.vRECIDIvTSM IN UNMARRIED MOTHERS: PROBLEMS OF THE SOCIAL WORK APPROACH by HELEN DALRYMPLE McCRAE Thesis Submitted i n P a r t i a l Fulfilment of the Requirements f o r the Degree of MASTER OF SOCIAL WORK i n the Department of S o c i a l Work 1949 The University of B r i t i s h Columbia ABSTRACT The accompanying t h e s i s , w r i t t e n as part of the re-quirements f o r the Degree of Master of S o c i a l Work, and e n t i t l -ed "Recidivism i n Unmarried Mothers: Problems of the S o c i a l Work Approach", i s designed to make the general public con-scious of the part i t should play i n the prevention and t r e a t -ment of unmarried motherhood. I t i s taken as axiomatic that unmarried motherhood, i n our culture, i s but one presenting facet of a g i r l ' s disturbed personality. S o c i a l Casework with the unmarried mother i s seen to be a l l the more important, because, i f the personality d i f f i c u l t i e s of the mother are unresolved or heightened by unmarried parenthood, they can tend to produce a r e p e t i t i o n of the experience which led to the f i r s t pregnancy. The degree of the unmarried mother's i n t e l l i g e n c e , and the time of her r e f e r r a l to the s o c i a l agency, are seen as the c r i t i c a l factors which determine whether or not the caseworker i s able to form a constructive relationship with her. With t h i s i n mind, cases of r e c i d i v i s t s known to the Vancouver Children's Aid Society during the year 1946 are examined, with p a r t i c u l a r reference to (1) the i n t e l l i g e n c e of the g i r l s concerned, and (2) whether or not they were referred to the agency before, or a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d . The conclusion i s reached that> i n p r a c t i c e , the de-gree of the unmarried mother's i n t e l l i g e n c e Is not the major issue facing the s o c i a l worker, but that the d i f f i c u l t y l i e s b a s i c a l l y i n the weakness of her actual contact with the mother. This weakness i s shown to be due to a number of factors: delayed r e f e r r a l ; "peculiar personality" of the un-married mother; emphasis on ear l y establishment of paternity; pressure of work, and lack of p s y c h i a t r i c consultation. I t i s pointed out that the p u b l i c , while i t has come a long way i n modifying i t s cfitfsorious a t t i t u d e to i l l e g i t i m a c y , has not yet achieved f u l l understanding of i t s implications. The resources i n the community f o r the treatment and r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of the unmarried mother are d e f i n i t e l y . l i m i t e d , and at present, the s o c i a l agency i s bearing the f u l l weight of the problem. Var-ious suggestions are made as to the ways and means of mmedying the s i t u a t i o n . The experience with unmarried mothers on which t h i s study i s based, has been obtained p r i m a r i l y while the w r i t e r was employed as a s o c i a l worker for the B r i t i s h Columbia Prov-i n c i a l F i e l d Service. I t has been done with f u l l awareness of i t s d e f i c i e n c i e s , and i t i s hoped that t h i s study w i l l fore-shadow further ones which w i l l add the specialized experience of the private agencies to the knowledge which one worker has gained from the more general f i e l d of a public agency. TABLE OF CONTENTS Part I . Chapter 1. The Attitude of Society An h i s t o r i c a l resume of the status of the unmarried mother and her c h i l d . S o c i a l and l e g a l aspects. Methods of care. Future trends. Chapter 2. The Causes A general discussion of the theories regarding the causes of unmarried motherhood. The influence of heredity and environment. The emotional component. Chapter 3. Attempts to Face Facts A review of a l l i e d studies on the unmarried mother. The f i r s t case studies. The inconsistency of re s u l t s . The "Peculiar Personal Equation" of the unmarried mother. Part I I . Chapter 4. The Current S i t u a t i o n The scope of the problem. General aspects of the s i t u a -t i o n i n Canada, B r i t i s h Columbia, and Vancouver. The sp e c i a l c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the Vancouver Children's Aid Society. Chapter 5. The F a c i l i t i e s Vancouver Children's Aid S o c i e t y — i t s h i s t o r y and c l i e n -t e l e . The services available; psychiatric c l i n i c ; maternity home care; f i n a n c i a l and l e g a l aspects; special i z e d resources. Chapter 6. Casework Concepts A "new" orientat i o n i n casework. The need f o r a "con-fident r e l a t i o n s h i p " with the unmarried mother. D i f f i c u l t i e s encountered and how to overcome them by the professional approach. The therapeutic process defined. Part I I I . Chapter 7. The Presenting Problem The unmarried mother approaches the s o c i a l agency. Typical personality patterns. Non-resolution of the mother's personality d i f f i c u l t i e s may p r e c i p i t a t e another pregnancy. (Queries as to assessment of factors involved. Basis of analysis for t h i s assessment. Chapter 8. Special D i f f i c u l t i e s The unmarried mother of "below average" i n t e l l i g e n c e . Fundamentally a " d i f f i c u l t " person. Limited i n t e l l i g e n c e only one facet of her d i f f i c u l t i e s . Need f o r s e n s i t i v e approach to problem. D i f f i c u l t y of making adequate plans. E a r l y r e f e r r a l imperative. Relationships establishable only with long-term contact. Interpretation necessary f o r con-struc t i v e community planning. Chapter 9. Case Differences Cases Referred A f t e r C h i l d b i r t h Outlook more hopeful for casework with unmarried mothers of average or greater than average i n t e l l i g e n c e . The " c l i e n t -worker" rela t i o n s h i p . Professional approach of the worker. Time of r e f e r r a l again seen as c r i t i c a l point i n e s t a b l i s h -ment of constructive relationship. Chapter 10. Case Differences Cases Referred Before C h i l d b i r t h The worker " o f f base". Successful retrieve of a bad s i t u a t i o n . Pathology too great f o r treatment. A "private" placement that misfired. Cases .suggestive of prognostic value. P a r a l l e l s ituations found i n oases referred before the b i r t h of the c h i l d . More reeent r e c i d i v i s t s present t y p i c a l picture of l a t e r e f e r r a l and d i f f i c u l t i e s unresolved. Part IV. Chapter 11. Evaluation and Conclusion The "common denominator". Weakness i n casework t r e a t -ment l i e s i n actual contact with worker. Analysis of the factors contributing to t h i s weakness; delayed r e f e r r a l ; "peculiar personality" of unmarried mother; ear l y e s t a b l i s h -ment of paternity; pressure of work and lack of p s y c h i a t r i c consultation, defects i n community organization. Needs f o r prevention and treatment. Appendix: Bibliography. RECIDIVISM IN UNMARRIED MOTHERS: PROBLEMS OF THE SOCIAL WORK APPROACH. Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Part I . The Attitude of Society. The Causes. Attempts to Face Facts. 1. Chapter 1. The Attitude of Society. nA problem as o l d and unresolved as human existence i t s e l f . Through the ages, i t has remained a matter of morals and p o l i c y , rather than s c i e n t i f i c theory. I t has been viewed as an e v i l occurrence c a l l i n g f o r a d i s t r i b u t i o n of blame, a manifestation of repentance, and an adjudication of ri g h t s and duties." (Kingsley Davis: " I l l e g i t i m a c y and the S o c i a l Structure", American Journal of Sociology. Sept. 1939, p.215.) Before concentrating attention s p e c i f i c a l l y on r e c i d -ivism i n unmarried mothers, a preliminary reconnaissance of the 0 general aspects of her s i t u a t i o n through the years seems necessary to Increase our knowledge and deepen our understand-ing. I t i s t r i t e but true to say that " i l l e g i t i m a c y i s as old as ma r i t a l law, and, In one form or another, I t has been a universal s o c i a l phenomen."l Universal though i t i s , the prob-lem of the unmarried mother has been accorded varying degrees of acceptance by society, according to the sex mores and m a r i t a l regulations of the time. P r i m i t i v e women i n some cultures f i n d t h e i r marriage value Increased because they have demon-strated t h e i r f e r t i l i t y , and they and t h e i r children are given reiady acceptance into the t r i b e . By contract, unmarried mother-hood has, i n other s o c i e t i e s , meant death f o r the mother, or the c h i l d ; sometimes i t has meant death f o r both, according to the t r i b a l customs. I r o n i c a l l y , early C h r i s t i a n i t y worsened the status of the unmarried mother. In g l o r i f y i n g the family and attempt-ing to put an end to unchastity, i t placed emphasis on the 1 Ruth D. Nottingham: "A Psychological Study of 40 Unmarried Mothers", Genetic Psychology Monograph. Aug. 1937, Vol.19,No.3. " s i n " of extra-marital relationships. Naturally, condemnation f e l l most e a s i l y on the i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant woman, whose " s i n " was self-evident. She had to "confess" before the con-gregation, and was forced to endure the humiliation of public castigation. Her c h i l d was neglected, and was made the object of discrimination. These repressive measures, as so often i n other f i e l d s of human welfare, did not have the desired curative e f f e c t , but only resulted, as one w r i t e r has said, i n "concealment, abortion, maternal mortality and i n f a n t i c i d e " . Indeed, i n f a n t i c i d e became so prevalent, that the church had to take cognizance of i t , and assume a more r e a l i s t i c approach. Thus the s i x t h century saw the establishment of the f i r s t foundling home. However, the church did not modify i t s censure of the mother, and she and her c h i l d were s t i l l p u b l i c -l y condemned. The early s e t t l e r s to America brought with them t h e i r old attitude and b e l i e f s , but women were few and highly prized i n the new land, hence the pioneer woman did not f i n d herself m a t e r i a l l y handicapped by having a c h i l d out of wedlock. However, as the settlements became more f i r m l y established, t h i s tolerant a t t i t u d e changed. This i s i n keeping with the thesi s elaborated by Kingsley Davis, that "the stronger the family t i e s i n the mores of society, the more d i s t i n c t i s the status of the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d (and i t s mother) 1. 2 1 Frank H. Hankins: " I l l e g i t i m a c y " , Encyclopedia of the Socia l Sciences. Vol. 7, p. 579. 2 " I l l e g i t i m a c y and the S o c i a l Structure", The American Journal of Sociology. Sept. 1939, pp. 215-233. 3. Varying d i s t i n c t i o n s i n the l e g a l status of the un-married mother and her c h i l d have always been apparent. Frank H. Hankins, the writer previously quoted, points out the ancient Roman Law was f i r s t based on the p r i n c i p l e of agnation, and hence the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d had neither father nor mother.^ Later, kinship became based on the broader concept of cognation, and then the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d had r i g h t s of support and succession from i t s mother. The Roman Law was superseded by that of the Christianized Empire, and the ri g h t s of a l l i l l e g -itimate childrem against t h e i r mothers were suppressed—except i n the case of those born i n concubinage. C h r i s t i a n i t y , which deepened the " s i n " of the unmarried mother, c l a s s i f i e d her c h i l d according to her " g u i l t " . The degree of t h i s guild; was measured by the type of union which produced the c h i l d , and the i l l e g i t i m a t e child's property ri g h t s depended upon whether he was ex damnato ooitu or l i b e r i n aturale. 8 In the Middle Ages, though l e g a l theory maintained that the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d had a right to support, he was often treated as a serf, and the combination of harsh punishment f o r the mother, and denial of l e g a l rights to the c h i l d , was u n i v e r s a l . 3 English common-law had no gradations; the bastard (so called) was f l l i u s n u l l i u s . and the mother herself could be punished as a "lewd woman". Int e r e s t i n g l y enough, i t was the very fact that the c h i l d here had no one to support i t , and was 1 I b i d , p. 580 et seq. 2 Frank H. Hankins, op. c i t . p. 581. 3 Grace Abbott: The Child and the State. V o l . 2, p. 494. thus thrust upon the u n w i l l i n g parish f o r maintenance, that eventually won for i t the right to l e g a l support from i t s parents. The colonization of America by English s e t t l e r s i n the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries meant that the b e l i e f s , a t titudes, and practices of the common law of England were transplanted with them, and took f i r m root i n the new land. Thus there, too, the emphasis was not on the welfare of the mother and her c h i l d , but on the determination of the basis of support. There was an attempt during the French Revolution to effect a r a d i c a l change i n the r i g h t s of the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d , but i t proved abortive, and the Code Napoleon ( a r t i c l e 340) f l a t l y declared " l a recherche de l a paternite est i n t e r d i t e " . ^ Thus neither the unmarried mother nor her c h i l d had any r i g h t s . I t was not u n t i l the general s o c i a l awakening of the l a t e nineteenth and early twentieth centuiLes that there was "a more i n t e l l i g e n t and humane approach to the problem of i l l e g i t i m a c y " . 2 Then the t r a i l was blazed by Norway, which enacted the famous Castberg Law i n 1915. This was the f i r s t r a d i c a l departure from the o l d morass which had mired both mother and c h i l d . I t recognized c l e a r l y and r a t i o n a l l y that the c h i l d had two parents, declared that they were equally responsible f o r i t s upbringing (thus i n d i r e c t l y decreasing the stigma which had formerly been attached to the mother), and placed on the State the respon-" s i b i l i t y f o r establishing paternity. 1 I b i d , p. 494. 2 I b i d , p. 498. 5. The Castberg Law was given considerable publicity, and was discussed i n t e r n a t i o n a l l y ; but, i n general, there was l i t t l e government care and planning for the unmarried mother and c h i l d u n t i l a f t e r the f i r s t World War. People appeared to become conscious of the value of these, children as future c i t i z e n s and p o t e n t i a l warriors, and governments veered from the o r i g i n a l purpose of protecting public funds, to attempt instead the better service of the inte r e s t s of mother and c h i l d . Evidence of t h i s change i n public attitude can be seen i n the now grow-ing tendency i n many countries to place r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the maintenance of the unmarried mother and her c h i l d on l o c a l public welfare departments. Over the years, the s o c i a l and l e g a l status accorded by society to the unmarried mother and here- c h i l d has been i n -vari a b l y r e f l e c t e d by the various methods developed to care f o r them. For example, the f i r s t organized method of care was the Foundling Home, the o r i g i n of which i s traceable to the Church i n I t a l y , during the s i x t h century. This plan did not stem so much from an enlightened attempt to help the mother her s e l f , as i t did from a desire to curb the r i s i n g t i d e of i n f a n t i c i d e brought on by the pr e v a i l i n g repressive measures against i l l e g i t i m a c y . These homes spread f i r s t to France, and eventually throughout Europe. In the twelfth oentury, as an additional inducement to women to use t h e i r f a c i l i t i e s , the "tour", or turn box, was evolved, and so constructed that the c h i l d could be l e f t at the home without the mother's i d e n t i t y 6. being revealed.^ In England, the Foundling Homes were supplanted l a t e r by the infamous almshouses. Eventually, t h i s provision too was carried to America by the colonists. Into the almshouse the unmarried mother was throyfwn, along with the old and the young, the diseased and the insane. Stigmatized, never given a chance to improve her p o s i t i o n , she was usually pushed down to further degradation. I t took a long time, even with the general s o c i a l awakening during the nlnetwenth century, f o r s u f f i c i e n t people to cry out against such a barbarous method of "care" to get i t changed. The reform was begun by groups of ind i v i d u a l s who established private "rescue homes" and "shelters" f o r the un-married mother. In the course of the nineteenth century, these matern-i t y homes, though uniform i n t h e i r purpose of sheltering the unmarried mother from the scorn of the p u b l i c , came to be divided into two groups i n t h e i r p o l i c y regarding her c h i l d . One, which concentrated on missionary work with the mother, believed the "the c h i l d would be a potent factor In holding the mother to new ide a l s acquired through the influence of the home; that he would completely f i l l her l i f e and leave no void or desire for her former associates"* 2 They therefore routine-l y discharged a l l babies along with t h e i r mothers. The other 1 The "tour" was a box b u i l t on a pi v o t , i n the door of the home. The mother could pivot the box round toward her, place her c h i l d i n i t , turn i t so that the c h i l d would face into the home, p u l l the b e l l and f l e e into the night. 