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2. That relations can frequently be persuaded to take back
the mother and accept the baby as one of the family
provided institutional accommodation is available
for a few months whilst awaiting the relatives'
acceptance of the position.
3. That early adoption is undesirable. A mother who has
had her baby for a month will rarely part with the
child willingly.
4. That girls who have been urged and have agreed to have
the baby adopted very frequently return within a
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