ABSTRACT
WHILE the child care service was developing and clarifying the work for the deprived child public attention began to turn towards the causes of deprivation, and the conditions of neglect and ill treatment which so often precipitated it. On the 22nd July, 1949 a debate was initiated in the House of Commons by the late Mrs. Ayrton Gould, during which it was pointed out how difficult it actually was, in default of legal powers, to take action to remedy home conditions before positive and sometimes permanent harm had been done, and the Minister was asked if he could devise some administrative means to forestall the neglect of children. The problems of those whose task it was to administer the new services are reflected in the reply of the Under Secretary of State who pointed out that local authorities were strained to the utmost, and could not at the time carry any additional burdens. “We have to tackle the problem in stages,” he said, “partly because of its administrative burden and partly because of lack of trained personnel.” He promised to initiate consultations between the Home Office, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Education to see if, by co-ordination, it might be possible to come nearer to a solution.