2 S.M. Donahue: "Children Born out of Wedlock", Annals of the American Academy of P o l i t i c a l and S o c i a l Science. Sept., 1930. group was motivated s o l e l y by a desire to sh i e l d the mother and "keep her seore"bS; accordingly, they developed a p o l i c y of discharging the mother while keeping her baby i n care. These homes a c t u a l l y d i d very l i t t l e f o r the unmarried mother except give her shelter and care during confinement, though i f i t was t h e i r p o l i c y to "keep her secret", they some-times arranged adoption f o r her c h i l d . They made no pro v i s i o n for the mother's after-care. I f a woman were luckless enough to have a second i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d she was looked upon as so hopelessly, degraded, that a private rescue home receiving her was thereby somewhat d i s c r e d i t e d . ! This same period saw the development of the commer-c i a l maternity home, many of which are s t i l l i n existence i n various parts of the United States and Canada. These are profit-making enterprises. They are not kept under control by Welfare Licencing Acts, and they make a good business of pr i v a t e l y placing babies f o r adoption. As Mary F. Smith points out, s o c i a l work was just i n i t s infancy (1890 - 1910), and the few workers who came i n contact with the unmarried mother had an almost unquestioned authority to undertake the task of reclaiming the " f a l l e n woman" to " r i g h t standards". 2 Opinion, however, was divided as. to whether the mother should.or should not keep her c h i l d . I f she di d , the worker usually accepted with out question''that 1 Mary S. Richmond: S o c i a l Diagnosis, p. 95. 2 Mary F. Smith: "Changing Emphasis i n Case Work with. Unmarried Mothers", The Family, Jan., 1934. 8. "a healthy young woman can usually maintain herself and her ch i l d i n a home with good people of moderate means who cannot pay high wages".1 In the United States, i t was the then recently-org-anized Children's Bureau that f i r s t c a l l e d public attention to the s o c i a l r e s u l t s of the current treatment accorded to un-married mother and her c h i l d . I t published an English trans-l a t i o n of the Castberg Law,, and l a t e r published a report on i l l e g i t i m a c y laws of the United States and other countries. In 1920, i t organized a regional conference i n Chicago and New York to study illegitimacy.'' Though t h i s p r i m a r i l y c a l l e d attention to the public health and c h i l d welfare aspects of the si t u a t i o n , i t was the f i r s t r e a l e f f o r t to give thoughtful study to the s i t u a t i o n of the unmarried mother. Later i t pub-lish e d a report on the regional conferences and the I n t e r - C i t y conference on i l l e g i t i m a c y . 3 This brought about widespread int e r e s t i n the problems surrounding the unmarried mother and the c h i l d born out of wedlock. A number of research projects were set i n motion, notably Percy G. Kammerer' s The Unmarried Mother, which was published i n 1918 and showed the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of i n d i v i d u a l case studies. With the new in t e r e s t aroused by Mary S. Richmond i n her book S o c i a l Diagnosis, and the stimulus given by the re-search studies to learning more about cause and ef f e c t , 1 I b i d . 2 Grace Abbott: The Child and the State. Vol. 2, p. 500. 3 U.S. Children's Bureau Pu b l i c a t i o n , No. 77, 1921. 9. emphasis began to be l a i d on seouring an adequate s o c i a l h i s t o r y on the unmarried mother. In other words, she had moved from being lumped together with other women and t h e i r children as a " s o c i a l problem", to the realm where she at l a s t was being seen as a human being. Now i t began to be re a l i z e d that plans for her care should be made, and should be made on an i n d i v i d u a l basis. This thinking was outlined i n V i r g i n i a Robinson*s book, A Changing Psychology i n S o c i a l Case Work, which was published i n 1930. From t h i s point on, s o c i a l workers t r i e d to seek an understanding of the c l i e n t s 1 s personality. They began to see that the unmarried mother had the ri g h t to decide whether or not she wished to keep her baby, c e r t a i n l y a ra d i c a l departure from a few years previous, when i t was righteously f e l t that the unmarried mother should keep her c h i l d to ensure i t s proper care, and so that i t should help to " s t a b i l i z e her". S o c i a l workers soon became so concerned with the un-married mother's " r i g h t s " to come to her decision without pressure, that they leaned over backwards to ensure that they would not influence her i n any way. As a r e s u l t , the a l l - t o o -f a m i l i a r instance became evident, of the c h i l d trundled from foster home to fo s t e r home, while the mother was i n the process of coming to her decision. Workers everywhere, as we l l as c l i e n t s , were caught i n t h i s dilemma. During the depression years, s o c i a l workers were primarily concerned with administer-ing actual " r e l i e f i n kind"; but towards the close of that period there was a r e v i v a l i n studies of the unmarried mother. 10. Two of the most in t e r e s t i n g ones, referred to l a t e r , recommend** ed the establishment of specialized services for them.' I t was f e l t that " a f t e r . . . years of concentrated e f f o r t and study (a worker would be) more responsive to the problems of un-married mothers, i n much the way any s p e c i a l i s t becomes sensit-ized to and steeped i n a problem to which he has given h i s whole attention for a time".l From these studies came a f i r m conviction that fundamentally the unmarried mother was struggling with problems s i m i l a r to those of other disturbed g i r l s , and that i t was merely her "presenting problem" that was unique. Emphasis was l a i d on the warm, sustaining role of the worker which, i t was f e l t , should supply the deficiencies i n the g i r l ' s own mother. 2 To t h i s view has l a t e l y been added the conviction that the worker has a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y to a s s i s t the unmarried mother i n coming to a decision: that she should not l e t the g i r l flounder i n an e f f o r t to make her own judgments, but should sustain and re-lnforce those which are healthy. A recent method of care, developed- within the f i e l d of casework, i s the use of supervised private work homes where the mother may go p r i o r to confinement. Like other approaches, t h i s cannot be used as a "blanket solution"; i t must depend on the i n d i v i d u a l g i r l . Many g i r l s who cannot accept the regiment-ation of a Maternity Home, respond w e l l i n the private home. 1 "Case Work Services f o r Unmarried Mothers" (the report of a Seminar of St. Louis Children's Aid Society and the St. Louis Provident Association), The Famiily. Nov., 1941. 2 Babette Black: "The Unmarried Mother—Is She Di f f e r e n t ? " , The Family. July, 1945, p. 168., 11. Of course, much depends on the g i r l and even more on the character and maturity of her employer. Some communities have developed as a resource the licensed private boarding home f o r children, which makes i t possible f o r the unmarried mother to leave her c h i l d . i n good care while she goes out to work. These homes, too, have to be c a r e f u l l y screened, as jealousies and differences are l i a b l e to a r i s e between the natural mother and the foster mother over the care of the c h i l d . I t i s i n t e r e s t -ing to read i n a recent B r i t i s h report on the subject that, "homes f o r unmarried mothers and t h e i r babies from which the mother can go out to work" are advocated.! The report goes on to say "such homes might well be suitable f o r widowed or desert-ed mothers as well as f o r unmarried mothers and would help to make the c h i l d born out of wedlock less conspicuous since he would be merely one of the other fatherless children". A type of home has a c t u a l l y been established i n Russia, which i s somewhat l i k e the old maternity home, but which i s intended f o r unmarried mothers and widows'' "who may remain with t h e i r children f o r three months before, and three months a f t e r c h i l d -b i r t h " . 2 I t i s a f a r ery from the days of the old foundling home, where the mother thrust her baby over the threshold and f l e d to preserve her anonymity, to the present era of person-a l i z e d casework service f o r the unmarried mother. Nowadays i t 1 " B r i t i s h Report on Children Born out of Wedlock", The C h i l d , Sept. 1945, Vol. 10, No. 3. 2 Anna Kalet Smith: "Recent Developments i n Maternal C h i l d Health Work i n the U.S.S.R.*, The Ch i l d . A p r i l 1946, V o l . 10,No.l0. 12. i s f e l t that there i s no "blanket" care for the c h i l d or i t s mother. Instead, the s o c i a l worker, with the co-operation of the mother, assesses each i n d i v i d u a l s i t u a t i o n and makes use of whatever community resources seem indicated. Perhaps i t i s a private work home that i s required, where the unmarried mother may share to some extent i n the family l i f e : or, again, the sheltered care of the maternity home may best be suited to her needs. Later on, public funds may a s s i s t the mother to maintain her c h i l d I f she so desires, or she may wish to make use of the day nursery or boarding home to care f o r her c h i l d while she works to maintain i t . I f the g i r l decides that she does not wish to keep her c h i l d , the s k i l l e d s o c i a l worker a s s i s t s her with adoption home, or foster home placement as the case may be. However, there i s s t i l l much f o r which to aim. Some of the goals to which people should be s t r i v i n g f o r the protection of the unmarried mother and her c h i l d have been defined. F i r s t , i t i s now generally recognized that a l l children should be issued a "short" b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e , contain-ing only the name, date and place of b i r t h , Instead of one giving a l l the d e t a i l s of b i r t h and parentage. This would do much to prevent the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d from being "set apart" from other children. Again, though so f a r public, opinion has continued, f o r the most part, to censure the mother and hold her responsible f o r the care and support of her c h i l d , the fe e l i n g i s becoming more prevalent that a man should be con-sidered equally responsible for h i s c h i l d r e n , whether they be born i n or out of wedlock. Therefore the law should contain 1 3 . provision f o r either the unmarried mother or the state to take l e g a l action to establish paternity f o r the c h i l d . Once paternity i s established, the c h i l d should have the r i g h t to the f a t h e r 1 s name and have the same inheritance rights from him as a legitimate c h i l d . However, the establishment of paternity does not l e g i t i m i z e a c h i l d ; and there i s also need for provision that i f the parents subsequently marry, the c h i l d automatically becomes legitimized. I t i s also believed by Child Welfare a u t h o r i t i e s , that the state should have some control over the unmarried mother, so that she cannot place her c h i l d i n d i s c r i m i n a t e l y , and that the court should have continu-ing j u r i s d i c t i o n during the minority of the c h i l d both of custody and support. F i n a l l y , there would seem to be evidence that casework with the mother herself i s often broken o f f too abruptly; i t would appear that she i s i n need of as much support and guidance for a considerable period a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d , as she i s before i t . I t seems i n e v i t a b l e , since marriage i s the recognized s o c i a l i n s t i t u t i o n within which to rear a c h i l d , that the un-married mother and her c h i l d w i l l always have to bear certain handicaps: at the l e a s t , that of nonconformity; at the worst, a c r i p p l i n g s o c i a l stigma. The f a c t remains that just l e g i s -l a t i o n , as outlined above, complemented by enlightened public opinion, can do much to give the unmarried mother and her c h i l d the chance for the happy, useful l i f e which i s the r i g h t of every i n d i v i d u a l . 14* Chapter 2. The Causes. "In general, those ideas which are s t i l l almost u n i v e r s a l l y accepted i n regard to man's nature, his proper conduct and his rela t i o n s to God and his fellows, are f a r more ancient, and f a r less c r i t i c a l , than those which have to do with the movement of the stars, the s t r a t i f i c a t i o n of the rocks, and the l i f e of plants and animals." (James Harvey Robinson: The Mind i n the Making. Chapter 6, p. 7.). There was no theorizing at one time as to the causes of unmarried motherhood. Under the influence of Ch r i s t i a n thinking, i t was taken f o r granted that unchastity was a l l due to " o r i g i n a l s i n " . As long as people were dogmatically con-vinced of t h i s and of the necessity f o r enforcing " r i g h t " standards of l i v i n g , there were no doubts i n t h e i r minds to state t h e i r convictions. As has been noted, i t was only In the general s o c i a l awakening of the nineteenth century that people began to decry the customary attitude to the unmarried mother as "unchristian". Then followed the period when eff o r t s were made to redeem the unmarried mother as a "gallon" woman. These e f f o r t s extended, however, only to the f i r s t c h i l d . The mother's f i r s t "offence" could be forgiven, but i f she trans-gressed more than once, she was an object of hopeless depravity. There was s t i l l no doubt as to what "oaused" her " s i n " . I t was "weakness of the f l e s h " . I t was only as society was made aware of the tremendous s o c i a l costs of unmarried motherhood In suffering and i n l i f e i t s e l f , that c r i t i c a l thinking began to be f o c u s B d on these old ideas. In a book, Das Haltekinder wesen, published i n B e r l i n i n 1899, one w r i t e r stated h i s be-l i e f that the average mother of an i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d was led 15. . only by. her emotions, without any consideration of the future, and without the s l i g h t e s t r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the c h i l d ' s welfare. For t h i s reason he advocated professional guardians appointed by the state to supervise the c h i l d . ! One of the f i r s t systematic studies of the mother as a person was made by P.G. Eammerer i n 1918. From 500 oases of unmarried mothers, he painstakingly analysed the apparent "causes" of each woman* s mis-step. Exclusive of cases involving mental deficiency, he l i s t e d bad environment, bad companions, recreational disadvant-ages, educational disadvantages, bad home conditions, early sexual experiences, sexual s u g g e s t i b i l i t y , mental c o n f l i c t , heredity, assault, incest, and rape, as amongst the causative factors. He emphasized that none of the factors operated singly i n a given case, but that rather there was a " c l u s t e r " of causes. 2 Shortly a f t e r t h i s , another researcher substan-t i a t e d much of Hammerer's f i n d i n g but added the observation that "Frequently, i f not usually, the mother of two i l l e g i t i m a t e children i s feeble minded or otherwise abnormal and therefore i n need of a special form of care".^ Another r e p o r t , 4 published about the same time, stated that none of the mothers given service had had another c h i l d but that " a l l of those who have had a second or t h i r d c h i l d , have been those who were t r y i n g to support t h e i r i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d , whether i t was the f i r s t , 1 Cited i n Percy G. Kammerer: The Unmarried Mother, p. 17. 2 I b i d . 3 George G. Mangold: "Children Born out of Wedlock", U n i v e r s i t y of Missouri Studies. V o l . 3, No. 3, p. 112, June, 1921. 4 . Miss. Plows-Day: "Reasons f o r Advocating Adoption of I l l e g -itimate Children", London Dec. 1920, c i t e d i n Alberta Guibord and Ida Parker, What Becomes of the Unmarried Mother, Boston Research Bureau on S o c i a l Case Work, 1922, p. 23. 16. second or t h i r d " . So i t was believed by inference, that keep-ing the c h i l d was a factor i n recidivism. The Encyclopedia of S o c i a l Reform, published i n 1910, casts an i n t e r e s t i n g s i d e - l i g h t on another theory as to the oause of unmarried motherhood. In an a r t i c l e on i l l e g i t i m a c y , i t l i s t s a l l the factors which cannot be proven to cause i l l e g i t i m a c y . For example, i t states that i l l e g i t i m a c y cannot be due to differences i n r e l i g i o u s f a i t h , as one Catholic or Protestant country, as the case may be, w i l l have a high rate of i l l e g i t i m a c y , while another w i l l have a low one. Census figures are quoted to support t h i s statement. Again, i t states that i t cannot be due to crowded conditions i n the c i t y , as often the rate of i l l e g i t i m a c y i s higher i n the country than i n large c i t i e s . Census figures are again quoted to prove t h i s point. F i n a l l y , i t states that i l l e g i t i m a c y cannot be due to poverty or chronic want, as a comparison of s t a t i s t i c s obtained f o r the years 1901-1905, show that the poverty-stricken East End of London i s l e s s affected by i l l e g i t i m a t e b i r t h than the fashionable West End. So i t concludes "For the r e a l causes— one must look to c e r t a i n hereditary i n f l u e n c e s " . 1 This i s an i n t e r e s t i n g but not convincing conclusion. Too much weight has been placed here on simple negative correlations, and no attempt has been made to enumerate or prove the " c e r t a i n hereditary factors" that are presumed to be the cause of i l l e g -itimacy. 1 Albert L i f f i n g w e l l : " I l l e g i t i m a c y " , Encyclopedia of S o c i a l Reform. 