ABSTRACT
MORAL welfare work began as an attempt to rescue outcast girls and women from lives of sin and degradation and compassionate care of the individual has always been at the centre of the work. Nevertheless, it has long been realised that this is only part of the task and, as we have seen already, educational work of all kinds was a major concern of the Church of England Moral Welfare Council from its early days as the Archbishops' Advisory Board onwards. At the diocesan and local level, however, we found considerable variations in the amount and nature of the work done and some uncertainty as to how much it was desirable and possible for a local moral welfare association to undertake. This appeared to be the case whether the term ‘educational work’ was used to signify work undertaken to help young people achieve fuller knowledge of their own physical development and accompanying emotional needs, together with some understanding of the relevance of Christian teaching to this and related issues, or whether it was used to cover the education of public opinion on policy issues relating to sex, marriage and the family.
