Joint Register of Foster-Homes and Schools
- Author:
Edith F. Turner,
Assistant Sccrctary, Child Guidance Council, and Joint Registrar The problem of boarding out children away from their own homes under the care of foster-parents is one which demands a great deal of thought and should be considered as an inextricable part of child welfare. Isolated instances of obvious cruelty to children, when brought to light in the press, usually arouse a stormy emotional response in the general public, a storm which indeed occasionally develops out of all proportion to the facts of the case. The adult population always seems prepared to rise and smite any one of their number who has been found guilty of some specific form of neglect or cruelty to a child. It would be interesting to know what proportion of that adult population, however, thinks calmly and clearly of the numerous subtle dangers to which many children are subjected during their struggle towards development and growth. Boarding out of children has in the past offered an excellent field for cruelty and real danger to child life. From the historical point of view it is not so very long ago that baby farms were rife in this country and unscrupulous people made their illgotten gains in bartering children. With the coming of the Notification of Births Act, however, the first real legislative attack on baby farms as on other dangers to child life was made. Though greeted with antagonism by those with little insight the Act gave articulate expression to the developing social consciousness of the value of child life. Society was at last assuming responsibility for at least the continued existence of the children born to it. The later Maternity and Child Welfare and Infant Life Protection Acts have carried the work of the Notifications of Births Act much further and society now assumes responsibility not only for the existence, but for the care and nurture of its children. Ante-natal and post-natal clinics, child welfare centres, home visiting of infants and children up to five, as well as the school medical inspection and home visiting of school children suffering from any physical defect; inspection of housing and sanitary defects are only a few of the facilities developed by Local Authorities in their efforts to ensure the physical health and well being of children. One other very important duty undertaken by Local Authorities, however, is the registration and regular inspection of foster-homes in their areas where any children under nine years of age are received for payment. Every effort is made to ensure that children so placed will have a chance of growing up in a healthy, * Established by the Child Guidance Council and the Central Association for Mental Welfare. happy environment. The children for whom foster-homes are most frequently required are children who have been deprived of an ordinary home life from anv of a variety of causes, such as the death, illness, desertion or cruelty of parents; illegitimacy in circumstances where the mother cannot keep the child; such home circumstances that the children are considered to be in moral danger. Where the child concerned is in himself normal, the main requisite is for a stable, safe and happy foster-home where the foster-parents have a genuine love of children and are not seeking for registration merely to bolster up the family income.
There are, however, children other than these for whom foster-home placement becomes a much greater problem. Though any or a variety of the causes of the break up of homes already mentioned may exist in their circumstances, a new point for consideration is that the children themselves are suffering from psychological difficulties of such a character and degree that they cannot adjust to life in their own immediate group and surroundings.
The socially organised treatment of psychological difficulties in children is still comparatively new in this country and, though Local Authorities are becoming increasingly sympathetic towards Child Guidance and in some areas have made themselves responsible for Child Guidance Clinics, it may be some time before they are in a position to make themselves responsible for the registration of foster-homes for their cases even should they wish to do so. The need for suitable foster-homes and schools for certain nervous, difficult and retarded children is, however, an urgent problem. In order to answer this need, the Child Guidance Council and the Central Association for Mental Welfare have established a Joint Register of Foster-Homes and Schools for these children with special difficulties.
It can be readily understood that the foster-homes for such a register have to be selected with the greatest of care. Two trained qualified Psychiatric Social WTorkers are employed, one by the Child Guidance Council, the other by the Central Association for Mental Welfare to act as Registrars, to select the homes and to carry through all the intricate work of the Register. The scheme was first put into operation on the 1st of October, 1937, and, during the first year the area covered is confined to London and the Home Counties.
A short resume of the main points of the Register will probably be useful at this stage. (a) The Register is strictly confined to the placement in suitable homes of nervous, difficult or retarded children. It is not intended to be used for the placement of mentally defective children or for those children who can be dealt with in the ordinary foster-home placement work of a Local Authority. (b) Reccommendations for foster-homes are given according to the needs of the children and, where possible, it is advisable that a psychiatrist’s report on the child should be sent to the Registrars when any application for a foster-home is made. The Registrars are in close contact with the Child Guidance Clinics and are always ready to advise applicants for a foster-home on the facilities for obtaining a psychiatric examination and report on a child if this is necessary. (c) The minimum maintenance allowance for a child recognised on the Register is 12/6d. per week. It will be appreciated that foster-parents are being asked to undertake a great deal of responsibility as well as to exercise a great deal of understanding, sympathy and patience in their duties. (d) The facilities offered in the Register are intended for children and Young Persons up to the age of 18 years. The Registrars may, however, be consulted in exceptional cases outside this age limit.
(e) In many cases it is advisable that some trained supervision of the child should be given during his placement in a home. The Registrars can undertake such supervision where necessary in their capacity as Psychiatric Social Workers, and submit reports on the child’s progress to those responsible for him. The fee for this service is 25/- per quarter.
During this experimental year the fees for the use of the Register itself are as follows :?
For a fee of 10/- applicants may use the register, with the exception of the facility of supervision, as often as they require for 12 months. Otherwise a fee of 2/6 is charged for the recommendation of suitable foster-homes in each individual case. A great deal of trouble is taken to secure the right type of home for the child concerned.
A review of the first nine months of the Register has fully proved the value of such a service. Subscribers include many Local Education Authorities, Public Assistance Committees, Hospitals, Child Guidance Clinics, Private Consultants and private individuals. The Local Authorities, Hospitals and Clinics who are annual subscribers use the register consistently and it has been possible to maintain the work on a fairly high standard.
