Love For The Child

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28690, 13 September 1958, Page 3

Love For The Child

Where Love Is. By Josephine Balls. Gollancz. 224 pp. As Dr. John Bowlby points out in the preface of this book, while it has long been recognised that children need fresh food and a happy home, the implications of this age-old truth have not always been apparent Fifty years ago many children suffered from rickets and grew up physically stunted and crippled. Proper attention to the diet of infants and young children has now made the disease almost unknown. Today, however, crippled and stunted personalities are common. Maqy children grow up social misfits, unable to be happy in themselves or to give happiness to others. The understanding and prevention of this condition is of the utmost importance. A start has been made towards understanding the causes of crippled and stunted personalities. It would appear that<he quality .of the home life and mothering which a child experiences as. an infant is one of the principal influences responsible for his development—whether he grows up capable of happiness, friendship and love or whether he grows up to be peaceless, unhappy and destructive.

As far as prevention is concerned, it is a much more difficult proposition than the elimination of a K physical disease such as rickets. It is relatively easy to ensure that all infants receive an adequate supply of milk and cod liver oil. It is extremely difficult to ensure that all infants receive an adequate amount of loving care.

The author, who is Child Care Officer for the Northumberland County Council, has written a highly readable account of the problems arising from the fact that in England and Wales alone there are 85,000 children at present in the care of local authorities and voluntary organisations. These children are growing up without the love and support of their own or substitute families. Miss Balls claims that as a result of this “deprivation,” many are developing maladjusted personalities which in extreme cases lead to delinquency. Worse still, these unhappy young people are likely to be the unsatisfactory parents of tomorrow’s and maladjusted children.

The author is primarily concerned with the ( very young child who comes into care. Until quite recently it was thought that the best place for him was one of the excellent residential nurseries established by the various local authorities. Here such children received expert, if inevitably somewhat impersonal, care and attention, in surroundings especially adapted to the children’s needs. In 1952, the Northumberland County Council decided that this kind of group care, even at its best, failed to provide the children witlx, the love and care they needed. The council closed its own nursery and ever since has relied on foster homes for the placing of all the young children in its care. The author not only describes the Northumberland experiment which was at the time revolutionary, but discusses the whole question of young children in the care of local authorities. Central in this discussion is the term, “the deprived child.” The expression clearly refers to something of great importance. Nevertheless one has the uneasy feeling that the future may see this phrase used without discrimination to explain anything and everything. If the phrase remains in use as it almost certainly will, it is to be hoped that it. will quickly acquire the content necessary to make it more than a convenient label. Miss Balls writes well and sensibly, illustrating her discussion with accounts of children with whom she is familiar. “Where Love Is” can be expected to appeal to all who are' fond of children and concerned for their welfare as well as those engaged in social work.