The Children's Department
The sixth report of the work of the Children's Department of the Home Office, published this week after an interval of thirteen years, covers a period of intensive development. Since 1938 there has been, as well as the disturbances of war, a spate of legislation affecting children. The Children Act, following the Cu-'is Report, has brought deprived as well as delinquent children under the jurisdiction of the Home Office, and local authorities have appointed children's officers and formed children's committees. An obligation has been put on local authorities to board out as far as possible the children in their care. Adoption law has also been modified. With all this activity there have been disappointments. In 1950, of the nearly sixty thousand children in the care of local authorities, only 37 per cent. were boarded out, boys being more difficult to place than girls, authorities varying in their. success from 73 per cent. to 9 per cent. Voluntary organisations are also not making enough use of the boarding-out system. More contact (" uncle and aunt" schemes) is needed between children in institutions and people outside. Child delinquency has nCrt continued to decline since the immediate post-war years ; there was a dis: quieting rise in the first half of 1950. Among satisfactory developments may be noted the improvement of institution life, mainly in the direction of " family " units, the better training of staff, the greater use of psychology in the treatment of delin- quents and the notable increase in the number of adoptions. This long and detailed report makes it clear that, in spite of bad legacies from the past, more is being done than ever before to develop "sound and happy citizens."
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