17. I f there was one thing that these various studies re-vealed, i t was the fact that there are no known c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s which are peculiar only to the g i r l who becomes an unmarried mother. More and more i t became evident that each g i r l had her own co n s t e l l a t i o n of causes, and that the apparent factors which influenced her i n becoming i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant, could appear as either very obvious, or very obscure. Grace Abbott,^ summed up the current thinking thus? "... .. a study (of i l l e g i t i m a c y ) . . . would have involved . . . such personal factors i n the unmarried mothers as feeble-mindedness, ignorance of the b i o l o g i c a l facts of l i f e , high sexual s u g g e s t i b i l i t y , lack of i n d u s t r i a l proficiency and personality development . . . . The influence of family standards and i d e a l s , poverty i n the home, and immoral and un-sympathetic parents. Education, early employment, and the type of employment . . . . The pressure of a s o c i a l l y i n f e r i o r race, the p o s i t i o n of women, and the community a t t i t u d e to pre-marital relationships especially a f t e r betrothal, would also have been found to influence the i l l e g i t i m a c y rate of a nation." One factor which had appeared with monotonous reg-u l a r i t y i n the s o c i a l h i s t o r y of the unmarried mother, was that of the "broken" home. This appeared to give emphasis to the .importance of the emotional component of family r e l a t i o n -ships i n the early years of childhood as a determinant of the personality of the i n d i v i d u a l . This theory had been taught 1 Grace Abbott: The Child and the State. Vol. 2, p. 493. 18. by French and further expounded by F l u g e l . 1 Inconsistency of results i n the other studies of the causes of i l l e g i t i m a c y , brought about a swing to the consideration of the "psychological f a c t o r s " i n unmarried motherhood. Kasanin and Handschin, 2 In a most Interesting paper published i n 1941, point out that one authority as early as 1927 stated " . . . approaching the problem (of i l l e g i t i m a c y ) i n a s c i e n t i f i c way, one at once seeks the causes within the i n d i v i d u a l herself". This aspect however was not much elaborat-ed u n t i l the l a t e 1930's and early 1940*s when there grew more and more in t e r e s t i n t h i s viewpoint. Helene Deutsch and Florence Clo t h i e r were notable In discussions of the psycho-dynamics of unmarried motherhood. Miss Clothier made the following trench-ant statement which gives the essence of t h i s school of thought: "Unmarried motherhood i n our culture, represents a dis t o r t e d and u n r e a l i s t i c way out of inner d i f f i c u l t i e s and i s thus comparable to neurotic symptoms on the one hand and delinquent behaviour on the other". 3 Another w r i t e r goes on to state that i f the "inner d i f f i c u l t i e s " from which the o r i g i n a l pregnancy arose are un-resolved or heightened by motherhood, recidivism may follow i n a continued attempt to reduce inner tension.^ 1 J.G. Flugel: The Psycho-Analytic Study of the Family. Hogarth Press, London, England, 1921. 2 J". Kasanin and S. Handschin: "Psychodynamic Factors i n I l l e g i t i m a c y " , American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Jan. 1941. 3 Florence Clothier: "Psychological Implications of Unmarried Parenthood", American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, July 1943,p.531. 4 V i o l a Bernard: Psychodynamics of Unmarried Motherhood i n Early Adolescence", The Nervous C h i l d . Oct. 1944, p. 26. 19. Today i t i s accepted more and more that there _Ls no one answer to the cause of i l l e g i t i m a c y . The viewpoint which i s becoming generally acceptable i s simply and c l e a r l y enunciated i n the following statement: nThe cause of the behaviour that results i n unmarried motherhood may be f a i r l y simple or extreme-l y complex. Many (mothers) come from underpriviledged homes of f i n a n c i a l want, crowded housing, lack of wholesome recreation, family discord. Many f e e l they never had love and security from t h e i r parents.. They have been denied t h i s b i r t h - r i g h t of normal childhood. Under these conditions, i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy should not be looked upon merely as a sex experience and a v i o l a t i o n of the moral code of the community, but as a symptom of behaviour, expressing the needs of the i n d i v i d u a l " . 1 I t i s int e r e s t i n g to note the gradual evolution from the m o r a l i s t i c theory of o r i g i n a l s i n , through the attempt to s c i e n t i f i c a l l y tabulate external factors to the present day concept that i l l e g i t i m a c y i s merely one presenting form of a behaviour d i f f i c u l t y on. the part of the i n d i v i d u a l concerned. In the next chapter, t h i s change i n thought i s explored i n more d e t a i l through discussion of the various studies on the unmarried mother. 1 Maud Morlock: "Some Aspects of I l l e g i t i m a c y " , Proceedings of the Canadian Conference on Soc i a l Work. Hal i f a x , 1946. 20. Chapter 3. Attempts to Understand the Facts " I t Is unmistakable now, i n contrast to the early years of the (present) century, that the main orientation of s o c i a l work i s not authoritative and m o r a l i s t i c but s c i e n t i f i c and related to the modern world." (Bertha Capen Reynolds: Learning and Teaching In the Practice of S o c i a l Work, p. 20.) While over the years there was much discussion re-garding the various aspects of unmarried motherhood, there was r e a l l y no s c i e n t i f i c attempt to face up to the s i t u a t i o n and understand i t , u n t i l the beginning of t h i s century. From 1918 on however, there are divers studies on the subject, although i t has been possible to locate only one which deals with r e c i -divism i n unmarried mothers.1 These studies, while varying i n the i n d i v i d u a l approach, are a l l representative of the changing casework emphasis of t h i s period. The f i r s t study noted i s the one of Percy G. Kammerer which was mentioned previously. The emphasis of t h i s study was twofold. P r i m a r i l y Kammerer was interested i n the causative factors, but he was also concerned with the mother's r e l a t i o n -ship to her c h i l d . His work was scholarly and thorough and was r e a l l y the f i r s t to show the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of case studies. Three years l a t e r , Mangold made a s o c i o l o g i c a l study of i l l e g i t i m a c y . He devoted some time to studying the father of the c h i l d born out of wedlock, pointing out that they had re-ceived but scant attention from the workers. He cameto the 1 Ruth Riaborg: "Prediction of Recidivism i n Unmarried Mothers", Smith College Studies of S o c i a l Work. 1943. 31, i n t e r e s t i n g conclusion that the mentality of the putative father i s d i s t i n c t l y higher than that of the mother. This was not conclusively proven, but drawn as a c o r o l l a r y to h i s state-ment that " I t i s not probable that very many are feeble minded as the subnormal male Is more l i k e l y to use violence and come to g r i e f " . 1 He l a t e r mentioned that "frequently, i f not usually, the mother of two (or more) i l l e g i t i m a t e children i s feeble minded or otherwise abnormal and therefore i n need of a special form of care". 2 In a study made a year l a t e r , the emphasis i s d i f f e r e n t , and attempt being made to discover the outcome of unmarried motherhood. Dr. Guibord, a p s y c h i a t r i s t at the Church Home Society, Boston, Mass., and Ida Parker, the associate director of the Boston Research Bureau on S o c i a l Case Work, studied the cases of 82 unmarried mothers. 3 They divided t h e i r work into two parts. The f i r s t consisted of an i n i t i a l study of the mothers, comprising a s o c i a l h i s t o r y plus a mental examination. The second, a follow-up study, s c r u t i n -ized f i r s t the treatment given the mothers by s o c i a l agencies (I.e. casework), and next t h e i r h i s t o r i e s subsequent to care by the agencies. At t h i s time, caseworkers were divided as to whether or not the mother should keep her baby. Some argued i t was the mother's duty to do so, and r e l i e d on the maternal i n s t i n c t 1 George B. Mangold: "Children Born Out of Wedlock", University of Missouri Studies. Vol. 3, No. 3, 1921. 2 Loco c i t . 3 What Becomes of the Unmarried Mother. Research Bureau of Soc i a l Case Work, Boston, Mass., 1922. 22. to develop and strengthen her character. Others maintained permanent separation removed the stigma of i l l e g i t i m a c y from the c h i l d and gave the mother a chance to " l i v e down" her mis-take. The authors of t h i s study therefore attempted to see which mothers kept t h e i r children and which gave them pp, with a view to determining the ones that made the best s o c i a l adjust-ment. They concluded that the theory that keeping the c h i l d "stabalizes the mother" was not necessarily true, since among the group who kept t h e i r children, more than one quarter hade i l l i c i t sex re l a t i o n s . Almost one quarter of the t o t a l cases studied were repeaters, and cases occurred with equal incidence amongst the mothers who kept the c h i l d and those who gave i t up. Their general conclusion was that, since less than one f i f t h of the group occupied a s o c i a l p o s i t i o n worse than at the time of motherhood, "motherhood without marriage, f o r t h i s group at le a s t , had a more disastrous import f o r society than f o r the mother herself". Some of the studies made i n the l a t e 1930's and early 1940's show the d i r e c t movement away from looking f o r causes i n the environment, to looking f o r them i n the personality of the g i r l . A p a r t i c u l a r l y i n t e r e s t i n g one was made by Lauretta Bender and Ruth Nottingham i n 1937. 1 This applied to 40 un-married pregnant g i r l s who were residents of a Florence Crittenton "Rescue Home", i n Columbia, Ohio. Each g i r l was 1 Lauretta Bender and Ruth Nottingham: "A Psychological Study of 40 Unmarried Mothers", Genetic Psychology Monograph. May, 1937, Vol. 19, No. 2. . 23. given a set of t e s t s about one week a f t e r her admission to the Home, the purpose of the tests being two-fold. I t was attempt-ed to gain a complete picture of the g i r l ' s personality; and at the same time to assess her c a p a b i l i t i e s for future vocational t r a i n i n g . I t was hoped that some of the t e s t s would show re-s u l t s that were c h a r a c t e r i s t i c f o r t h i s group and thms "have prognostic value i n selecting the g i r l who had tendencies toward t h i s type of delinquency". But the hope that personal character-i s t i c s peculiar to t h i s group would be found was not realized. The reports for i n d i v i d u a l g i r l s , however, were of p r a c t i c a l value, and assisted the court i n making better d i s p o s i t i o n of some cases which came under t h e i r j u r i s d i c t i o n , They were also able to re-affirm that the broken home and the u n s k i l l e d occupation were notable and recurring correlations i n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r type of delinquency, but that there was no evidence of c e r t a i n separate personality t r a i t s . Another study that endeavoured to assess p a r t i c u l a r personal c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the unmarried mother, was the basis of a thesis by Ruth Rome.! _ n t h i s an attempt was made to see i f there was any correlation between ce r t a i n c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s of the mother and her decision regarding her c h i l d . The con-clusion reached was that she was best f i t t e d to keep her c h i l d i f she seemed a "well-adjusted" person, i f she had had a love relationship with the father of her c h i l d , i f she expected to marry him, or i f she had a " f a i r l y mature" attitude to her state. 1 Ruth Rome: "A Method of Predicting the Probable D i s p o s i t i o n of t h e i r Children by Unmarried Mothers", Smith College Studies of S o c i a l Work, Aug., 1939. 24. In a study made i n the following year, Kasanin and Handschin pointed out the inconsistency of re s u l t s shown In many studies of the unmarried mother and questioned whether there was any way of proving i f the factors which occurred so frequently, f o r example, the broken home, bad companions, et cetera, were causative or merely c o n t r i b u t i v e . 1 They i s o l a t e d , as f a r as possible, the psychological problem or the "peculiar personal equation" of the g i r l herself. For t h i s purpose, they made a careful s e l e c t i o n of 20 cases, making sure to exclude the feeble-minded, borderline, or psychotic and those.for whom there seemed to be no "outer r e a l i t y " reasons to account f o r t h e i r behaviour. The group selected included a l l cases of multiple i l l e g i t i m a c y and a random sample of single I l l e g i t i m a c y cases. Their study was centered around the g i r l ' s r elationship to her c h i l d , to the putative father and to her family. In 81 percent they noted a "flattened e f f e c t " , a bland acceptance of pregnancy, b r i e f unstable relationships with the putative father, and no desire to have anything more to do with him. The girls.showed a great deal of fantasy and the need to "act out" and dramatize. Kasanin and Handschin therefore put f o r t h the hypothesis that "Pregnancy i n t h e i r case represented a hyster-i c a l dis-assooiation state i n which they acted out t h e i r incest fantasies as an expression of the Oedipus s i t u a t i o n " . One small but Intensive study has been made by Jane 1 M.D. Kasanin and S. Handschin: Psychodynamic Factors i n Ill e g i t i m a c y " , American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Jan.,1941. 25. S. Hosmer i n an attempt to arrive at a formula f o r p r e d i c t i n g the probable outcome of a mother's plan to keep her c h i l d . In a case-study of 26 unmarried mothers who retained t h e i r children, she re-affirms the findings of Ruth Rome and concludes that: " I t would seem that judgments about the l i k e l i h o o d of success i n the plan of keeping an i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d and mother together should be based on . . . the g i r l ' s personal adjustment p r i o r to pregnancy, the psychological healthiness of her home con-d i t i o n s , and the degree of maturity i n her a t t i t u d e to her pregnancy".^ In 1943, Ruth Riaborg studied comparative groups of r e c i d i v i s t s and no n - r e c i d i v i s t s , choosing mothers who were neither feeble-minded nor psychotic and who had been know to the Agency during t h e i r f i r s t pregnancy. 2 She concludes that a s i g n i f i c a n t number of r e c i d i v i s t s have an extremely casual r e l a t i o n with the putative father and lack emotional concern about t h e i r pregnancy. She also concludes, that i n the entire group of r e c i d i v i s t s studied only three g i r l s had lacked i n i t i a l casework treatment i n the agency and that i n the remainder, t h e i r problems had been too deep-seated f o r such treatment. In a study directed to psychological factors, Florence Cl o t h i e r has discussed the roles that three adolescent fantasies, rape, p r o s t i t u t i o n and immaculate conception, may play i n pro-ducing i l l e g i t i m a c y . She prefaced her study by a discussion 1 June S. Hosmer: "Unmarried Mothers Who Kept Their Children", Smith College Studies of S o c i a l Work. 1941. 2 Ruth Riaborg: "Prediction of Recidivism of Unmarried Mothers", Smith College Studies of S o c i a l Work. 1943. . 26. of the normal r o l e of motherhood and fatherhood i n an i n d i v i d u a l , and suggested that normally, motherhood was a gateway to matur-i t y i n a woman. The following i s a d i r e c t quotation: "Marriage and motherhood per se do not necessarily lead to a happy solution of a woman's childhood and adolescent c o n f l i c t s . . . . Being loved exclusively by the husband and bearing a baby by him however, have inherent i n them, the most direct solution of i n f a n t i l e c o n f l i c t s which constitute the neuroses of adult women . . . and have the p o s s i b i l i t y . . . of bringing her to a s a t i s f y i n g l i f e g o a l . " 1 She argues that, on the other hand, paternity has quite a d i f f e r e n t psychological value f o r a man as p h y s i o l o g i c a l -l y h i s i n d i v i d u a l l i f e i s complete whether or not h i s sexual a c t i v i t y leads to the b i r t h of c h i l d r e n . 2 Unmarried mother-hood, to her way of thinking, solves no c o n f l i c t w i t h i n the mother and produces more complications f o r her. Nor i s un-married fatherhood conducive, as i s marriage, to the develop-ment of warm fatherly feelings for the c h i l d . She concludes with the view previously mentioned that "Unmarried motherhood . . . i s comparable . . . on the one hand to neurotic symptoms, and on the other, to delinquent behaviour". The f i n a l study warrants p a r t i c u l a r attention, con-sidering as i t does the g i r l who i s at the very threshold of woman hood. I t picks up Clothier's conclusion and tests I t on 1 Florence Clothier:"Psychological Implications of Unmarried Parenthood" (New England Home fo r L i t t l e Wanderers), American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. July, 1943, p. 531. 2 lo c . c i t . 27. a very small number of unmarried mothers. These g i r l s were a l l young, none being older than 16 years of age. They were not psychotic or mentally deficient but had a l l come to the attention of a p s y c h i a t r i s t . Predisposing, p r e c i p i t a t i n g and ex c i t i n g causes of the i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancies were studied. The major predisposing cause was stated to be inadequate parental care which was conducive to excess anxiety and impair-ed ego growth. P r e c i p i t a t i n g causes were believed to be recent pubertal maturation or any recent trauma that struck at the g i r l s ' security, self-esteem or sexuality. E x c i t i n g causes might be environmental opportunities and pressures such as might occur during wartime.