View report page

CHILD LIFE PROTECTION.
The Health Visitors are the authorised Child Life Protection
Visitors for the Borough.
Number of persons who were receiving children
for reward at the end of the year 8
Number of children on the register at the end
of the year 14
Number of children who died during the year —
During the year 33 visits were paid to the homes of the children.
No proceedings were taken under the Act during the year.
THE CARE OF PREMATURE INFANTS.
The arrangements made for the care of premature infants were
continued during 1945. All equipment is kept at the District Nursing
Association, the headquarters of the local midwives, where it is ready
for immediate use when required. The majority of premature births
occurred in institutions and only 7 cases were recorded in the practice
of the domiciliary midwives. All these cases responded successfully to
routine domiciliary treatment and there was no occasion to call upon
the specialised services provided by the St. Helier County Hospital.
THE CARE OF ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN.
The arrangements made for the care of illegitimate children, fully
described in the Annual Report for 1944, were continued throughout
the year. The local organisation of the Women's Voluntary Services
was again most co-operative and the work of these ladies in augmenting
the advice and assistance of the Health Visitors was much appreciated,
both by the department and the mothers concerned.
The usual annual grant was again accorded to the Sutton and
District Girls' Aid Association, and the most cordial relations existed
between Officers of the Corporation and the workers of this voluntary
society. The Association's welfare worker assisted the following cases
during the year:—
Unmarried mothers 11
Married women with illegitimate children 3
Girls in needs of care and protection 1
Bigamous marriage 1
The welfare worker further reports that, of the unmarried mothers,
2 had their babies adopted and the other girls preferred to keep their
infants.
The total illegitimate births for the Borough during the year under
review numbered 44, 22 males and 22 females, this figure giving a rate
of 86.1 illegitimate births per 1,000 total (live and still) births. This
represents a big increase on the figures returned for the previous year,
when only 20 illegitimate births were recorded, and is undoubtedly the
31