Annual report of the Board of Control : 12th, 1925.

Date:
1925
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report of the Board of Control : 12th, 1925. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    87/482 (page 77)
    This amendment has for some years been advocated by us in our Annual Reports, and we desire to express our satisfaction that it has at length become law. Hitherto it has only been possible to obtain a variation order transferring a defective from Guardianship to an institution: it is now possible to vary the order in the opposite direction and to transfer a case from an institution to Guardianship. It is easily seen that this new power, if carefully administered, may be of very material use. Defectives who have been carefully trained in habits, self-control and obedience while in institutions may become fit to live a protected life in the community, and Guardianship is a means to this end. We anticipate that Guardianship after institution training may form a much more important part in the nation’s scheme for protection of the mentally deficient than the placing of defectives under Guardianship without previous training. In the recent circular on this subject to Local Authorities dated 26tli November, 1925, we expressed the view that “ before any case is transferred from institutional care to Guardianship he should be given six months’ trial on licence.” The object of this is to test his fitness for life in a family and, if during this period he should prove unfit, to enable the Local Authority to recall him to the institution without the necessity of obtaining a varying order. We cannot pass from this subject without stating that defectives should not be placed under Guardianship without full consideration of the nature of the defective and wise discrimina¬ tion in the choice of Guardians. It is anticipated that there will be great difficulty in finding sufficient Guardians with the requisite intelligence, character and knowledge to treat defectives with the understanding and tact that is required. Sometimes parents possess these necessary qualities, but the circular referred to above lays stress on the fact that parents are often quite unfit to exercise proper care, training and control over their defective children. These parents are sometimes themselves defective or of low intelligence; even more frequently they are neurotic and unbalanced. Sometimes they have created the environment in which the defective has become unmanageable, and to give them the powers of a Guardian is to court disaster and to risk the happiness and safety of their children. By turns too strict and too weak, they rouse resentment in a defective who does not realize that though he has the body of a man he has only the mind of a child. He sees his younger brothers and sisters receiving more liberty than he is allowed, and this he resents, and a feeling of antagonism is created towards his parents. This does not occur with a wisely chosen Guardian who treats him more as a patient than as a son. Unless a Local Authority have adequate knowledge that the parent possesses the necessary tact, judgment and self-control, we strongly recommend them to retain the defective in an institution until