Institutional Accommodation
News and Notes.
Warwickshire Home for Mental Defectives.
At a meeting held last August the Warwickshire County Council sanctioned the expenditure of a sum not exceeding ?20,000 for the purchase of Weston Reformatory School, and for its conversion into a home for the reception of mental defectives. The Mental Deficiency Act Committee was authorised by the County Council to incur the above expenditure upon the purchase of the property and upon the necessary alterations and additions.
Lancashire and Cheshire Home.
The Lancashire and Cheshire Society for the Permanent Care of the Feeble- minded have steadily added to the number of their homes for mental defectives at the Sandlebridge Colony, near Alderley Edge. The work, under the guidance of Miss Dendy, has grown steadily and the latest addition is a new home intended to accommodate fifty men. The property acquired is an old farmhouse and this has been extended to provide quarters for the master and matron and dormitories for the inmates. A big barn adjoining has been reconstructed to provide a dining- room, recreation room and bathrooms. The Society has also acquired twenty-one acres of grassland and gardens. The entire scheme has cost between ?7,000 and ?8,000.
Coldeast Colony for Mental Defectives.
A large colony for mental defectives has been provided by the Hampshire County Council and was officially opened in August last. A mansion at Sarisbury Green, Coldeast, was purchased and has been in the hands of the Council for two years. It has been adapted for the treatment, at present, of 53 patients and a scheme has also been prepared for the ultimate accommodation of 500 patients, men, women and children’s departments being self-contained. The ultimate cost is estimated at ?160,000.
Many of the men patients are to be employed on the farm, in the fruit garden, etc., and the women are to be engaged in the housework, laundry, rug and basket making, etc. It is hoped to move the low grade cases from Knowle Mental Hospital to Coldeast so as to leave room there for more urgent cases.
The Colony was opened by the Right Hon. Neville Chamberlain (Minister of Health). He spoke of the great need of more Institutional accommodation in the country, stating that only 27 per cent, of the whole number of defectives were in certified institutions where they could get proper and adequate medical super- vision and the continuous care and varied occupation and exercise necessary in order that they might make the most of their lives. He congratulated the Hamp- shire County Council on their grasp of the principles which governed the treat- ment of this problem and expressed his admiration for the wisdom of the plans which had been made for the development of a colony round the nucleus of the Mansion centre.
Hostel for Feeble-Minded Boys.
Over four years ago a hostel for feeble-minded girls was opened at Eagle House, Mitcham, by the Surrey Voluntary Association for Mental and Physical Welfare. This Hostel has proved so successful that the Association has extended its work and is about to open a Hostel at Royal Common, Elstead, for feeble- minded boys. The Hostel is to be run on the same lines as Eagle House and is to house 26 feeble-minded boys and young men. They are to receive six months training in house and garden work and will then be placed out in daily service in the neighbourhood.
Any enquiries as to this Hostel should be made to Miss W. Gibson, 18, Park Street, Guildford. Sterilization Laws. Alrerta.
The Sexual Sterilization Act passed at the last Session of the Alberta Legisla- ture has received Royal assent. The purpose of the Act is to sterilise cases whom the Board (consisting of two medical and two laymen) consider could be dis- charged from a mental hospital if the danger of procreation were eliminated. The operation is not to be performed without the consent of the patient, ” or, where the Board is of the opinion that the inmate is not capable of giving such consent, the husband or wife of the inmate or the parent or guardian of the inmate if he is unmarried, has consented thereto, or where the inmate has no husband, wife, parent or guardian resident in the Province, the Minister has consented thereto.” This Act will affect only a limited number of mental defectives, those who are confined in mental hospitals.
Switzerland.
The Legislature of the Swiss Canton of Valid has ^s^d ^ a^f’A(ft sterilization of the mentally unfit. We have no details of the clauses of the Act at present.
New Zealand.
The House of Representatives passed the Mental Defectives Bill in September, but the clauses prohibiting marriage in cases of persons registered as dcfectn . permitting sterilization, were both withdrawn. ? ? i 00 Mental The Bill is of interest as it introduces the same principles as our Mental Deficiency Acts, the idea of social standard of mental deficien y. f i ” Mentally Defective Person ” is extended to include one who suffers from1 ?en deficiency “associated with or manifested by anti-social conduct, and w q supervision for his own protection or in the public interest.
