ABSTRACT

Historians of welfare have utilized the idea of a mixed economy of care to explain the various combinations of welfare providers in different contexts in the past. The focus on the South Wales Coalfield c. 1850-1950 captures both its breakneck industrialization and urbanization followed by economic depression and depopulation. Child welfare in south Wales in the mid-nineteenth century was, more so than in other parts of Britain. The mixed economy of child welfare was clearly far less indebted to the labour movement. Many unions appointed female officers as infant life protection officers following the Children Act of 1908 and such officers visited the homes of women who received relief to ensure their children were well cared for. Sick and disabled children were likely to have received particularly close attention as part of these schemes. Developments in the twentieth century greatly changed the context within which provision for children was made and transformed the mixed economy of care.