THE WORLD CRISIS

Evening Star, Issue 21508, 5 September 1933, Page 10

THE WORLD CRISIS

EFFECT ON CHILDREN A WORLD-WIDE INQUIRY SOME SERIOUS RISKS An inquiry has been made by tbe Save the Children Fund into the effects of unemployment on the children of the unemployed and on unemployed young workers in Great Britain. This is part of a world-wide inquiry undertaken by the Save the Children International Union. The report of the inquiry in Britain is based on the replies to a lengthy questionnaire dividing the subject into the two main divisions of the effects on children of school age and under due to the unemployment of parents, and the effects on children and young persons over school age due to their own unemployment. But the report is something more than a bare summary of ascertained effects, and makes a number of suggestions, writes the Labour correspondent of ■ ‘ The Times.’ In a general survey of the conditions induced by unemployment the report notes tbe loss of morale and the effects on children in the houses so afi'oeted. Reference is made to the value of occupational centres and to the emergency open-air nurseries for the children of the unemployed which the Save the Children Fund is establishing, and there are comments on the better effects on morale of the more useful kinds of occupation, and of the possibility of the means test being a discouragement to the search for supplementary sources of income. In areas where unemployment is on a large scale there is a sense of hopelessness among the workless, but “ this attitude is far from general.” It is stated also that there are many who prefer to suffer, and perhaps to let their children suffer, rather than apply for relief from the public assistance authority. CAUSES OF HARDSHIP. So much for the general conditions. With regard to the particular circumstances of the unemployed the provisions of the law in respect of benefit and relief are quoted, and the report says that hardship to children must be due in the main to one of the following causes:—(l) Bedrock inadequacy of the scale of payments authorised by the State, either generally or for particular classes of families; (2) failure, for reasons which may or may not be adequate, on the part of the local authority to do what it is authorised to do by Parliament; (3) failure on the part of parents to make the most of what is or can bo done for them. This failure may be due to the individual characteristics of the parents or to the effect produced on them by lack of opportunity to obtain occupation suitable for maintaining their morale during unemployment. In a chapter of summary and conclusions the report says there was naturally great variety to the answers to the questions as to how the children of today compare with those of 1925, “ but it can be definitely stated that there has been no general deterioration.” In a large number of answers clothing is said to be worse. In the majority of answers it is stated that discipline and manners have improved. The indications as to nutrition are much less definite, even where apparently clear comparative figures are given. GROWING RISK. From the reports of the Chief Medical Officer to the Board of Education it appeared that in 1925 the proportion or under-nourished children in the schools was 9.5 per 1,000, and in 1931 it was 11.2 per 1,000. As the committee of inquiry has information of improvement in this respect in some places it assumes that where there has been deterioration it must have been on a scale higher than that indicated for the country as a whole. “Wo feel that, while the amount of actual deterioration has not been great, there is an increasing number of cases where there is a serious risk of malnutrition. It is the risk of malnutrition rather than the fact with which wo arc most impressed.” From 1927 to 1931 there was an increase in unemployment, but the general fall in the cost of living, and the increase in the provision of school meals appear to have largely counteracted the effect of increased unemployment. In 1932 not only did the amount of unemployment continue to increase, but there was a reduction in the amount of benefit allowed. “ This may not have had a serious effect on those whose unemployment was temporary, but must have increased tbe risk of malnutrition for families subject to prolonged unemployment, and it is certain that there are classes where this risk is very great.”

THREE FACTORS. Three factors are mentioned as constituting, either singly or in combination, a risk that children will suffer when a family has no means beyond unemployment benefit or relief. They are—rent beyond a figure of ss, winch it is generally considered can be paid from unemployment benefit; a large number of children; and children whose ages involve the need of food approximating to the adult scale. “ The factor which most frequently brings unemployed families into' the danger zone is clearly high rent.” There is a possibility" of help if application is made for a supplementary allowance in tbe form of public assistance. When tbe rent is considerably in excess of 5s applications arc generally granted in London. The committee had little evidence as to the practice elsewhere, and refrains from drawing general conclusions from certain family budgets which suggest that grants over tho unemployment scale may be unusual. The report suggests that when the Government takes over responsibility fox* unemployment, supplementary _ grants should be made wherever a high rent, in itself xxot xxnreasonable. brings tbe family into the danger zone. When the number of children brings a family into the danger zone then the report, suggests that school meals provide the corx-ect remedy. For children below the school age the danger time is betxvocn two and five \ears, and provision for those children at matonxity and child welfare eenti-cs “ is an urgent matter.” The committee of inquiry obtained little information concerning the juveniles who have left school and have not yet found employment. This class is at a stage of development where adequate nourishment is essential, but there seemed to be no special moans by which tbev could be helped. To some extent tbe problem could be solved by retaining them at school (as is done at Cardiff"), when they would remain eligible fox- school meals. Otherwise the solution would seem to be in an extension of invenile training centres and arraxieonionts for the provision of meals at those centres.