The Gazette 1967/71

286 / 736

approximate to the influence of a mother in a
natural home.
We believe by reason of the low fee provided by
the State for the maintenance of children in these
Institutions that the qualification of the teachers is
not of the same standard as those found in normal
Schools. If our recommendation that children
should be sent for their education to normal day
Schools then the qualifications of the staff in the
School will not be of a teaching nature. Nonethe
less the staff of the dormitory as it were should
be of high quality and, there should be a child
psychologist to each one of these schools on a
wholetime basis. We consider this of the highest
importance because these children have not the
advantages of a normal home environment and
therefore make greater demands on the expertise
of the person to who^e charge they are committed,
therefore these persons should be more highly
qualified, if anything, than the staff of normal
boarding or day Schools.
We are conscious, that • the recommendations
which are being set out.will mfekc greater demands
on the Department of Finance: Fortunately there
is ample room for-improve re because at
the present time the fees the State to
Institutions for. the accomm f-children of
this kind are completely inadequate;.arid'';is the
primei factor leading;,to , the' complete breakdown
in the system. Indeed were it/not for the self
sacrifice and dedication of the people who run
these Schools .the whole system would have
broken down completely long ago.
It is quite improper for society ;to impose upon
dedicated people of this kind ;and not only to
impose upon them, but to deprive them of the
opportunities of doing the work to which they are
so dedicated. It seems to us that the State has
taken the attitude that they will get rid of this
problem at the cheapest possible price regardless
of whether or not they are working in a compet
itive market or imposing upon the self sacrifice of
the people who have engaged themselves in this
work. Apart altogether from the injustice of this
it is economically stupid, where the State skimp in
an unconscionable manner the allocation of funds
for the reformation and education of children who
are deprived of their home life for one reason or
other they are providing for themselves a prob
lem which will have to be provided for at a later
stage at much greater expense to the community,
whereas if money were spent during the formative
years of these childrens existence, not only would
they not be a liability to the State later on but they
can become a great asset.
Where the home is broken by reason of the
death or defection of one or other of the parents,
we feel it is of the utmost importance that the
contact of the surviving or continuing parents with
the children should be preserved. In many cases
we are aware that it is difficult for the parent to
visit the children in the School, therefore a system
should be provided whereby the parent would be
enabled at the expense of the State to visit his or
her children at the School at regular intervals and
not only to visit them but to be enabled when
visiting them to take the children out for the
evening, in the same way as any natural parent
would do if his child were at a Boarding School.
It need not be a lavish provision but it should be
reasonably adequate. For this reason also we
consider it highly desirable that the Schools shou'rl
be more widely dispersed and of a smaller kind co
that the children can be committed to School as
near as possible to their relatives so that the
relatives may visit them, not only on the occasions
when they are subsidised by the State but on other
occasions if they feel the wish to do.
In order also that the child's situation may
approximate as close as possible to his more for
tunate brethern outside he should be provided
with some money to spend in the same way as a
parent would provide pocket money for his child.
This money should be provided and given to the
children weekly by the house master or the matron
or the assistant matron as the case may be. We
think the existing practice whereby a parent is
compelled to,make some small contribution (which
is quite ineffectual) to the maintenance of his
child, in a mistaken view that that will maintain
a contact between him and the child, should be
discontinued except where the parent is able and
willing to make such a contribution. Such cases
should be a rarity and indeed the parent should
be left to make a proper contribution of his own
free will for clothes and holidays and other small
luxuries for his child which tend to minh to
cement the bond of affection betwen parent and
child.
We feel also that the visitation of Schools by
outside persons not connected at all with the State
or the Department but consisting merely of well
disposed persons who would associate themselves
with a number of the children in the School is
very desirable so that the children may have some
person in whom they can confide and talk about
their difficulties the same as they would to a parent