^ 1 VJotika Bernard: "Psychodynamics of Unmarried Motherhood i n Early Adolescence", The Nervous C h i l d , Oct., 1944, p. 44. Part I I . Chapter 4. The Current Situation. Chapter 5. The F a c i l i t i e s . Chapter 6. Casework Concepts. 28. Chapter 4. The Current S i t u a t i o n . "So l i t t l e done, so much to do." (A famous remark of C e c i l Rhodes.) The material outlined i n the previous chapters throws into r e l i e f the current s i t u a t i o n i n Canada; the problems of the unmarried mother have never been adequately met, and on the whole they are increasing, even though the r a t i o of i l l e g i t i m a t e l i v e b i r t h s to the t o t a l number of l i v e b i r t h s i t s e l f has not ri s e n . I n 1946 the United States Census reported approximate-l y 83,000 i l l e g i t i m a t e b i r t h s . 1 This figure i s an underestimate of the t o t a l number of such bi r t h s because a l l states do not have uniform r e g i s t r a t i o n . In Canada, there were approximate-l y 13,000 i l l e g i t i m a t e b i r t h s i n 1945, which was approximately 4.48% of the t o t a l number of l i v e b i r t h s . In B r i t i s h Columbia, there were 1,121 i l l e g i t i m a t e b i r t h s registered or.5.9% of the t o t a l number of l i v e b i r t h s f o r the province. In 1946, 40 per cent of the new cases referred to the Yancouver Children's Aid Society were referred f o r service because of i l l e g i t i m a c y , and, i n a l l , 700 unmarried mothers received casewwrk serviee during that year. There are no s t a t i s t i c s available regarding the percentage of r e c i d i v i s t s as t h i s factor has never been s p e c i f i c a l l y i s o l a t e d by the Society. From these figures, i t can be seen that the task of providing adequate s o c i a l as well as medical services f o r the unmarried mother i n Caaada, con-1 U.S. Children's Bureau Pub l i c a t i o n No. 310, A p r i l 1945. 2 Canada Year Book. 1946. 29. s t i t u t e s a major problem. P a r t i c u l a r l y i s t h i s so i n view of the shortage of q u a l i f i e d s o c i a l workers.^ O r i g i n a l l y , no s p e c i f i c provision at a l l was made fo r the unmarried mother i n Canada. Welfare work had begun with the oare of the most needy, the Maritimes reproducing the pattern of the New England states and the early English poor law i n s t i t u t i o n s already referred to. The f i r s t almshouse was established i n H a l i f a x i n 1752, f o r the care of the indigent, aged and i n f i r m , and the unmarried mother, i f necessary, was also housed therein. Indeed, she and her c h i l d continued to be cared f o r i n such i n s t i t u t i o n s u n t i l w e l l into the nineteen-th century. Conditions were s i m i l a r throughout Eastern Canada before Confederation. By the B r i t i s h North America Act (1867), the laws governing c i v i l r e l a t i o n s and the status, guardian-ship and protection of children, were placed almost exclusively within the p r o v i n c i a l j u r i s d i c t i o n . 2 As a r e s u l t , "there are nine sets of laws, regulations and practices dealing with the care and protection of unmarried mothers and children. These laws range from good to bad, depending on the wealth, t r a d i t i o n s , customs and attitudes of the c i t i z e n s of the province concerned? 3 1 According to the S o c i a l W o r k e r : ( o f f i c i a l p u b l i c a t i o n of ..the Canadian Association of S o c i a l Workers), there were only 846 of t h e i r members known to be employed i n Canada and only part of these workers dealt with family and c h i l d welfare. (Dec.1947.). 2 L e g i s l a t i o n of Canada and HerPProvinces A f f e c t i n g the Status and Protection of the Child of Unmarried Parents, Canadian Welfare Council, Pub'h. No. 46, June 1945. 3 Max Braithwaite: "Born out of Wedlock", McLean's Magazine-; Nov. 15, 1947, p.16. The number of provinces i s now, of course, ten. The text which follows, however, makes no reference to Newfoundland. 30. I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g to look at some of these provisions of the various provinces. Every province acknowledges that subsequent intermarriage of the parent l e g i t i m i z e s the c h i l d born out of wedlock, but only four provinces (Ontario, Alberta, B r i t i s h Columbia, and New Brunswick) issue "short" b i r t h c e r t -i f i c a t e s to protect the c h i l d from the stigma of having " i l l e g i t i m a t e " entered on h i s b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e . There i s no b a r r i e r i n any province, only long years of custom, to prevent the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d from assuming i t s father's name, pro-viding paternity has been established. In only f i v e provinces i s equal guardianship rights of parents recognized. In s i x provinces, the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d i n h e r i t s from i t s mother as i f legitimate, and In a l l provinces except Quebec, the mother may i n h e r i t from t h e . c h i l d born out of wedlock. In only four provinces i s maintenance f o r the unmarried mother and her c h i l d possible ( i n certain circumstances) under the Mother's Allowance L e g i s l a t i o n . In a l l provinces, the mother may seek an a f f i l i a -t i o n order from the Court. Throughout Canada, hospital services are available f o r a l l unmarried mothers on a private or " s t a f f bass.is", the hospitals i n turn being subsidized by an "indigent grant" from the province. 1 There are a l s o , throughout the country, numerous maternity homes, children's homes and adoption centres organized under private or r e l i g i o u s auspices. In most of the larger c i t i e s , private agencies provide casework services to 1 By."staff patient" i s meant one who weceives free service i n the public ward of a h o s p i t a l . 31. the unmarried mother. Each province has a Children's Protection Act, and i n nearly a l l the provinces, Children's Aid Societies have been organized under the Acts and render protective services to the unmarried mother and c h i l d . Here again, how-ever, there i s a great v a r i a t i o n . Por example i n B r i t i s h Columbia, there are only three such s o c i e t i e s . Alberta has none, and Ontario has f o r t y - s i x . Each province has a Depart-ment of Welfare or i t s equivalent, and these take over the work where there are no Children's Aid Societies. I f the unmarried mother decides to give up her c h i l d , i t may be placed f o r adoption, or, i f t h i s i s not advisable, made a ward of the Children's Aid Society or the p r o v i n c i a l government. Usually the c h i l d i s then placed i n a supervised fo s t e r home; but i n Quebec, the practice i s s t i l l to place these children i n large i n s t i t u t i o n s . ^ Thus i t i s seen that there i s wide divergence i n the quality of the casework service offered i n Canada to the un-married mother and her c h i l d . This i s due i n part to the varying laws i n the province, to the extent of the t e r r i t o r y to be covered, and to the small number of q u a l i f i e d s o c i a l workers. The general trend of casework throughout the Dominion, however, i s becoming more homogeneous i n that i t s o r i e n t a t i o n i s following cl o s e l y that t»f the United States, and i n t h i s area, the two countries have an almost uniform approach. 1 According to Braithwaite, i n the Yo u v i l l e Creche, near Montreal, there are some 700 children, most of whom are i l l e g i t i m a t e and under f i v e years of age. 32. . In B r i t i s h Columbia, l e g a l provision f o r the unmarried mother and her c h i l d i s contained pr i m a r i l y In four statutes: the Children of Unmarried Parents Act, the Protection of Children Act, the Legitimation Act, and the Equal Guardianship of Infants Act. The Unmarried Parents Act makes provision that a l l i l l e g i t i m a t e b i r t h s must be reported to the Superintendent of of Child Welfare who then through the Child Welfare Divison, or by delegation of authority to a Children's Aid Society, offers casework services to the unmarried mother. The Act gives the p r i v i l e g e of i n i t i a t i n g action to es t a b l i s h patern-i t y to the mother, her next f r i e n d , or guardian, the guardian of the c h i l d or the Superintendent of Chi l d Welfare. Provision i s made f o r an agreement out of court., For the mother's pro-te c t i o n , the Superintendent of Child.Welfare must be made a party to t h i s agreement. Use i s made of the Protection of Children Act, p r i m a r i l y i n those cases i n which, for s o c i a l reasons, the unmarried mother wishes to give up her c h i l d . Then evidence can be brought forward to show that the mother i s "not capable" of giving the c h i l d proper care: the e h i l d , hence being i n need of protection, i s made a ward of the Children's Aid, or of the Superintendent of Child Welfare as the case may be. In t h i s Instance, provision f o r maintenance of the c h i l d i s also made by the Act and i s determined by the residence of the mother. In many instances, the determination of residence i s long and involved, and materially hampers effective placement of the c h i l d i n question. 33. The Legitimation Act provides f o r l e g i t i m a t i o n of the c h i l d born out of wedlock by the subsequent inter-marriage of i t s parents, and the Equal Guardianship of Infants Act provides that both parents share equally i n the r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s of parenthood and have equal ri g h t s of guardianship. „If the unmarried mother keeps her c h i l d , and i s judg-ed unable to work, she may obtain s o c i a l allowance, or i f she l i v e d with the child ' s father i n the mistaken b e l i e f that she was married'to him, she may receive Mother's Allowance. In any . case, she w i l l receive the federal Family Allowance f o r her c h i l d i n the same way as any other mother. The S o c i a l Welfare Branch of the P r o v i n c i a l Depart-ment of Health and Welfare operates throughout the f i v e regions of the province, and s o c i a l workers are empowered through the Superintendent of Chi l d Welfare to o f f e r t h e i r services to the unmarried mother. These comprise casework service and any l e g a l assistance she may require. Service may also e n t a i l f o ster home care, adoption placement, or wardship f o r the c h i l d , as the case may be. In Vancouver, the Superintendent of Child Welfare delegates authority to the two Children's Aid Societies (Catholic and Protestant), who are then empowered to render protective services under the Protection of Children Act. In the year 1946, the Vancouver Children's Aid Society rendered casework service to 700 unmarried. Forty per cent of the new cases.referred to i t during that year came to i t because of i l l e g i t i m a c y . The scope of the problem had increased from the 34. 300 unmarried mothers who received services i n 1939, to the 700 who received them i n 1946. In view of the mounting case lead, workers were becoming more and more concerned as to the q u a l i t y of the casework service they were giving to the unmarried mother. With t h i s question i n mind, i t was o r i g i n a l l y planned to study the case h i s t o r i e s of unmarried mothers known to the Vancouver Children's Aid Society during 1946 with a view to delineating and r e f i n i n g the casework techniques involved there-i n . However, from a preliminary review of a sampling of these cases, i t soon became evident that the recording (due to large case loads and resultant pressure of work) was too synopsized to provide s u f f i c i e n t d e t a i l s of the required casework processes. In the b e l i e f that the more conspicuous and intense cases would meet the objective of the study, i t was then decided to examine the case h i s t o r i e s of the r e c i d i v i s t s among the unmarried mothers l i s t e d . Assistance was gained at t h i s point from a l i s t of "repeaters" obtained by a volunteer worker, from a survey made of new admissions i n 1946.1 These records were much more f u l l y recorded, Including, i n may instances, complete s o c i a l h i s t o r i e s prepared f o r the Child Guidance C l i n i c . The Children's Aid Society was interested i n a study of recidivism because of the question which i t raised, among others, of the e f f i c a c y of the casework contacts, and t h i s was an added reason f o r follow-ing up t h i s l i n e of inquiry. 1 Mrs. R. Johnston (C.A.S. volunteer), unpublished survey. 35 Chapter 5. The F a c i l i t i e s . In consequence of public a g i t a t i o n f o r some protection of young children, the Legislature of the Province of B r i t i s h Colujnbia i n 1901 passed the Children's Protection Act, and on July 17th of the same year, the Vancouver Children's Aid Society was incorporated under the Act. At the f i r s t annual meeting, i t was reported 29 children had already been made over by law to .the care of the SociAy.l -Since that time, the work of the Society has grown apace with the growth of the C i t y . At present, i n conjunction with the Catholic Children's Aid Society, i t discharges two functions. I t f i r s t functions as a private agency, i n which capacity i t : 1. "Offers preventive services to f a m i l i e s who, for various reasons, f i n d i t d i f f i c u l t to rear t h e i r children according to accepted minimum standards of c h i l d care. 2. Provides counsel and guidance and tangible a s s i s t -ance f o r unmarried mothers who need help person-a l l y , and on behalf of t h e i r children. 3. Accepts children f o r adoption and makes adoption placements a f t e r careful study. 4. Accepts children f o r temporary placement as non-wards and supervises them i n selected foster homes."2 Secondly, i t has authority delegated from the Superintendent of Child Welfare, to commit as wards of the Society, children who are neglected and i n need of protection 1 Annual Report of the Vancouver Children's Aid Society, Sept. 30, 1902, pp. 8 & 9. 2 Annual Report of the Children's Aid Society of Vancouver.B.C. for the year ending Dec. 31, 1947. .36. as specified by the Protection of Children Act. "Since i t s e a r l i e s t inception, the Society has stressed that "each and every c h i l d s h a l l be dealt with i n accordance with i t s i n d i v -i d u a l i t y both i n temperament and ado p t a b i l i t y . . . ."^ However, i t s o r i g i n a l attitude to the unmarried mother was not so far-seeing. An early r e p o r t 2 reads: "Applications are being made to make children over to the Society, and the request, and sometimes the demand, i s made f o r most unheard of reasons; but too often the request i s made to cover up the crime of bringing a c h i l d into the world without a name and permit the mother and the alleged father to pass through the world as being without a sta i n upon t h e i r character". Today, however, the Society r e a l i z e s that "unmarried mothers are i n urgent need of wise and understanding assistance at t h i s c r i t i c a l time of t h e i r l i v e s , i n order that they may plan adequately for t h e i r futures and for the futures of t h e i r c h i l d r e n " . 3 The number of unmarried mothers referred to the Society has been increasing s t e a d i l y each year and i n 1946, a t o t a l of 700 unmarried mothers were carr i e d by the case workers of the Society. Of these perhaps 10% were r e c i d i v i s t s . Work with the unmarried mother i s centralized within the Family Work Department of the Society. Each case worker operates w i t h i n a specified area i n the c i t y , and the unmarried mother i s assigned to the worker i n the area where she l i v e s . Each case worker gives the i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant g i r l 1 Annual Report of the Children's Aid Society for Vancouver, 1903.pJL( 2 Children's Aid Society Annual Report. 1912, p.11. 3 Annual Report of the Children's Aid Society f o r Vancouver.1947. 