Board of Education Regulations.
Since the passing of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1927, the Board of Educa- tion have revised their regulations for the Notification of Children. The regu a- tions have also been shortened and simplified. The Board has withdrawn t e requirement that every proposal to notify a child who is not either an idiot, an imbecile, or a moral imbecile, must be referred to the Board. These Regulations came into operation on October 1st and the Board have issued a Circular (No 1399) to Local Education Authorities on the subject of the revision and with copies of the revised forms.
Child Guidance.
We are interested to hear that the staff of the Child Guidance Clinic which is to be opened by the Child Guidance Council in London next spring has already been appointed. The appointments have been made at so early a date to enable the staff to spend some months studying the methods and organisation of such Clinics in the United States.
It happens that both the Medical Director and the Assistant Psychiatrist are resigning posts at the Maudsley Hospital to take up this new work. Dr William Hoodie, Deputy Medical Superintendent of the Maudsley Hospital has been appointed Medical Director of the Clinic; he is already in the United States and will be returning about February. His previous experience has been wide and has included work with children both at the Maudsley and elsewhere. Dr R. Evelyn Lucas, at present Assistant Medical Officer at the Maudsley Hospital has already spent some time in the United States at the Phipps Clinic, John Hopkins Hospital and elsewhere; at the Maudsley Hospital she has made the children, whethei out-patients or in-patients, her special care. She is shortly proceeding to the United States for further study. Miss Lucy G. Fildes is already well- know n to our readers as Educational Organiser of the Central Association for Mental Welfare. As Psychologist of the Clinic in dealing with children in our elementary schools she will be approaching the same educational problems which she has for so many years been elucidating to teachers of mentally defective, dull and backward children at the Central Association for Mental Welfare Courses. Her research work at the Cambridge Psychological Laboratory is well known. She will be assisted by Miss Mary MacTaggart who has been a teacher under, and has acted as a psychological adviser to, the Renfrewshire Education Authority, and has studied the psychological aspects of school problems.
Miss Evelyn Lawrence has been appointed Chief Social Worker; and other social workers who have been trained in the United States Child Guidance Clinics will be, in due course, appointed to work under her. Miss Lawrence’s experience as a Teacher in London County Council Schools, her work as a psychologist at the National Institute of Industrial Psychology, her sociological studies at the London School of Economics, and her social work experience peculiarly fit her for the post.
We think the Child Guidance Council are to be congratulated on having been able to draw together such an able group of workers.
London.
The London County Council has decided to provide medical inspection and treatment for minor ailments for children of school age who have been placed under supervision in accordance with 30 (b) of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, and are attending Occupation Centres provided by or through the agency of the London Association for Mental Welfare. Arrangements were made to carry this into effect from 1st September.
International Social Welfare Fortnight. Paris, July 2nd-13th, 1928. As noted in our last issue, four important Congresses were held in Paris during the fortnight July 2nd?13th, 1928, dealing with various forms of social work. Housing and Town Planning, Statutory and Voluntary Assistance, Child Welfare, and Social Work generally. Mental Welfare work was dealt with specifically in the second named, although, as is natural, speakers and writers of papers dealing with other matters also touched on the subject in a greater or less degree.
Over a thousand delegates attended the various meetings, all of which, with the exception of those in connection with the Housing and Town Planning Con- gress were held at the Salle Pleyel, Rue de Faubourg-St-Honore (since destroyed by fire). The Congress fell during the hottest days of the heat-wave, but in spite of this, the meetings were well attended, and at the various official and unofficial receptions and informal gatherings, delegates from countries widely differing in conditions and in outlook were able to make an exchange of experiences and views which must have contributed to a better understanding between them. If one may criticise, it would appear to have been wiser to have fewer formal papers, and to allow more time for discussion; as it was, by the time that prepared speeches had been delivered, there was little opportunity for useful discussion. Miss Evelyn Fox, as Reporter General for the Section, was the chief speaker at the session on Friday, July 6th, when the subject under consideration was “The Assistance of Mentally Defective Persons ” ; her paper had been previously circu- lated in French and in English. (A few copies are still available and may be obtained free, if desired, from the C.A.M.W.) Contributors to the brief discussion that followed were Dr Paul-Boncour (France), M. Valagussa (Italy) and Mme. Mollweiss (Switzerland), who dealt with prominent features of mental welfare work in their respective countries. One gained the impression that much remained to be done in the way of ” community care ” and in the training and development of home teaching of defectives, apart from the universal need for more institu- tional accommodation and for more special schools. The following resolution was passed unanimously:?
