ABSTRACT
LIKE those for the blind and the mentally retarded, the services provided by local authorities for deprived children have a pretty definite scope, and their administration in the Greater London area is comparatively uniform. While the uniformity of the first two is partly due to the fact that they are long established services, the service for deprived children is comparatively new, but it has taken shape on the lines laid down in the Curtis Report,* and the Home Office, since the local authorities' Children Departments were established under the Children's Act of 1948, has extended closer control over them than has the Ministry of Health over Health and Welfare Departments, In particular strong emphasis has, from the Curtis Report onwards, been laid on the importance of providing for deprived children a life approximating as closely as possible to that which they would lead in a normal home. It is generally agreed that this can best be done either by boarding out in foster homes, or by accommodating the children in very small homes with a housemother or houseparents so that a family atmosphere can be established. In particular, stress is now laid on the importance of individual care for the very young child—i.e. of nursery age.
