View report page

divided control of the earlier system. To visit the homes of applicants to assess the type and amount
of assistance required, to supervise the work of home helps by visits to households where they are employed,
to recruit home helps, and to deal with emergency applications for assistance, it is essential that in an
area such as the Borough the organiser should have a car and adequate clerical assistance.
Indoor uniform (overalls) is now supplied to the home helps. This with the example and leadership
of the organiser has done much to develop a spirit of service and to imbue the staff with the feeling that they
are meeting a genuine need. This service is described as " domestic help " in the National Health Service
Act, but the women employed on the work prefer the term " home help " because they consider that it
describes more accurately the type of service rendered. It is true that in many cases the human touch
and a wider concept than mere cleaning or cooking is needed.
As confinements do not always take place at the expected time and illness or other domestic
crises may occur without warning the staffing arrangements of the home help service must be flexible.
While a number of women can be employed regularly for whole or part-time duty it is advisable to have a
reserve of women available to meet fluctuations in demand. To find suitable women who will undertake
this work in any house in the Borough on a regular or " on call " basis is not easy, and though the number
employed during the year varied from 28 to 44, the supply generally fell short of the need. The steadily
increasing demand for this assistance is a tribute to the growing confidence in the quality and reliability
of the service.
During 1947 assistance was given to 344 households (86 maternity, 258 other) as compared with
148 (72 maternity, 76 other) in 1946.
According to the circumstances of the household a charge was made for the services of the home
help.

Adoption of Children. The Adoption of Children (Regulation) Act, 1939, is designed to ensure that,
as far as is practicable, the adoption of any infant shall be carried out in the manner most beneficial to the
child and to prevent the trading in young children by a third party whose sole object is to make money
by the traffic in young lives. Adoption Societies have to be registered, must not practice for gain, and all
their activities are subject to scrutiny. Under Section 7 of the Act it is the duty of any person (other
than the child's parent or guardian), who participates in arrangements for the placing of a child for
adoption, to notify in writing the welfare authority of the area in which the child is to be placed. This
requirement should be borne in mind by doctors, midwives, hospital almoners, clergymen, matrons of
nursing homes, etc., whose advice or assistance may be sought in placing a child for adoption.
Close contact was maintained with Court Officers dealing with applications for Adoption Orders
and every request for information or assistance from Adoption Societies received attention. During the
year the Health Visitors made 85 visits in connection with the adoption of children.
Child Life Protection.—The Health Visitors undertook the duties of Child Life Protection Visitors.
The number of foster children on the register at 31st December, 1947, was 60, and during the year 246 visits
of inspection were made. No proceedings were taken against a foster-mother, but in several cases attention
was drawn to the need for improvement in the condition or furnishing of the premises or in the care of
the child.
Day Nurseries.—The four day nurseries with accommodation for 189 children continued in operation
during the year, and the charge was maintained at 1/'- per child per day. The attendance of children on
Saturdays was poor, and only Nantly House Nursery opened regularly on Saturdays. The average attendance
of children was 158 (Monday to Friday) and 17 (Saturday). The demand for accommodation continued
and there was always a waiting list at each nursery. Admission generally was restricted to children
of mothers in employment, but towards the end of the year the Council decided that social circumstances
should also be considered and passed the following resolution " that priority be accorded in the cases of
children of separated or deserted wives, widows, unmarried mothers, married women whose husbands
are frequently ill and unable to work full time and other cases of children in need of special care by reason
of domestic or social conditions."
No excessive incidence of infectious disease was noted among the children attending the day
nurseries. Shortage of staff was less than in previous years, but the educational care in the nurseries is
still unsatisfactory owing to the shortage of trained nursery teachers and wardens. The chief causes of
absence of staff are sickness, accidents or domestic reasons such as illness of child or relative. The percentage
of time lost for these reasons during the four years 1944-47 was 8.5 among the nursery staff as
compared with 4.8 and 2.4 respectively among the other women and men employed in the Health Department.
So far no explanation has been found for the relatively high rate of absence in the day nursery
staff.
Residential Nurseries.—No residential nursery is maintained by the Council. When residential
accommodation had to be found for young children because of the admission to hospital of the mother the
Council undertook financial responsibility for the maintenance of the children in a short-stay residential
10