A very common source of referral is from Local Education Authorities to whose care as a ” fit person ” children have been committed from the Juvenile Courts. This fact is very encouraging for it shows the tendency on the part of the magistrates in Juvenile Courts to find some alternative handling to that of committing a young delinquent to an Approved School. The Joint Register is doing its best to co-operate with Juvenile Courts and Education Authorities who try to carry through the Home Office recommendations with regard to boarding out young offenders in suitable surroundings.
Frequently the Registrars are asked to place and supervise during placement a child from a distance. It may be that, in the child’s own surroundings a satisfactory diagnosis of the trouble underlying his behaviour is too difficult?continued observation, and reports on his behaviour in different surroundings may be exceedingly valuable to anyone treating the case. The following is a case in point: ?
E., aged 6o. This case was referred to the Registrars by a Child Guidance Clinic. For some time past the child had been displaying gross sexual behaviour and the parents were exceedingly troubled as to her future and also the correct handling of the difficulties. Though they were co-operating as well as they knew how with the Child Guidance Clinic, they were obviously incapable of developing any insight where the child’s difficulties were concerned and it was necessary from the clinic’s point of view that she should be removed from her own area and placed in a foster-home where there was a chance of her being kept under observation and being given very sound handling. It was also felt that she should still be kept under skilled supervision. For these reasons the Registrars were asked to recommend a good foster-home, to undertake supervision in this case and to refer the case for treatment if necessary in the area in which she was placed. No funds were available from the parents, the Clinic could not pay and there seemed no possibility of getting help from a voluntary society in the neighbourhood.
The Registrars were asked for their advice in the matter. An approach to the Board of Education elicited the information that the Local Education Authority responsible for the child’s education could approach the Board of Education with the full facts of the case for their approval for payment by the Local Education Authority of the child’s maintenance in a foster-home outside its own area; using Section 80 of the 1921, Education Act for the purpose of psychological treatment. This information was given to the applicant for help and in time the Education Authority carried through the recommendation and placed the child in one of our selected homes near London. Constant supervision has been carried out and during the seven months in which she has been under foster-home care it has become apparent that the child is capable of responding to wise handling and is not pathological to the extent of being the moral defective which it was much feared she would ultimately be considered. The results of this piece of work have been so good that the Local Education Authority have extended their period of payment so that she can remain consistently in the fostermother’s care.
This, of course, is a case referred by a Clinic where the value of good fosterhome placement was already accepted. A different type of case which called upon the Register generally in an advisory capacity is shown in the following : ? D., aged 5. In this case the request was received from a voluntary association for an institution which would receive the child free of charge. Very inadequate particulars were given in connection with the child or the need for the request. The Registrars asked for a full report on the case. It was elicited that the child’s sex had so far not been determined; that the mother was a widow in receipt only of her widow’s pension and of public assistance relief; that the child had been badly rejected both at home and at the school on account of the difficulties connected with the physical condition which included enuresis and bad speech. It seemed obvious to the Registrars from the nature of the report that psychological difficulties were being created for this child and that the service in giving the name of any institution which would accept the child free of charge would probably do more harm than good. They decided that, looking at the work of the Register from the child’s point of view they must go further. The Association concerned was advised to the effect that the Register could not give the recommendation of any institution or Home without a sound medical and psychiatric report on the case. Very little co-operation was obtained from this Society, constant requests being sent to get the child away where he could be taken for nothing. The Public Assistance Committee responsible for the area of the child’s settlement was approached and a maintenance grant was promised for placement in a selected foster-home sufficiently near London to allow of the child going to a Hospital for expert examination and, if necessary, treatment both on the physical and psychological side. The Waifs and Strays; Society offered most generously to help with extra expenses connected with the child’s treatment provided that the mother contributed the pension allowed for the child. This was finally carried through.
The child is placed in one of our foster-homes and has already been through the first of a series of three operations considered necessary. He is exceedingly happy, is speaking clearly instead of being considered a child who could not speak. He has been diagnosed as being dominantly male in character and there is every prospect of a good psychological and physical adjustment for this child.
A good measure of co-operation has been established between the Registrars and other Social Workers concerned in this great problem of selected fosterhome placement and the Registrars venture to be very hopeful as to the future development of the work which they have begun.
Just as the present-day foster-home placement and Infant Life Protection work of the local Public Health Authorities are part and parcel of the larger Maternity and Child Welfare work so one ventures to think is the work of the Joint Register part and parcel of the work of child guidance in this country. It seeks to take its place and be recognised as such, feeling its way, learning its value and its limitations, offering its resources to those who see its usefulness. Needless to say the Registrars are always very glad to see any who are really interested in the work, who seek further information or who are in a position to offer information with regard to possible foster-parents. Any communication should be addressed to the Registrars of the Joint Register for Nervous, Difficult and Retarded Children, Child Guidance Council, Woburn House, Upper Woburn Place, London, W.C.I IVc all realize to-day that the child has a right above all things to security of environment. Slowly we are coming to understand that that sense of security can be engendered more successfully by a normal home than by any other artificial substitute. We now know that if the child is to reach adult years with a sufficient degree of self-confidence, he must have behind hun a background of security, or he will be distrustful of his fcllozu-creatures, antagonistic to those in authority, suspicious ivhere he should be trusting… . The central problem of education to-day is to give the child freedom and inspire him zvith a sense of social responsibility.” H. Crichton-Miixkr.
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