About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

7 Prob. 1 (1954-1955)

handle is hein.journals/probj7 and id is 1 raw text is: PROBATION The Journal of the National Association of Probation Officers PRICE ONE SHILLING Jan. - Feb. I 9 5 4 VOLUME 7 CONTENTS NUMBER I Page Page OMES THAT FAIL: Southampton Group 1 OBITUARY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... .... 8 OPERATION CO-OPERATION ............ 3 BRANCH LINES ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 9 HOW CANADA IS HANDICAPPED: J. P. Eddy, Q.C. 4 DIARY ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 10 PERIODICALS ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 6 N.A.P.O. RESERVE FUND ... ... ... ... ... 11 FILM NOTES ... ... ... ... ...... ... ... 7 LONDON POLICE COURT MISSION ... ... ... 11 NEW YEAR HONOURS ... ... ... ... ... ... 7 SECRETARY'S NOTES ... ... ... ... ... ... 12 HOMES THAT FAIL By THE SOUTHAMPTON DISCUSSION GROUP (The following notes have been made by a number of Social Workers known as the Southampton Discussion Group and are produced here by their permission) Sooner or later every social worker will be asked, or will find himself obliged, to label the families with whom he works. He may be required by a court, or a board or even his own committee, to put the family into one category or another. The requirements of modern statistical research are specially guilty of this kind of request. Yet the -labelling of a family as good? or bad is to ignore the depths of complexity with which every human relationship abounds, and to arrogate to oneself an omniscience one does not possess. It is there- fore in the spirit of search that this delicate matter is approached, knowing that subjective assessments are being made all over the country, and hoping by thus airing the matter to find some common ground upon which decisions are taken. LIMITS OF THE SUBJECT: CRITERIA OF JUDGMENT There are obviously plenty of inadequate homes, con- .aining no children, but for the purposes of this discussion we limited ourselves to those including one or more; and the criterion of judgment is the effect the home has on the natural growth of the children. In order to provide ourselves with standards and to give texture to the criteria, some consideration was needed of the elements most necessary to a child if he is to have an adequate -home background. We felt these resolved themselves into three. The most important is the spirit of the home. If there is adequate affection between the parents, and between parents and children, and between- the children themselves, and this affection leads to mutual respect and protection and to-a willing- ness to sacrifice the self for the sake of the others, then the harmony so essential to the growing ground of the child is present. When this is accompanied by general willingness to share the difficulties and responsibilities of the family according to age and ability, and a feeling by each unit of. being wanted, and of having a part to play, then the family relationship is an invaluable experience for each of its members. The next in importance is the material condition of the home. This is not to suggest that wealth, cleanliness, good clothing and luxurious food are essential. Indeed, many houses are quite adequate without a superfluity of any of these. But a child finds security in orderliness and rhythm, and generally the best environment contains a patterzr of living involving dTscipline, imposed, sef and mutual Under this heading, too, might go the need for conditioi which lead all members of the family to respect the family property and to seek to keep up its value, while at the same time to have individual possessions which are likewise respected by the rest. It is felt that respect for one's own possessions encourages respect for those of others. Thirdly, no family is sufficient to itself, especially in these days of the small family. Some participation in the corporate life of the community is needed to expand the horizon of growing children. In this atmosphere of affection, respect for the freedom of others .(including the parents), orderliness and scope for growth of per- sonality and initiative, one would expect to find normal development in children and adolescents. In this enumeration of the qualities of the adequate home, we are supremely conscious that the effect of the environment even of one home differs from child to child, and that what may meet the needs of one may not do so for another. The causes of this phenomenon are beyond our competence, but are of such importance as to warrant intensive study and research. We are also aware that the removal of one child, e.g., a mentally disabled one, may change a home which -had failed the whole family, to one that is reasonably normal. Moreover, homes vary according to the age of a child. Thus a child of ten or eleven may thrive in a home having a disastrous effect on a child of eight years, or vice versa. Or absence for a year or two may allow enough time for a child to mature sufficiently to take advantage 'of what the home has to offer, while he turns elsewhere to meet his other needs. (Continued overleaf)

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Short-term subscription options include 24 hours, 48 hours, or 1 week to HeinOnline.

Purchase Access

Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most