3 7 . . i n d i v i d u a l i z e d , s e r v i c e , m a k i n g use i f need be o f t h e v a r i o u s re s o u r c e s w h i c h a r e at h e r d i s p o s a l i n the communi ty . Two w o r k -e r s a r e a s s i g n e d s p e c i f i c a l l y t o g i v e casework s e r v i c e i n t h e two P r o t e s t a n t m a t e r n i t y homes i n the c i t y , one o f w h i c h i s r u n b y t h e S a l v a t i o n Army, and t h e o t h e r by t h e U n i t e d C h u r c h o f Canada . One o f t h e s e w o r k e r s i s a l s o i n c h a r g e o f a l i s t o f a p p r o v e d work homes, where u n m a r r i e d mothe r s may work u n t i l t h e y a r e s e v e n months p r e g n a n t , a t w h i c h t i m e t h e y t h e n e n t e r one o f t h e m a t e r n i t y homes. P o l l w w i n g d i s c h a r g e f rom t h e h o s p i t a l a f t e r t h e b i r t h o f t h e c h i l d , t h e m o t h e r may r e t u r n t o t h e m a t e r n i t y home u n t i l such t i m e a s p l a n s a r e c o m p l e t e d f o r h e r s e l f and h e r c h i l d . I f t h e u n m a r r i e d mother d e c i d e s t o keep h e r b a b y , she may be r e f e r r e d t o one o f t h e p r i v a t e b o a r d i n g homes w h i c h i s s u p e r -v i s e d by a C h i l d r e n ' s A i d w o r k e r . H e r e she may l e a v e h e r c h i l d w h i l e she w o r k s . I n t h i s i n s t a n c e , t h e mothe r makes a r r a n g e -ments p r i v a t e l y w i t h the b o a r d i n g home m o t h e r , p a y i n g m a i n t e n -ance d i r e c t l y t o h e r f o r t h e c h i l d . A g a i n , t h e c h i l d may be c a r e d f o r by t h e C h i l d r e n ' s A i d S o c i e t y on a t e m p o r a r y b a s i s as a non-ward u n t i l t h e mothe r i s a b l e h e r s e l f t o make a permanent p l a n . T h i s p l a n i s now b e i n g u s e d much l e s s f r e q u e n t l y t h a n f o r m e r l y , as a l l t o o ofteB: t h e " t e m p o r a r y " p l a n s have been c o n t i n u e d i n d e f i n i t e l y , t o t h e d e t r i m e n t o f t h e c h i l d c o n c e r n e d . S h o u l d t h e u n m a r r i e d m o t h e r d e c i d e t o g i v e up h e r c h i l d , a d o p t i o n i s t h e u s u a l p r o c e d u r e . The m o t h e r ' s c a s e w o r k e r t h e n a r r a n g e s t h e d e t a i l s w i t h t h e A d o p t i o n S e c t i o n and 38. describes the proposed home and adoption procedure to the mother. I f adoption i s not possible, the c h i l d can be given security by being made a ward of the Society under one of the clauses of the Protection of Children Act; i t may then be placed either on a long-term adoption basis, or i n a "free" home."'" Resources Used i n Planning.. The P r o v i n c i a l C h i l d Guidance C l i n i c was started on July 15, 1932 i n a small house owned by the P r o v i n c i a l Govern-ment. In the beginning, the c l i n i c was held once a week, f o r a half day only. Later i t was increased to twice a week; today i t i s running s i x days a week to f u l l capacity. The c l i n i c a l service i s the combined e f f o r t af a team consisting of a p s y c h i a t r i s t , a psychologist, two s o c i a l workers, a public health nurse and stenographic s t a f f . The C i t y S o c i a l Service Department was formed as f a r back as 1896, when the Local Council of Women organized a group known as the " f r i e n d l y Aid" to administer some form of Poor R e l i e f i n Vancouver. They gave f i n a n c i a l aid from private funds u n t i l 1908 when the Ci t y made a grant of f i f t e e n hundred d o l l a r s to them f o r t h e i r work. In 1909 the "Friendly A i d " merged into a larger group known as the Associated C h a r i t i e s , 1 The term "long-term" adoption placement i s used to describe the placement of children i n homes where the adoption i s not l e g a l l y completed u n t i l the c h i l d i s old enough to be judged adoptable On i t s development, usually at about two years of age. "Free" home means a home where the c h i l d i s accepted without any remuneration by foster parents who wish to consider i t as t r u l y one of the family as possible without l e g a l adoption procedure. 39. the C i t y continuing i t s annual grant u n t i l 1912 when they de-cided to do t h e i r own r e l i e f work. 1 Today the City S o c i a l Service Department i n Vancouver administers the "Social Assistance Act". The purpose of t h i s Act i s to provide f o r i n d i v i d u a l s and f a m i l i e s suffering from loss of income from i l l n e s s , accident, death of the breadwinner, i n f i r m i t y , or other d i s a b l i n g causes. Thus, i f the unmarried mother i s without funds, she i s referred to one of these o f f i c e s f o r f i n a n c i a l assistance. A co-operative basis has been worked out by the C i t y and the Children's Aid workers so that the un-married mother i s given as much consideration as possible. I f the mother does not have residence i n the c i t y , assistance i s granted on a compassionate basis and the charge placed on the responsible municipality. In the event that a c h i l d i s deemed to be a permanent charge, but i s not a r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of the Province of B r i t i s h Columbia, re p a t r i a t i o n to the place of l e g a l residence can be authorized. Maternity Home care i s available i n two Maternity Homes f o r the Protestant unmarried mother who i s known to the Children's Aid Society. One of these, the United Church Home, was begun i n 1913 under the leadership of the l a t e Rev. J.G. Shearer, Secretary of the Board of S o c i a l Service and Moral Reform of the Presbyterian Church of Canada.2 The home can take up to twenty g i r l s . The fee i s f i f t e e n d o l l a r s per month 1 Information from a paper given at the Annual Meeting of the S o c i a l Worker's Club on May 18, 1934 by L i l i a n M. Nelson, form-e r l y of the C i t y R e l i e f Department. 2 O r i g i n a l l y two houses were leased on Gladstone Avenue, but In a few months the Home was moved to Cambie Street, and ten years l a t e r to the present s i t e on Sussex Avenue. 4 0 . f o r board and' room, i f the g i r l s can afford to pay. I f not, the care i s fr e e . The g i r l s are taken regularly from the home to the Out-patient C l i n i c at the Vancouver General Ho s p i t a l . In the home i s a resident registered nurse, who i s i n charge of the nursery, and a resident matron, a cook, and a gardener. Re-f e r r a l s u s u a l ly come to the home, through the Children's A i d Society, but may come from any source. I f the unmarried mother does not wish to see a s o c i a l worker she does not have to, un-less she i s requesting adoption placement of her c h i l d . The purpose of the home i s to provide seclusion and quiet f o r the mother. She has her a l l o t t e d tasks which are performed i n the morning with a rest period i n the afternoon. The atmosphere of the home i s r e l i g i o u s and redemptive. A Bi b l e lesson i s read before leaving the breakfast table, and there i s a sing-song of hymns and a Bible story at night with a mid-week prayer service. The g i r l s are admitted when they are about s i x or seven months pregnant, and may return to the home following the b i r t h of the c h i l d u n t i l plans are made. V i s i t i n g i s r e s t r i c t -ed to r e l a t i v e s or one s p e c i a l f r i e n d . For a long time the work of the home was c a r r i e d on i n a free-lance fashion; but with the growth of the S o c i a l Agencies, the home was licensed by the P r o v i n c i a l Government and i s now inspected annually. The other unit i s the Salvation Army Home. The Salvation Army i n Canada i s , of course, part of an int e r n a t i o n -a l organization operating places of worship and s o c i a l r e h a b i l -i t a t i o n i n 9 7 d i f f e r e n t countries and t e r r i t o r i e s i n the world. 41. The major portion of the work of the Army i s evangelical. Founded o r i g i n a l l y f o r the r e l i g i o u s enlightenment of the masses, i t s primary aim i s s t i l l to "proclaim through song, word and deed, the message of the scriptures". I t s s o c i a l service work embraces shelter hostels and food depots; men's i n d u s t r i a l i n s t i t u t i o n s , employment bureaus, children's homes, maternity homes, and hospitals. The Salvation Army came f i r s t from V i c t o r i a to Vancouver i n 1886. Two years l a t e r they opened a Rescue Home fo r g i r l s . The present Maternity Home i s known as the Maywood Home. I t was o r i g i n a l l y at the s i t e of the old Grace Hospital and run i n conjuhotion with i t . When the new h o s p i t a l was b u i l t , the old building was maintained as a Maternity Home. I t i s licensed f o r a maximum of 26 g i r l s . The g i r l s share rooms and do not have much privacy. The atmosphere of the home i s r e l i g i o u s but not so much so as the United Church Home. The g i r l s r i s e by the b e l l , and have a l l o t t e d household tasks to perform. There i s a short devotional service every morning, and on Wednesday night and Sunday afternoon they have a short meeting. The Home administration prefer g i r l s to be admitted at least two mbnths before the baby i s due, and requires them to stay f o r one month afterwards i n order to ensure t h e i r physical recuperation. When the g i r l i s admitted to the Home, she has to s i g n i f y that she i s w i l l i n g to use the services of a s o c i a l agency, even i f she has made private arrangements for the care of her c h i l d . The g i r l s are taken to weekly pre-natal 48. c l i n i c s at the Grace Hospital. The fee f o r the Home i s $15.00 per month and, f o r confinement at the Hospital, $40. However, i f a g i r l i s unable to pay, she i s not required to do so. In the home a nurse i s i n charge of the nursery, but the g i r l s take turns on nursery duty. Each g i r l i s required to feed her own c h i l d , do i t s own personal washing, and other general duties. The Children's Aid worker i s permitted to interview the g i r l s p r i v a t e l y and a very workable arrangement seems to have been evolved between the Home and the Agency. The chief difference between the two Homes i s that the United Church Home can refuse admission to a g i r l with decided personality d i f f -i c u l t i e s , and has done so on occasion. The Salvation Army Home, on the other hand, i s obliged to take i n any g i r l who comes for assistance and care. The Child Welfare D i v i s i o n administers the province's ch i l d welfare l e g i s l a t i o n which i n a l l instances i s protective i n nature. In p a r t i c u l a r , i t i s responsible f o r the administr-ation of the "Children of Unmarried Parents Act". This provides that the unmarried mother may l a y a charge against the father of the c h i l d i n order to obtain a Court order f o r the support of the c h i l d . U n t i l 1947, i t was the p o l i c y of the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n to interview personally a l l unmarried mothers resident i n Vancouver to determine paternity and obtain the maintenance for the c h i l d . I t was recognized that t h i s practice was unsatisfactory, and that such information could be obtained much more e a s i l y and na t u r a l l y by the worker at the Children's Aid who was helping the mother with plans f o r herself and c h i l d . 43. This practice was therefore discontinued i n 1947. Within the Children's Aid Society i t s e l f there are some specialized resources. There i s a small "preventive" fund, out of which the unmarried mother may be provided with petty cash f o r a temporary period. I f the need f o r f i n a n c i a l a s s i s t -ande i s continuous, r e f e r r a l i s made to the C i t y f o r s o c i a l allowance. Sometimes the Agency makes use of work homes f o r g i r l s who are known to them early i n pregnancy: about SO of these homes are known to the Agency. The worker interviews the would-be employer, but no d e f i n i t e study i s made of the home, nor are references contacted. The usual wage i s ^ 10.00 per month and the g i r l s are required to do l i g h t housework. I f a g i r l wishes to keep her baby a f t e r b i r t h , she may be referred to a private boarding home. As of the end of 1947, the Children's Aid had 113 of these homes. The homes are investigated by a Children's Aid worker, who recommends i t to the C i t y for a l i c e n s i n g permit i f she finds i t suitable. The mother assumes r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r placing the c h i l d i n the private boarding home, and also makes the necessary f i n a n c i a l arrangements d i r e c t l y with t h i s home. The Metropolitan Health nurse i s n o t i f i e d a f t e r the mother has placed her child.and supervises the health of the home. This C.A.S. servicerhas"ea^ahdedT^ery irapidly•"'from-' about SO homes i n 1944 to over a hundred more three years l a t e r . At present the Society i s looking f o r homes that would enable a working mother to become part of the child's every-day l i f e instead of an occasional v i s i t o r as i n the usual arrangement. 44. In addition to these boardinghomes, there are fos t e r homes approved by the Agency i n which children may be placed on a non-ward or ward basis,, and adoption homes which enable the c h i l d to become a permanent part of a new family. 45 Chapter 6. Casework Concepts. "S o c i a l casework . . . deals with and depends on (the) relationships (between c l i e n t and worker) . . . and every effective relationship contains a nucleus of therapy." (Helen Hoss and Adelaid Johnson: "The Crowing Science of Case-work", The Journal of S o c i a l Casework. Nov. 1946, p. 274.) I t i s . not so long ago since the term " s o c i a l work" brought, to mind the picture of the destitute, poor and sick who had to be fed, clothed and housed, Or the "unfortunate" g i r l who had to be "redeemed". Some people may s t i l l r e t a i n t h i s idea, but, generally speaking, the public now accepts that s o c i a l work today i s not concerned merely with the poor and un-fortunate, but i s a c t i v e l y interested i n the needs, adjustments and adaptations of human beings i n t h e i r various l i f e s i t u a t i o n s . 1 As the conception of the scope of s o c i a l work has gradually en-larged, so too has the i n t e r p r e t a t i o n of the practice of s o c i a l casework. S o c i a l casework has been very simply defined as the art of helping' people to help themselves. As one authority points out, I t has always been based on the assumption that each person d i f f e r s from others and so i t has always attempted to help people In terms of t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l d i f f e r e n c e s . 2 However, u n t i l the l a s t f i v e or ten years, i n d i v i d u a l d i f f e r -ences i n people have been attributed l a r g e l y to the force of external circumstances and there was l i t t l e i n s i g h t into the 1 Gordon Hamilton: P r i n c i p l e s of S o c i a l Case Recording, Columbia University Press, New York, 1946, p.2. 2 Charlotte Towle: "Psycho-Analytic Orientation i n Family Case Work", American Journal Of Orthopsychiatry, Jan. 1943. 46. motivation of human behaviour. Today, "the case worker i s educated to understand not only the external objective f a c t s i n a s o c i a l s i t u a t i o n but also the person's behaviour toward h i s s i t u a t i o n and h i s feelings about himself i n h i s s i t u a t i o n " . 1 As insight into the development of personality and the motivation of human behaviour has increased, the tendency to c l a s s i f y people according to t h e i r "presenting problem" into various categories f o r special treatment has diminished. Thus i t i s now generally accepted that casework i n generic, i . e . , i t s application i s basic to a l l s i t u a t i o n s , and that the un-married mother does not require any d i f f e r e n t treatment from that accorded any other i n d i v i d u a l i n trouble, though she may require a greater depth of treatment. To appreciate how s o c i a l casework functions, i t must f i r s t be realized that i t i s not a service that i s superimposed on the c l i e n t by the workers. I t i s a shared e n t e r p r i s e . 2 Thus i n order to be of any help, the s o c i a l worker must f i r s t be able to foster a constructive relationship between hers e l f and her c l i e n t . I t Is imperative that t h i s relationship be established as quickly as possible; indeed i t should start to germinate i n the unmarried mother's very f i ^ s t contact with the agency. As can w e l l be Imagined, t h i s Is much easier said than done, and the case worker usually finds i t an extremely d i f f i c u l t task. . This i s due to the "peculiar personality" of these g i r l s . Experience makes i t clear that the unmarried mother i s notably a poorly adjusted person and has d i f f i c u l t y i n her interperson-a l r e l a t i o n s . Sometimes, indeed, the personality of the 1 G-ordon Hamilton, l o c . c i t . 2 Ibid. 47. unmarried mother has been so damaged, or she i s so disturbed, that she appears to be incapable of displaying any a f f e c t , and thus apparently i s incapable of placing any confidence i n the worker. Most commonly, the unmarried mother i s very immature, with a c h a r a c t e r i s t i c pattern of "getting" and "hanging on to" things instead of the more adult pattern of "giving and taking".! Often she i s s t i l l i n the throes of adolescence, and very jealous of her so-called independence. Again, she may be very i n f a n t i l e ; demanding i n many ways, and u t t e r l y dependent. I t i s important to r e a l i z e that i t i s the weaker or more disturbed g i r l s who come to the agencies. Of course, there are exceptions, but usually the unmarried mother with a better integrated personality i s able to work out some arrangements f o r t h i s problem without seeking the assistance of a s o c i a l agency; or of course, she may avoid pregnancy altogether by the use of contraceptives, or by abortions. 2 I t i s p a r t i c u l a r l y d i f f i c u l t to establish a r e l a t i o n -ship between the worker and the unmarried mother who has "been through a l l t h i s before". The feelings engendered towards the worker and the agency i n her f i r s t pregnancy are now a l l re-activated. Some of the comments of workers on the personality of these g i r l s are s i g n i f i c a n t : "Mother i s a quiet, reserved g i r l who says very l i t t l e " ; " M . i s sulky, w i l f u l , u ntruthful and i n c l i n e d to be stubborn and d i f f i c u l t " ; "D. has a very reticent 1 "Case-work Service f o r Unmarried Mothers": (Report of a Sem-inar of St. Louis C h i l d r e n ^ Aid Society and the St. Louis Provident Association), The Family, Nov. 1941. 2 l o c . c i t . 