New trend in work of P.S.S.A.

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33033, 28 September 1972, Page 9

New trend in work of P.S.S.A.

The need to find accommodation for the pregnant single girl has almost gone; it has been replaced by the need to find accommodation for the unmarried mother who has decided to keep her child, says Mr J. Shaw, a family social worker for the Presbyterian Social Service Association in the annual report of the association, which will be presented today.

Accommodation, employment and nursery-care problems have been created by the mother who keeps her baby, says Mr Shaw. Solo parents have been receiving more counselling and support, he adds, and there has been an alarming number of breakdowns in marriages. “At present we assist solo parents who have approximately 130 children between them,” he says in the report. “I am certain that if we did not care for troubled parents at home we would find that we would have to care for many of the children on a full-time basis.” In the last year, the P.S.S.A. has had requests to care for 72 children. Mrs Miles’s home for backward and handicapped children has accommodated 28 children. Fostering is still the associa-

tion’s main way of placing children, and 31 have been looked after in this manner during the year. The P.S.S.A. has also assisted to equip three rehabilitation homes for mentally-ill patients from Sunnyside.

“There are signs that these homes have proved to be a major advantage in rehabilitating patients to normal community life,” says Mr Shaw in the report.