” Oue les services de l’assistance publique et privee fassent des enquetes sur to nombre des anmlux qui se trouvent panni les personnes qm demanden lcur assistance et que dans chaque pays on explme toutes les posslbilltes d’etablir des services sociaux speciaux.
Visits to social agencies in and around Paris wene arrai of the Congress and the representatives of the C. .i ? ? ^ <? Hosnital in the Henri Rousselle Hospital (an institution similar to the MaudskyHospitali this country), the Lannelongue Institute, where there is a mental hygiene ce for children, and a Special Class in a girls’ school at Buttes Chaumont, Pans. An important Exhibition of Housing and Social Pi ogi ess \as arranged in nection with the Congress, and exhibits from a very large number of countriesiw? e c on view at the Pare des Expositions, Porte de Versailles. he ri is se _ organised by the staff of Leplay House, to whom the thanks of the britisn delegates are due for the enormous amount of time and tiouble spen upon 1 . 1 his Association sent a 15 ft. exhibit illustrating mental welfaie woi an a member of the C.A.M.W. staff was able to give considerable help and information to the numbers of visitors who were interested, lhe President of the ^renci Republic paid an official visit to the Exhibition on the afternoon of the 7th July and shewed the greatest interest in the various sections.
We understand that an official report of the Congress is in course of prepara- tion and will be obtainable from M. Georges Rondel, 49, Rue de Miromesnil, Paris. Preliminary meetings have already been held in connection with the next International Congress on Social Work, which is provisionally fixed for 1932, and will probably be held in Amsterdam, by invitation of the Dutch Government. C.A.M.W. Conference.
The C.A.M.W. Conference originally fixed for December 6th and 7th, 1928, has been postponed until the end of April, 1929. The Council, at a meeting held this month, decided that it was wiser to postpone the Conference as two of the subjects chosen for discussion [i.e., the Report of the Joint Committee of the Board of Education and the Board of Control on Mentally Defective Children, and the Proposals with regard to the re-organisation of the duties of Poor Law Guardians) would not appear to be far enough advanced by December to enable useful discussion to be held on them. It is hoped that this postponement will not inconvenience any of those who had intended to be present.
No. 1 Mental Welfare. Has any reader a copy of the first number of Mental Welfare (January, 1920), \hich he oi she is willing to send us? It contains a Foreword by the late Dr. Shuttleworth and we have been asked to secure a copy for a friend of his. Board of Control Circulars No. 712 and 713. No. 712.
The Board of Control have recently issued Circular 712, drawing the attention of the Local Authorities to the Regulations made under Section 30 of the Mental Deficiency Act. ” Local Authorities have no duties with respect to defectives who are dealt with by the Guardians, unless and until such cases have first been reported by the Guardians in pursuance of the Regulations and the Board of Control have issued a Certificate of Exception.” The Circular also deals with the terms of Section 15 of the Act of 1913. ” In the Board’s view, Local Authorities are precluded from utilising the provisions of Section 15 in respect of alleged defectives who are already being maintained by Poor Law Guardians in the Poor Law Institution in which it is suggested they should be detained as in a ‘ place of safety.’ ” Local Authorities are asked to draw the attention of certifying officers to the substitution of the term ” moral defective ” for ” moral imbecile.” No. 713.
This circular, to County and County Borough Councils, is concerned chiefly with the preparation of Estimates which are to be prepared on the basis that the duties of Ascertainment and Guardianship are to be fully carried out and that some provision may be made for cost of Training or Occupation.
With regard to the establishment of Colonies, the Board point out that ” on grounds of efficiency as well as economy, a colony for mental defectives should eventually provide for not less than 500 cases. The provision for as large a number as 500 may be made gradually, but all sites chosen should be large enough to accommodate at least that number.”
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