48. manner and i s hesitant about discussing her a f f a i r s " ; or again, "A. was tense and secretive, and did not volunteer information w i l l i n g l y " ; "B. i s depressed and moody, but with wide swings i n mood often becoming h y s t e r i c a l " . And so i t goes. I t must be granted that sometimes i t appears v i r t u a l l y impossible f o r the s o c i a l worker to "get through" to the mother. However, there are other occasions when the s i t u a t i o n i s not so hopeless. A confident relationship between the g i r l and the worker can never be forced; but i t can be encouraged. One way to do t h i s i s to see that, from the very f i r s t moment of contact, the mother gets the f e e l i n g that the case worker has a "warm" genuine interest i n her and her d i f f i c u l t i e s . This can best be expressed by the worker i n doing the natural k i n d l y things f o r the c l i e n t , and meeting her at the l e v e l of her f a c t u a l requests. Too often i n the past, influenced by a l l the speculation and in t e r e s t aroused i n the psychological factors of unmarried motherhood, the worker, i n mistaken z e a l , has immediately attempted to f i n d out " a l l the f a c t s " . This questioning about the g i r l ' s intimate relationship naturally aroused h o s t i l i t y and d i s t r u s t and often brought f o r t h evasions i n response. Thus we read a worker recording, "Dorothy was interested i n discussing her plans with v i s i t o r , but not anxious to give information regarding the maternal r e l a t i v e s , or the father of her c h i l d " . I t i s now rea l i z e d that, i f the worker shows genuine warmth and concern f o r the mother's immediate needs, she w i l l be much more l i k e l y to " r e l a t e " to the worker, i . e . , to accept her as someone she can trus t and i n 49. whom she can confide. This of course implies that the worker, as w e l l as the mother, must be free from undue pressure, whether of time, shortage of workers, or agency p o l i c y . They both need to be permitted to work out t h e i r relationship with each other at t h e i r own pace. As one w r i t e r phrases i t : "We must be sensitive to the forces that press i n upon the g i r l , and must use both imagination and i n t u i t i o n i n our f i r s t contact with her. I f we are hesitant or uncertain, or are slow or f a i l to respond to the undercurrents or sources of her anxiety, we may f a i l to reach her. On the other hand, i f from the beginning, we l e t her f e e l our understanding of her tension and anxiety and our acceptance of her, she w i l l undoubtedly respond, for her need i s great".! Sometimes the s o c i a l worker i s a f r a i d to "do too much" for her c l i e n t l e s t she foster dependency and take away the c l i e n t ' s i n i t i a t i v e . This attitude on the part of a worker can be very damaging to the establishment of any "relationship". Pregnancy normally implies a certain amount of dependency; the case worker should be aware of t h i s , and should not be a f r a i d to permit the unmarried mother to be dependent on her. Sympathetic understanding and support may be a l l that i s nec-essary to enable the g i r l to carry on with her plans; though usually the worker w i l l have to take a more active r o l e , and l i t e r a l l y emulate the part of the "good" mother i n oaring for. her. The nice poi&t i s to handle the s i t u a t i o n so that the 1 Mildred Corner: "Importance of the I n i t i a l Interview with the Unmarried Mother", Developing Insight i n I n i t i a l Interviews. Family Service Association of America, New York, 1947. 50. g i r l i s permitted to shoulder as much r e s p o n s i b i l i t y as she can. I t i s readily understandable that the e a r l i e r the s o c i a l worker comes i n contact with the unmarried mother, the greater i s the worker's opportunity to foster a f e e l i n g of mutual acceptance. The worker to whom the mother comes i n lat e pregnancy i s obviously handicapped i n t h i s regard. In the l a t t e r instance, the worker i s "pressured" by the imminent approach of the c h i l d , and thus sometimes loses sight of the c l i e n t i n her anxiety to have an adequate plan made f o r the c h i l d . Thus i t i s apparent that there should be continuous inte r p r e t a t i o n to the community of the a d v i s a b i l i t y of early r e f e r r a l of the un-married mother to the s o c i a l agency. Sometimes i t may be that the deterrent to the estab-lishment of a confident relationship between the worker and mother l i e s p a r t l y i n the personality of the s o c i a l worker as well as that of the mother. The unmarried mother i s usually h o s t i l e and wary of women, and the case worker has to be very aware of her own feelings l e s t she herself respond to some of the g i r l ' s latent h o s t i l i t y , by f e e l i n g hurt, inadequate or antagonistic. This of course implies that the "rela t i o n s h i p " being engendered between the worker and the g i r l i s used i n a professional manner. As one authority says:"(The s o c i a l worker) must be i n the s i t u a t i o n , but above i t enough to use foresight i n gauging the probable outcome of what she does. She must watch what she Is doing enough to be able to change I f something Is going wrong. She must have some notion of how her own feelings are complicating the s i t u a t i o n , and be able to make allowance 51. f o r them".^ This s e l f - d i s c i p l i n e does not mean that the worker has her emotions so i n control that she i s a "cold" remote person. On the contrary, she must respect her c l i e n t as an individual, and have such aniijgrained sense of "responsible caring" f o r her, that the mother i s helped towards the best possible solution of her d i f f i c u l t i e s . What does the case worker hope to accomplish a f t e r a relationship of mutual acceptance and confidence has been b u i l t between herself and the unmarried mother? That depends on what she has to work with. I t must be admitted that sometimes the mother i s so disturbed that she i s beyond the helping s k i l l of the s o c i a l worker. I f so, i t i s at t h i s point that i t i s im-portant f o r the worker to "take stock" and assess the mother's degree of adjustment to r e a l i t y . Clues to t h i s can be picked up by carefu l scrutiny of her mode of reaction to her s i t u a t i o n . 2 Does the mother, f o r example, cover up with a "don't care" attitude; or does she completely deny the pregnancy? Does she project a l l the blame, or l i v e i n a l i t t l e dream world of fantasy, or does she take a r e a l i s t i c view of the situation? I f the mother i s not too f a r divorced from r e a l i t y and the case worker has i n s t i l l e d confidence i n her, the worker's goal i s to make the whole experience constructive, so that the g i r l may emerge from motherhood with a more integrated personality and -hence be able to make a better future adjustment to l i f e . 1 Bertha Capen Reynolds: Learning and Teaching i n the Practice of S o c i a l Work. Farrar and Rinehart, New York, 1942, p. 262. 2 Mildred Corner: "Importance of the I n i t i a l Interview with the Unmarried Mother", Developing Insight i n I n i t i a l Interviews, Family Service Association of America, New York, 1947. 52. How does the case worker accomplish t h i s ? As Franz Alexander points out, i t i s because of anxiety and preoccupation with her symptoms ( i n t h i s case an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy), that the c l i e n t i s unable to handle her problem and seeks help. The case worker gives emotional support i n order to ease the mother's tension. She consciously implements t h i s by an "objective, understanding a t t i t u d e " , which has the purpose of giving the mother ."an opportunity to get a better perspective of her d i f f i c u l t i e s " . " 1 " A l l t h i s has the purpose of making the c l i e n t f e e l more adequate to face her actual s i t u a t i o n and her own part i n i t . As the mother i s thus supported and strengthen-ed by the worker, she i s encouraged to t a l k about her s e l f , her family, her friends, her feelings about l i f e i n general. How does she f e e l about the father of her child? How would she f e e l i f she kept her baby; or i f she gave i t up? This again re l i e v e s emotional tension and prepares the way f o r the worker to give the mother insight into some of her behaviour patterns. Formerly i t was common f o r the worker to plunge into intimate d e t a i l s , e specially i n order to establi s h paternity as quickly as possible. I t i s now recognized that t h i s i s an un-usually p a i n f u l area to explore, and that the mother w i l l only be freed to t a l k about i t when she has acquired f a i t h i n her worker. While workers are becoming more and more aware of the mother's need to t a l k about herself and the father of her c h i l d when the time i s ripe to do so, they s t i l l do not wholly r e a l i z e 1 Franz Alexander: Fundamentals of Psychoanalysis. W.W.Norton & Co., New York, 1948, p. 274. 53. . the f u l l implications of t h e i r p o s i t i o n with regard to the putative father. One authority states: "Most people forget the unmarried father's side of the story. Our sympathy has always been asked f o r the poor unfortunate mother. Yet the un-married father's emotional problems are often as great as the girlte and i n some instances even greater".^ The same authority goes on to point out that "the biggest s o c i a l problem i s to change our thinking so that an unmarried father can admit paternity without fear and provide f o r the well-being of the c h i l d . Under present laws, the unmarried father i s made to f e e l l i k e a criminal and the important thing i s for him not to g get caught". In discussing the same t o p i c , Dr. Norman Reider points out that i n Sweden, where a tolerant and non-primitive t r a d i t i o n has evolved over the past t h i r t y years, i t i s a rare thing f o r a man to deny paternity. This same authority, while stressing the psychological implications of unmarried fatherhood, believes that the conscious or unconscious desire to have a c h i l d i s much l e s s frequent among unmarried men than among unmarried women.3 As workers are becoming more aware of the fact.that unmarried fathers have unresolved emotional problems, the con-v i c t i o n , i s growing that they would welcome an opportunity to 1 I . L. Har r i s , Judge of the Juvenile Court, San Francisco, c i t e d i n Eugene Burns: "What about the unmarried father?" Cosmopolitan Magazine, July 1948, p. 68. 2 i b i d , p. 69. 3 Norman Reider: "The Unmarried Father", Proceedings oft the National Conference of S o c i a l Work. A p r i l 16, 1947. 54.. t e l l t h e i r -story, preferably to a male s o c i a l worker. 1 However, whether by male or female worker, he should be approached i n an atmosphere of o b j e c t i v i t y , fairness and understanding. When the c h i l d i s born, and the unmarried mother i s faced with the need to come to a decision about i t s care, the s o c i a l worker must continue with her supportive, i n t e r p r e t i v e r o l e . At t h i s point, the worker needs to be on guard l e s t her anxiety for the ultimate fate of the c h i l d overshadows her concern f o r the mother. Yet she cannot n s i t on the fence" . while the g i r l struggles to come to a decision. There i s a part of every g i r l that wants to keep her baby; but whether she keeps i t or gives i t up, the experience involves suffering and renunciation for her. The case worker therefore attempts to help the g i r l to r e a l i z e i t i s her baby; that whe has a right to make a decision about i t , and that she can use the help of the case worker i n a r r i v i n g at that decision. The case worker's r e s p o n s i b i l i t y at t h i s time i s to point out the r e a l i t y of the sit u a t i o n p l a i n l y and honestly to the mother. The g i r l i s s t i l l i n a dependent po s i t i o n and needs mature counselling at t h i s point, so the case worker should reinforce that part of her thinking which i s healthy and sound. I f the g i r l does decide to give up her c h i l d , she then can give i t up to a person she believes to be helping her to make the best possible plan f o r i t . 1 Opal Jacobs: "What About the Unmarried Father?", Proceedings of the National Conference of S o c i a l Work. A p r i l 16, 1947. 2 Leontine R. Young: "The Unmarried Mother's Decision About Her Baby", Journal of Soc i a l Case Work, Jan. 1947, p. 29. 55. Usually, termination of agency service i s made a f t e r the mother has borne her c h i l d and completed her plans for i t s care. However, the worker should maintain contact with her i f i t i s humanly possible to do so. The mother has come through a period of great stress and s t r a i n , both p h y s i c a l l y and emotion-a l l y . Often she i s l o n e l i e r and more remote from people than she was when she was carrying her c h i l d , and thus even more vulnerable. This, therefore, i s the time when aptitude t e s t s and vocational guidance could be used to a s s i s t i n getting the mother into more s a t i s f a c t o r y work and better contacts with people. I f the g i r l has kept her c h i l d , there w i l l be need.for ad d i t i o n a l counselling and interpreting as to the manner i n which she i s going to t e l l the c h i l d about h i s i d e n t i t y . F i n a l -l y , as the mother becomes more s e l f - r e l i a n t , the relationship between her and the worker should be gradually diminished, u n t i l such time as the mother i s able to function by herself. C l e a r l y , s o c i a l casework today i s a studied a r t . I t may t r u l y be said that: " I t i s focused upon a diagnostic under-standing of the people and situations with which i t deals. I t sees people as dynamic forces i n the situations i n which they are, and expects to influence them only by becoming a part of the s i t u a t i o n , as a person with professional awareness and ex-perience. I t uses the invigorating power of the relationship between the personality of the s o c i a l worker and that of the persons worked with, and uses i t i n a professional wa-y, that i s , with mutual confidence and co-operation, with conscious up-building of self-respect, with rigorous d i s c i p l i n e of the 56. w o r k e r ' s s e l f i n o r d e r t h a t , f r e e d f r o m p e r s o n a l p r e o c c u p a t i o n s , s h e m a y g i v e h e r b e s t s k i l l s i n s e r v i c e . " ! 1 B e r t h a C a p e n R e y n o l d s : L e a r n i n g a n d T e a c h i n g I n t h e P r a c t i c e o f S o c i a l W o r k . F a r r a r a n d R i n e h a r t , N e w Y o r k , 1 9 4 £ , p . 3 0 . Part i l l . Chapter 7. The Presenting Problem. Chapter 8. Special D i f f i c u l t i e s . Chapter 9. Case Differences: Cases Referred A f t e r C h i l d b i r t h . Chapter 10. Case Differences: Cases Referred Before C h i l d b i r t h . 57 Chapter 7. The Presenting Problem. ttSooial work i s concerned to understand the . . . relationship of human beings to t h e i r world of other persons and s o c i a l s i t u a t i o n s . " (Bertha Capen Reynolds: Learning and Teaching i n the Practice of S o c i a l Work, p. 22.) Unmarried mothers range i n age from early adolescense to l a t e maturity. They can be representative of a l l walks i n l i f e . But the one who comes to the s o c i a l agency i s usually i n her l a t e 'teens or early twenties, and commonly has behind her a history of both emotional and f i n a n c i a l deprivation. Often she i s handicapped by lack of education and thus has found em-ployment i n d u l l , routine jobs, which give her a minimum amount of s a t i s f a c t i o n and pride i n her work, and which l i m i t her choice of friends and recreation. She tends to be u n r e a l i s t i c and insecure i n her relationships with people (especially with men), and appears to be t o t a l l y unprepared to meet the r e a l i t i e s of l i v i n g and adjust s a t i s f a c t o r i l y to.them. Unable to achieve happiness and s a t i s f a c t i o n i n the conventional manner of g i r l s of her age, she seems to be impelled to obtain i t unconventionally. Almost i n e v i t a b l y , she i s oaught i n the trap of an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy, and then l e f t to fend f o r herself. As one authority has expressed the s i t u a t i o n : "She (the unmarried mother) must (then) sustain not only her problem, but the emotions of her family . . . t h e i r shame, t h e i r r e j e c t i o n , t h e i r desire to punish or, at best, t h e i r g r i e f and concern . . . as we l l as the t r a d i t i o n a l moral attitude of the community and the 58. l e g a l , economic, and s o c i a l r e s t r i c t i o n s inherent i n her si t u a t i o n . There are those who would have her keep her baby, there are those who would have her give him up, but seldom are there any who are free enough of t h e i r own c o n f l i c t to help her come to a decision that represents her r e a l feelings and her capacity to operate w i t h i n the p r a c t i c a l l i m i t a t i o n s of her world." 1 I t i s at t h i s p o i n t — a l o n e , bewildered, often d i s -i l l u s i o n e d and embittered—that the unmarried mother comes to the attention of the s o c i a l agency. The s o c i a l worker i s now faced with the task of gaining her confidence and "setting up a case-work procedure and process through which she can fin d her own answer to her dilemga". 2 I t i s d i f f i c u l t to do so. The g i r l i s under stress and s t r a i n both p h y s i c a l l y and emotionally. Conscious of s o c i a l stigma, at one moment she wants to keep her c h i l d , at another to give i t up. Usually she i s desperately anxious to conceal her p l i g h t . Often too, she has l i t t l e or no money. The s o c i a l worker finds the young mother somewhat fear-f u l and suspicious of the agency (which she usu a l l y thinks of as "the Welfare"), anxious f o r help with immediate plans f o r herself and her c h i l d , but wary of anyone going beyond that point. Should she come to the agency i n the early months of her pregnancy, the worker has a greater chance of establishing a r e a l i s t i c and constructive relationship with her and thus getting beyond the mere presenting problem of the baby. I f , 1 J u l i a Ann Bishop: Adoption P r a c t i c e , Child Welfare League, 1941, p. 10. 2 l o c . c i t . 