in charge of
hostels stress the need for providing some privacy
for girls who stay for more than a few months. It
would appear that for the long-stay type of hostel,
separate bed-sitting-rooms are most desirable.