[Report 1955] / Birmingham Education Committee, Special Services After Care sub-committee.

  • Birmingham (England). Education Committee. Special Services After Care Sub-committee.
Date:
1955
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1955] / Birmingham Education Committee, Special Services After Care sub-committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    is constantly before the staff. In order to establish the necessary confi- dence in the minds of these young people, the expenditure of much time and patience may be needed. Unfortunately, in many cases, the with- drawal of the support afforded by the school environment is not replaced by encouragement at home, making adjustment to a working and social life among fellow citizens doubly difficult. It is in these instances that the regular visits of the After-Care staff may well turn the balance between success and failure. Adequate discharge of the functions adumbrated above is difficult to achieve with the present establishment of visiting staff, and the Com- mittee are conscious of the fact that much closer supervision is desirable. The situation is aggravated by the redistribution of population to the extreme limits of the City boundary, so that a larger proportion of the visitors’ time is spent in travelling from case to case. There is conse- quently a grave loss of time when, as often happens in working house- holds, no-one is at home when the visitor calls. CASES DEALT WITH DURING 1955 New cases reported for supervision numbered 291, making a total of 3,994 dealt with during the year. The percentage of those employed out of all male cases under super- vision was 59.8 per cent, compared with 65.1 per cent, in 1954. The percentage of females employed was 39.9 per cent, compared with 42.1 per cent, in 1954. The variety of jobs in which the employed persons are engaged is shown in the accompanying Table III. It will be seen that unskilled factory work, building labouring and other routine tasks are most easily held by our school leavers. Full employment until recent months has not always been to the advantage of the unstable type of employee since the incentive to persevere in one firm is undermined by the belief that a similar job elsewhere is readily available. The staff take every opportunity to impress upon the younger boys and girls the value of a good employment record. Little progress has been made in finding home work for those under supervision who are physically as well as mentally handicapped. However, one or two persons have been helped by the visitors from the Welfare Committee, and others have been referred to them. The Committee are pleased to report that several boys and girls who were excluded from school and subsequently attended Occupation Centres and Industrial Centres have now been found employment. As examples of this:— “ A,” a girl (now aged 16 years) was excluded from school at the age of 8 years. She was at home for a year and then attended a Junior Occupation Centre until the Senior Girls’ Centre was opened early in 1954. After attendance and further training there for nearly a year she obtained employment as a sorter in a food factory where she is settled and happy. The mother of this girl died several years ago and every credit is due to the girl for managing to find and keep employment within her capacity.