5 9 . however, she comes at the b i r t h , or a f t e r , the worker has not the same opportunity to form a meaningful relationship with the mother and thus can u s u a l l y deal only with the immediate r e a l i t y problem, which i s the c h i l d . In addition to these obvious d i f f i c u l t i e s , there are few workers who do not have to struggle with t h e i r own f e e l i n g s i n the matter. There i s perhaps no other area i n s o c i a l work which can rouse greater feelings of fear and ins e c u r i t y w i t h i n the worker herself, or i n which she f e e l s a greater sense of r e s p o n s i b i l i t y than i n the work with the unmarried mother. I t i s very d i f f i c u l t to define the intangible quality that i s loosely l a b e l l e d as the "worker-client relationship". For years i t . has been known that some people have the a b i l i t y to i n s p i r e trust and confidence more r e a d i l y than others, and to make people at ease In t h e i r presence. I t Is now believed that t h i s a b i l i t y can be c u l t i v a t e d , and can become an Integral part of the case worker's professional approach to the c l i e n t , pro-vided the case worker i s b a s i c a l l y a w e l l integrated person who i s genuinely interested i n the welfare of the c l i e n t . Miss. Reynolds expresses i t thus: " I t i s not that we ( s o c i a l workers) do not gain s a t i s f a c t i o n f o r ourselves as a l l other people do, but that we become professional by shifting.our s a t i s f a c t i o n s to a l e v e l d i f f e r e n t from that of c o n t r o l l i n g others, venting h o s t i l i t y or l i k i n g upon them, getting gratitude, a f f e c t i o n or the t h r i l l of a new experience which we can dramatize In a good story . . . . We must . . . be rugged i n our honesty with our-selves, and i n our a b i l i t y to admit mistakes, prejudice, i n t e r -60. f e r i n g , anxieties and claims for attention to ourselves".1 S o c i a l casework i s a l l the more important i n work with the unmarried mother because i f the personality d i f f i c u l t i e s of the c l i e n t are unresolved or heightened by unmarried parent-hood, they can tend to produce a r e p e t i t i o n of the experience that l e d to the f i r s t pregnancy. The question therefore a r i s e s , f o r r e c i d i v i s t s previously known to the s o c i a l agency: i s the "non-resolution" of the g i r l ' s d i f f i c u l t i e s due, primar-i l y , to a lack of f a c i l i t i e s and casework services within the agency, or i s i t a t t r i b u t a b l e to inherent shortcomings within the g i r l ' s personality which are too deep-seated to be helped by these services? At t h i s point i t i s proposed to examine a sample group of cases ( r e c i d i v i s t s known to the Children's Aid Society during 1946), to see what conclusions can be reached i n t h i s regard. Nature of the Study. The f i l e s of the Vancouver Children's Aid Society were chosen as representing the best available volume of record-ed casework with unmarried mothers. I t was decided to study cases known to the agency during 1946, i n the b e l i e f that these would throw l i g h t on the current trends i n techniques. To obtain the records desired, i t was necessary to tabulate a l l the cases of i l l e g i t i m a c y known to the Family Work Department of the Children's Aid Society during the year 1946. This i n -volved l i s t i n g a l l the cases of i l l e g i t i m a c y i n the 1947 current 1 Bertha C. Reynolds: Learning and Teaching i n the Practice of S o c i a l Work. Farrar and Rinehart, New York, Sept. 1942, p. 26. 61. index that were not newly opened that year. Then, to get the complete load, i t was necessary i n addition to l i s t cases closed during 1946.as w e l l as those closed i n 1947 which had not been newly opened that year. This resulted i n a t o t a l of some 700 cases. These cases were then screened to obtain the r e c i d i v i s t s among the unmarried mothers l i s t e d . The unmarried mothers i n these cases are g i r l s who (a), were not married, widowed, divorced, separated or l i v i n g common-law at the time of the o r i g i n a l r e f e r r a l to the agency; (b), and who had been i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant more than once up to the time of the enquiry. I t i s believed t h i s broad basis of selection w i l l give a comprehensive picture of r e c i d i v i s t s who have been known to the agency f o r some years back, and w i l l thus high-l i g h t any differences i n casework emphasis within the agency over that space of time. The g i r l who i s mentally defective i s not excluded,on the ground that she Is a part of the normal caseload, and because i t i s reasonable to ask how f a r she Is representative of the t o t a l problem. On t h i s basis, the number of r e c i d i v i s t s constitute 66 cases out of the 700 unmarried mothers known to the Agency during 1946. The cases are analyzed on the following basis. F i r s t , an attempt i s made to gain as complete a picture of the g i r l as possible. Her age, i n t e l l i g e n c e , t r a i n i n g , degree of s e l f -1 This excludes 13 cases Involving eommon=>law relationships, and 2 cases which had been included i n the preliminary number but which could not be located i n the Agency over a two month period and hence necessarily were omitted. 62. support, ethnic background, et cetera, are a l l gleaned f o r t h i s purpose. Second, the case i s scrutinized to see what her relationship i s to her parents; to her brothers and s i s t e r s ; to her job; to the fathers of her children and to her children. From a l l these f a c t s , some measure of each g i r l ' s personality can be formed and her a v a i l a b i l i t y to casework treatment deter-mined. Then, by noting whether the mother was referred to the agency "early-on" or l a t e In her pregnancy; the emotional "tone" set i n her f i r s t contact with the agency; her r e l a t i o n to the worker i n the casework s i t u a t i o n ; and the t o t a l length of time the mother was known to the agency, an evaluation can be made of the quality of the relationship formed with the worker and the possible changes that took place i n the g i r l ' s a t t i t u d e during caswwork treatment. The f i l e s are complete with reports from the Provin-c i a l Guidance C l i n i c , or the P s y c h i a t r i s t at the Vancouver General Hosp i t a l , and copies of reports and summaries of case contacts from the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n and the C i t y S o c i a l Service Department are recorded i n d e t a i l . In the main, how-ever, the recording does not r e f l e c t the casework processes. Throughout, the concern of the worker i s evident i n the record, though i t usually appears to be weighted f o r the c h i l d more than f o r the mother. Preliminary S t a t i s t i c s . Of the 700 cases of unmarried mothers known to the Children's Aid i n 1946, 66, or s l i g h t l y under 10 per cent, are 63. r e c i d i v i s t s . Of these, 48 mothers have had two i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancies; 18 had more than two. In 1942, when the Agency made a survey of the 377 cases of unmarried mothers active with them that year, 40, or s l i g h t l y over 10 per cent were r e c i d i v -i s t s . I t would appear then that the r a t i o of r e c i d i v i s t s to the t o t a l number of unmarried mothers known to the Agency, Is r e l a t i v e l y constant. In the cases studied, the oldest age at the b i r t h of the f i r s t c h i l d i s 33 years; the youngest i s 14 years. Two un-married mothers are over 30 years of age; f i f t e e n are between the ages of 17 and 22; s i x between the years of 14 and 16 and one i s of unknown age. The most t y p i c a l age i s between 17 and 22 years. Of the 66 g i r l s comprised i n t h i s study, 32 have been seen by a p s y c h i a t r i s t e i t h e r at the P r o v i n c i a l Child Guidance C l i n i c or at the Vancouver General Hospital, and have also had a psychometric t e s t . The remainder of the g i r l s have been c l a s s i f i e d by the worker concerned as "average" or " d u l l " . Of the 32 given psychometric t e s t s , 19 are rated as "average" or "above average" i n t e l l i g e n c e , 6 are "slow" to " d u l l " , 7 are of "borderline" or le s s i n t e l l i g e n c e . Of the 34 who have no form-a l t e s t , 2 are considered by the worker to be of "superior" i n t e l l i g e n c e ; 19 to be "average"; 11 to be " d u l l " and In two instances no estimate of i n t e l l i g e n c e i s given by the worker. In summary, over one ha l f of these r e c i d i v i s t s are of "average" or "above average" i n t e l l i g e n c e and therefore open to constructive casework. The remainder are below normal i n t e l l -64. igenoe and are therefore s p e c i a l problems. This d i v i s i o n i s followed as the method of discussing the problems and the differences they present. 65. Chapter 8. Special D i f f i c u l t i e s . "The s o c i a l sciences, . . . are concerned too much with man's i n t e l l i g e n c e , and hot enough with man's heart!", (John A. Irving: "The Social.Philosophy of E. J. Urwick", The Values of L i f e . University of Toronto Press, 1948, p. 60.) I t i s obvious that the g i r l with l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e has "one s t r i k e against her", so to speak, i n that the poss-i b i l i t y of her becoming an unmarried mother i s greater i n the f i r s t place, than that of the g i r l with s u f f i c i e n t i n t e l l i g e n c e to take better care of h e r s e l f . Such a g i r l needs protection; the lower her i n t e l l i g e n c e , the greater i s her need f o r protection. I t might therefore l o g i c a l l y be expected that the greater percentage of recidivism i n the unmarried mothers known to the agency would be amongst those g i r l s whose i n t e l l -igence i s l i m i t e d . However, t h i s i s not true i n the sample group of cases studies, more than hal f of whom are of average or above-average i n t e l l i g e n c e . In addition to t h i s , without exception, each g i r l of l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e reveals i n add-i t i o n a background of emotional deprivation and f i n a n c i a l i n s e c u r i t y . I t would therefore seem from these facts that i t i s not just the matter of the degree of i n t e l l i g e n c e that i s i n -volved i n the problem of the r e c i d i v i s t unmarried mother. The complications are c e r t a i n l y c lear i n the case of A l i c e , who when tested at the c l i n i c was rated i n the " d u l l normal" group 66. of general i n t e l l i g e n c e . A l i c e was of English-Swiss descent. Born on a p r a i r i e farm, she was the youngest of seven children. Her father deserted the home when she was about s i x years o l d , leaving her mother to bring up her family on the l i m i t e d income supplied by s o c i a l allowance. To economize as much as possible, A l i c e ' s mother went to l i v e with r e l a t i v e s . Consequently A l i c e was one of ten people crowded together into the one inadequate home. Because the portion of the s o c i a l allowance being paid into the home on S l i c e ' s behalf was automatically cancelled when she reached sixteen, A l i c e was early forced to work to maintain herself. During the war years, A l i c e and her mother came to Vancouver along with the many immigrants from the P r a i r i e s who moved there to reap the benefit of the steady work and high wages of the war indu s t r i e s . A l i c e soon got a job i n a war plant as a spray painter and helped to support her mother. Within only a month or so she became pregnant, following a very casual relationship with a fellow employee, and gave b i r t h to a c h i l d when she was about twenty years of age. A l i c e did not come to the attention of the s o c i a l agency u n t i l she was referred to i t following the b i r t h of her c h i l d i n h o s p i t a l . The s o c i a l worker continued to keep i n contact with A l i c e f o r some 6^ months, v i s i t i n g frequently i n the.home. However, as i t was A l i c e ' s mother who looked a f t e r the c h i l d , the worker slipped into the habit of discussing matters with her instead of with A l i c e . Consequently the worker never did manage to gain A l i c e ' s confidence, and" when A l i c e went back to work, the worker terminated her contact with her, assuming that she was 67. managing matters very competently. The fa c t s refute i t . To date, A l i c e has had three children born out of wedlock. Another case i n poidt i s that of Beulah, who when tested rated i n the "moron" group of general i n t e l l i g e n c e . Beulah was of English r a c i a l o r i g i n and was born and brought up i n the c i t y of Vancouver. She was one of four children a l l •of whom but herself were stated ~|to be " i n t e l l i g e n t and capable of oaring f o r themselves." Beulah's parents were i n i l l health f o r a period of years, and when Beulah was 14 years, her father died of cancer, as had several of h i s r e l a t i v e s . As the f i n a n -c i a l resources of the family were exhausted at t h i s point, Beulah*s mother had to then apply f o r the Mother's Allowance. Later she too developed cancer and died. Beulah*s relationships with her family were poor from her e a r l i e s t years. She was a source of i r r i t a t i o n to her mother, who had no patience with her "l a z i n e s s " ; and she was also taunted f o r her st u p i d i t y by her brothers and s i s t e r s . Beulah was eneuritic f o r a very large part of her childhood. In her early teens she showed pre-delinquent tendencies and consorted with undesirable friends. She stopped school soon a f t e r her father died when she was about 16 years of age and went to work i n a laundry. She re-mained here f o r about f i v e years and i t was here that she made contacts with men which eventually resulted i n her becoming pregnant. At t h i s time she was 21 years of age. Beulah*s relationship with the putative father was not meaningful. He refused to admit paternity, saying she was promiscuous and "made passes at him." Possibly her behaviour was aggravated 68. by the death of. her mother which also occurred about t h i s time. Beulah became known to the Children's Aid Society worker about four months p r i o r to the b i r t h of her c h i l d and the worker records that "Beulah r e a l l y had l i t t l e to say f o r herself and was quite s u l l e n " . As can well be imagined, t h i s worker,in her turn, was unable to form any constructive relationship with the unmarried mother at t h i s point. The c h i l d proved to be a Mongolian and though the mother would have l i k e d f oster home placement, t h i s could, not be arranged. Beulah kept the c h i l d , but i t died at an earl y age. In a few short months a f t e r t h i s , she again became pregnant, and i n due course gave b i r t h to an-other i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d . A l i c e i s an example of a g i r l who l o s t her father at a c r i t i c a l age i n her emotional development. She was brought up on a minimum subsistence l e v e l , and at an early age had to make the best use of her l i m i t e d capacities to support herself. She managed adequately u n t i l she moved from a P r a i r i e farm to Vancouver. This change from a r u r a l to an urban centre, t o -gether with exposure to the free and easy mingling of the sexes i n a war plant, appears to have prec i p i t a t e d her into an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. With Beulah, the home atmosphere was one of continual tension, doubtless due to the suffering and fear that seems to be engendered i n every cancer v i c t i m . Beulah appeared to have been the target f o r a great deal of her mother's anxiety, and we f i n d her responding by becoming ene u r i t i c and seeking companionship on the streets. She, too, had to become self-supporting at an early age. Despite her 69. low i n t e l l i g e n c e , however, she managed to keep out of d i f f i c u l t -ie s u n t i l the death of her mother. In t h i s instance, t h i s appears to be the event which peaked up Beulah 1s d i f f i c u l t i e s . and thrust her i n t o the re l a t i o n s h i p which resulted i n preg-nancy. The foregoing, which are merely two examples of " t y p i c a l " h i s t o r i e s i n t h i s group of "s p e c i a l problem" cases, would seem to a f f i r m f o r these g i r l s at l e a s t , that the "re-peater" unmarried mother i s fundamentally a " d i f f i c u l t " person and that her lack of i n t e l l i g e n c e i s but one facet of the d i f f i c u l t i e s that precipitated her into an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. I t i s clear to see that the s o c i a l worker i n these instances i s faced with a p e c u l i a r l y d i f f i c u l t task. She has to use a l l the warmth of her personality and a l l the profession-a l s k i l l of which she i s capable to establish a constructive relationship with the g i r l , but even when t h i s i s established, the p o s s i b i l i t y of giving the mother insight into her d i f f -i c u l t i e s , with the consequent "reorganization of her inner psychic f o r c e s " , 1 i s small. The case worker then must be on guard l e s t she preu^dice her c l i e n t and unconsciously f e e l that casework service cannot be of much value to the unmarried mother of l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e . On the contrary, the case worker must r e a l i z e that i t i s doubly important i n working with such . mothers for her to inspire a f e e l i n g of l i k i n g and confidence 1 Betty Isserman: "The Casework Relationship i n Work with Unmarried Mothers", The S o c i a l Worker. Ottawa, Oct. 1948, p. 1£. 