NEGLECTED CHILDREN IN N.S.W.

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25389, 12 January 1948, Page 3

NEGLECTED CHILDREN IN N.S.W.

MANY CASES FOUND BY OFFICIALS (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, January 3. New South Wales Child Welfare Department officers reported that they dealt with a record number of cases of neglected children last year. They visited 4163 homes and reported some shocking cases. In one case, eight children were found playing in their singlets in a filthy house in an outer suburb. The father was away in the Army, and sent his wife a good allowance to keep the children, but she was a mental defective- The children had no clothes. Their beds were filthy. The lavatory was never used. The Welfare Department took the children, five of whom were certified insane. In another case, four hungry children were found in a filthy house. Their father was on night shift, and their mother was out. Welfare officers Put the children in a home, and sent the mother to the country for a rest, kater, she and her husband moved to a better suburb and proved their ability to. support the children. Parents of neglected children are not always those with small incomes,” the director of the department Mr R. jf. Hicks). “Cases of the mothers spending their housekeeping money carelessly are discovered often, tsroken homes and the unwillingness Ji to sett le down to family life “iier the freedom of the Army are the most common sources of trouble.” __