Report of the Care of Children Committee.

  • Great Britain. Care of Children Committee.
Date:
[1946]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Care of Children Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    14/200 (page 12)
    grant from the Exchequer in aid of this service, but the expenditure is, in common with other expenditure of local authorities, taken into, account in the calculation of the Exchequer block grant. : Inspection 31. The inspection of Poor Law Children’s Homes and of voluntary Homes in which Poor Law children are received is carried out under the direction of the General Inspectors of the Ministry of Health, who are responsible for the inspection of the whole field of Poor Law adminis- tration. There are 11 General Inspectors, assisted by 11 Assistant General Inspectors and rr Women Inspectors. The Women Inspectors are State Registered nurses, usually with a Health Visitor qualification, and are respon- sible for the inspection of the Maternity and Child Welfare work of the local authorities as well as the public assistance work. The actual inspection of Children’s Homes and Nurseries has until recently been undertaken by the Women Inspectors but is now being shared by the Welfare Officers of the Ministry; these are women with experience in social work, originally employed to supervise the welfare of evacuated women and children during the war. There are 11 Welfare Officers. Numbers of children maintained ® 32. The approximate numbers of children maintained by public assist- ance authorities at Ist May, 1946, excluding rate-aided patients in mental hospitals and children receiving out-relief in their own homes, are shown in the following Table. TABLE I HOSPITALS AND INSTITUTIONS: Sick Wards PS Ss heft sey 3,456 Nurseries and other wards ... os eek RA 6,500 CHILDREN’S HOMES: Grouped Cottage Homes ... wil es VOT) Scattered Homes one a ia AD 4,062 Other Homes— (including separate nurseries) ee 5,209 16,895 VOLUNTARY HoMES, ETC. ? (certified and uncertified): Special schools ‘ ie ei fd 657 For other than sick i ar sot» ‘T3sO4x 4,598 BOARDED OUT ee iy Ps Fy. 4,892 32,885 EVACUATED CHILDREN LEFT HOMELESS 33. On 31st March, 1946, there remained billeted or accommodated in hostels or nurseries in the reception areas 5,200 children who for various reasons were unable to return to homes of their own. Some are orphans, others have a parent or parents who cannot provide a home for them. These children * Including in the “ other wards of general institutions ’’ 326 children between 3 and 16 years of age who were in separate wards for children. : t In the voluntary homes are about 15,000 non-Poor Law children also supervised by the Ministry of Health. |