70. i n the c l i e n t . The worker's r o l e i n such instances i s primar-i l y to o f f e r the mother the warmth of emotional support, so that the g i r l may be guided to the wisest decision f o r herself and c h i l d . Fortunately, i t i s not i n t e l l i g e n c e that governs a person's emotional attachment to others, and the case worker therefore has just as much opportunity to form a meaningful re l a t i o n s h i p , though i n a l l p r o b a b i l i t y i t cannot be as con-s t r u c t i v e as f o r a more normal c l i e n t . The case worker, must always keep i n mind that as yet no one has measured the effect that a continuing emotional disturbance may have on the i n t e l l i g e n c e ; i t might therefore be that the so-called " d u l l " g i r l i s not functioning at her true i n t e l l e c t u a l l e v e l because of emotional blocking. Case workers are becoming more and more aware of t h i s so-called "psuedo feeble-mindedness", where the o h i l d or adult takes refuge from a too disturbing environment by retreat into apparent s t u p i d i t y . One of the cases i n t h i s group exemplifies such a s i t u a t i o n . Clara was a twin, one of four children born to a French father and a mother of Swedish r a c i a l o r i g i n . The father was a "small business" man who evidently never provided adequately f o r h i s family, and f i n a l l y deserted them, leaving them i n straightened circumstances. Clara's l i f e , must have been deprived almost from b i r t h , and she could never have en-joyed f u l l emotional s a t i s f a c t i o n i n her babyhood, as she was one of three babies born to her mother i n the space of two years. At the age of four, Clara's father deserted, and her 71. mother had to work to support the family. When Clara was seven her mother* s health broke under the double s t r a i n of f i n a n c i a l and maternal r e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s and Clara was placed i n a convent. Shortly thereafter, her mother died. Thus Clara had two severe emotional shocks superimposed on a childhood that had already been somewhat deprived emotionally. One can Imagine the fantasies of g u i l t and remorse that were c a l l e d up by these two desertions. The convent placed Clara, while s t i l l i n her early 'teens, at domestic service. Here she was again a "deprived child*', earning the magnificent sum of f i v e d o l l a r s per month. As soon as she became eighteen, Clara and her twin s i s t e r hitchhiked to Vancouver. A few months a f t e r a r r i v a l , Clara got into d i f f i c u l t y with the p o lice for."causing a d i s -turbance". She was examined at the Child Guidance C l i n i c where she was rated as "borderline but not feeble-minded". Following t h i s she was j a i l e d f o r 28 days and on being releas-ed, got into exactly the same kind of disturbance. This time she was committed to Essondale, where she was diagnosed as a "psychopathic i n f e r i o r " . Clara remained there three years and was then discharged on probation to her twin s i s t e r , who already had become an unmarried mother. As might be expected, Clara herself immediately became i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant, doubtless due to her release from the confinement of Essondale and an unconscious sense of i d e n t i f i c a t i o n with her twin. Clara's relationship with the father of her c h i l d was most casual, intercourse occurring shortly a f t e r she met him. Clara never used any means of avoiding conception, and from the beginning 73. wanted to keep her c h i l d . Her second pregnancy occurred wwo years l a t e r from an even more casual relationship than the f i r s t . Again no contraceptives were used and again Clara never had any other thought than to keep her c h i l d . This she did and she and her s i s t e r remained together with t h e i r brood of i l l e g i t i m a t e children.- There-was apparently no complaint of any kind regarding the care Clara gave to her children u n t i l they were 5% and 3^ years of age respectively. Then they were picked up by the p o l i c e on the complaint that they had been l e f t alone while the mother was "out drinking". The children were then apprehended by the Agency and taken into care. The s o c i a l worker was able to establish a working relationship with Clara who co-operated we l l and who did everything she could to get her children back. The Agency worker waa sympathetic and believed that she should have the children returned but thought they should consult with the Child Guidance C l i n i c f i r s t . The mother was prepared f o r t h i s proposed consultation by the worker, and she was' w i l l i n g to be re-examined. She was ob-viously anxious to make a good impression, and t h i s time the r e s u l t of the t e s t placed her i n the "very superior" group of general i n t e l l i g e n c e ! In other words, t h i s seems to be a g i r l so emotionally blocked that on occasion she could simulate an extremely low i n t e l l i g e n c e . However when given emotional sup-port by the worker and a great enough incentive, she was able to reorganize herself s u f f i c i e n t l y to give an e n t i r e l y d i f f e r -ent picture of her mental a b i l i t i e s . While i t i s true that Clara's oaseeillustrates t h i s problem i n perhaps i t s most exaggerated form, i t i s reasonable to assume that i t exists i n varying degrees i n other instances, and that the i n t e l l i g e n c e of many so-called " d u l l " unmarried mothers i s not functioning to i t s f u l l e s t capacity because of the mother's emotional tensions. Granted a l l of the preceding, the s o c i a l worker i s s t i l l faced with great d i f f i c u l t i e s i n working with the unmarri-ed mother of l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e . This i s the very r e a l d i f f i c u l t y of making an adequate plan f o r the f i n a l care of the mother and her c h i l d . Of the 24 cases i n the present group, 1 16 g i r l s were c l a s s i f i e d i n the " d u l l normal" or " d u l l " r a t i n g eight and/were ranked as "morons". Only one was an imbecile. Of the group of 16 mothers who were rated as " d u l l normal" or " d u l l " , nine g i r l s kept t h e i r babies; f i v e had no plan and the children we're made wards; two placed the baby p r i v a t e l y ; of the group of eight mothers who ranked i n the "moron" group of i n t e l l i g e n c e , three g i r l s kept the c h i l d ; three had no plan and the children were made wards; one g i r l aborted and one had a therapeutic abortion. Thus i n the t o t a l group of unmarried mothers of li m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e , twelve g i r l s kept t h e i r babies; eight had no plan and the children were made wards. In well over half these cases, the s o c i a l worker was unable to work out an adequate plan f o r the c h i l d with the mother. I t i s d i f f i c u l t at best fo r an unmarried mother to. bring up her c h i l d i n society, but 1 There were two cases i n which there was no estimate given of the motherfe i n t e l l i g e n c e either by the c l i n i c or worker. 74. f o r the mother of l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e , i t i s an Herculean task. In order that the c h i l d should have even a minimal opportunity of enjoying the loving care so essential to both i t s physical and emotional development, i t i s imperative that the mother herself has the security of some one she t r u s t s f o r guidance and support. Normally i t would be hoped that t h i s would be forthcoming from the g i r l ' s own family. However, t h i s r a r e l y materializes, p r i m a r i l y because the mother's own personality d i f f i c u l t i e s are accentuated i n her relationships with her family. Community resources are l i m i t e d , and thus the onus, of the s o c i a l planning usually remains with the s o c i a l worker. The agency normally attempts to remain i n touch with the mother; but, burdened as i t i s with large case loads and changing s t a f f , i t i s usually forced to terminate contact with the mother once the necessity f o r immediate plans f o r the c h i l d i s past. In t h i s case the agency was able to maintain contact with h a l f of the g i r l s who kept t h e i r babies u n t i l such time as i t appeared that the c h i l d was being adequately maintained. With the remainder the agency closed t h e i r cases when the mother got a job and took her baby with her. The danger inherent i n t h i s l a t t e r type of s i t u a t i o n i s w e l l t y p i f i e d by the following case study. Dora was of Scotch r a c i a l o r i g i n . Her father was a labourer and her mother a domestic. They had emigrated to Canada and settled i n a small P r a i r i e town where the father became employed as a track-man for the Canadian National Railways. Dora was the youngest of seven children- She did 75. not go very f a r i n school, and when she l e f t , earned her l i v i n g , as a domestic or waitress. Nothing i s mentioned i n the record of her family relationship hut she appears to have been more attached to her father than to her mother. I t was shortly a f t e r h i s death that she became pregnant. Her contact with the father of her c h i l d appears to have been very casual. She met him while he was stationed at an air-base, but =she professed not to know hi s l a s t name, or from where he came. In order to avoid having her mother f i n d out she was pregnant, Dora l e f t home. She came out by herself to Vancouver where she had a married s i s t e r , who, however, was separated from her husband. Dora was referred by the outpatients c l i n i c at the h o s p i t a l to the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n when she was about 8_- months pregnant. Because she was so f a r advanced i n her pregnancy, and because she did not wish U.P.A. action, the worker there took a minimum amount of information before r e f e r r i n g her to the Children's Aid. The worker at the C.A.S. found Dora very timid and on the verge of tears. She was ambivalent about the future of the baby, but- thought she would have to give i t up. Arrange-ments were made to have Dora admitted to the Maternity Home. There i t was soon learned that Dora was e p i l e p t i c . When her c h i l d was born i t appeared to be subnormal. By t h i s time Dora was asking adoption placement for her c h i l d and the worker had to explain why t h i s was not possible. Dora could not accept t h i s and t r i e d to arrange a private placement. The worker learned of t h i s and had again to point out why t h i s would not 76. work. The worker was caught here i n a most unfortunate s i t -uation. Dora had not established residence i n B r i t i s h Columbia fo r purposes of s o c i a l assistance. This would not have matter-ed i f her c h i l d had been adoptable. Moreover, the paternity of the c h i l d was not established and i t appeared to be subnormal. This, together with Dora's epilepsy and i n s t a b i l i t y a l l meant that the c h i l d could not be deemed adoptable. I t would thus have to be repatriated i f there was any question of i t becom-ing a public charge by being taken into care by the agency. A l l these facts made i t very d i f f i c u l t f o r the worker to be encouraging about plans f o r the c h i l d . Thus because the worker was constantly forced by e x i s t i n g p o l i c i e s into the r o l e of denying the mother's wishes and blocking her plans, she was unable to form a constructive relationship with, the mother or to give her the emotional support and encouragement she appear-ed to need. Dora f i n a l l y found work as a domestic and took the baby with her. The case was then closed i n the agency at t h i s point, but had to be reopened a few months l a t e r when the baby temporarily had to be taken into care. Later the g i r l had another c h i l d , which only came to the agency's attention following i t s death (of neglect) i n the h o s p i t a l . The agency attempted to contact the mother at t h i s time, both f o r her sake and that of her f i r s t c h i l d , but were unable to trace her and f i n a l l y had to close t h e i r case. Dora's s i t u a t i o n i s not uncommon. Many unmarried mothers come from outside the province seeking the anonymity of a large c i t y f o r t h e i r confinement. I f the background i s good, 77. and the c h i l d healthy, i t i s e a s i l y placed f o r adoption. How-ever i f the mother's i n t e l l i g e n c e i s l i m i t e d , or i f the c h i l d i s handicapped by a physical deformity, i t usually means that the c h i l d has to be made a ward. At t h i s point the question of maintenance arises, and with i t * the old "bogey" of residence laws. At present everyone i s agreed i n p r i n c i p l e that the proper c r i t e r i a should be "what i s best f o r the c h i l d ? " , not "who i s going to pay f o r the child's care?" Unfortunately, however, thinking i s ahead of so c i a l action on t h i s point, and, the question of residence s t i l l plays a part i n determining the f i n a l plan f o r the c h i l d . E l i n o r ' s s i t u a t i o n , though s i m i l a r i n some respects to Dora's, had a happier ending. E l i n o r was of German r a c i a l o r i g i n . Her parents were born i n the "old counhy". Although they were naturalized Canadians, t h e i r attitude and mode of l i f e was d i s t i n c t l y "old world". E l i n o r ' s father was a farmer and part-time fisherman who l i v e d i n a remote area up the northern coast of B r i t i s h Columbia. He and h i s wifle did not get along, so the father l i v e d by himself while the children l i v e d with the mother. The l a t t e r was of the Lutheran f a i t h , a clean, t h r i f t y , industrious worker, but harsh and unsympath-e t i c with her children. A l l the children had to be s e l f -supporting at an early age, and at the age of 14, E l i n o r was "bonded out" to some farmers i n the Eraser Valley, just as i n the days of the o l d apprentice system. E l i n o r wass i l l - e q u i p -ped f o r such a moves Her mother had never permitted discussion of sexual matters, believing that her children could pick up 78. the " f a c t s of l i f e " about the farm. When she became pregnant, shortly s f t e r she l e f t home, her mother refused to permit her t to come home with her c h i l d . She never did t e l l E l i n o r ' s father about her condition. When E l i n o r was f i r s t referred i n from the country to the agency, she had been seen by the Child Welfare Divison worker (as was then the routine), i n an attempt to establish paternity. On coming to the agency, E l i n o r was f i r s t seen by a temporary worker, and then two days l a t e r by another worker. A l l three workers attempted to get information regarding the putative father i n the f i r s t interview and E l i n o r completely blocked t h e i r e f f o r t s and consistently refused to discuss any-thing that had any meaning f o r her. She was admitted to the Maternity Home and remained there, because of her youth and i n -a b i l i t y to return home with her c h i l d , u n t i l the baby was about f i v e month old. E l i n o r and her baby were than discharged to a work home outside the area supervised by the Children's Aid, where the owners were professional people, both employed outside the home, and where E l i n o r knew no one i n the community. The case was ten closed i n the agency. I t was re-opened eight months l a t e r when E l i n o r was discharged by her employers as being i n e f f i c i e n t and ineapable. E l i n o r then had no money, no plans and nowhere to go. This time another worker had contact with her, and the emphasis (and nat u r a l l y so) was placed on the "proper" care of her c h i l d . The baby was taken into non-ward care and money given the mother who was also helped to get another job,.but again E l i n o r ' s own emotional needs were over-7 9 . looked. She again became pregnant. Another worker now camein contact with E l i n o r and f o r the f i r s t time managed to give the g i r l the acceptance and warmth that she craved. This time too, E l i n o r ' s attitudeuat the outset was very u n r e a l i s t i c . She thought she would l i k e to marry the putative father, but that he was very "shy", and had not r e a l l y had an opportunity to mention;.marriage to her. The worker met her sympathetically, taking Care of her immediate needs by arranging f o r her placement in.the Salvation Army Home, seeing that her teeth were taken care of, and so f o r t h . She supported E l i n o r i n her decision to give up her c h i l d , c a r e f u l l y i n t e r -preting the necessity of making the c h i l d a ward, instead of placing i t f o r adoption as E l i n o r o r i g i n a l l y requested. When the plans f o r the baby were completed, the worker discussed with E l i n o r her possible placement i n a work home that she knew. She took E l i n o r f i r s t to v i s i t the home and meet her would-be employer; discussed with her her feelings about the place and i n general moved as c a r e f u l l y a s i i f she had been placing a c h i l d , which i n point of fact she was. As a result of t h i s warm, protective, motherly care, which probably met El i n o r ' s dependency needs f o r the f i r s t time i n her l i f e , E l i n o r "opened up" to the worker and discussed her feelings with her, even t e l l i n g her about the father of her f i r s t c h i l d (a fact she said she never would t e l l her own mother). E l i n o r formed a good working relationship with her employer who was herself an affectionate, motherly person. Later E l i n o r went with her employers when they went away on a t r i p , but she continued to 80. write to the worker regularly and sent money for the care of her f i r s t c h i l d . From an u n r e a l i s t i c , withdrawn g i r l , E l i n o r changed to a f a i r l y responsible person able to take some i n i t i a t i v e i n planning f o r herself and her c h i l d . E l i n o r ' s case i s i n t e r e s t i n g from many aspects. I t shows the deprived emotional and f i n a n c i a l background so c h a r a c t e r i s t i c of the unmarried mother known to the agency: i t also points up the possible factors of early physical matura-t i o n and loneliness that p r e c i p i t a t e d her Into an I l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. F i n a l l y , i t points the contrasts, to a remarkable degree, between extremely unfortunate case handling and an exceptionally s k i l l e d and sensitive approach. Not only does i t take time and s k i l l to plan f o r the after-care of the mother who keeps her c h i l d , but i t takes endless patience and tact to make the best possible plan f o r the c h i l d f o r whom the mother asks the agency to plan. The mother, i f she does hot wish to keep her c h i l d h e r s e l f , wishes to have i t "adopted out". She seems to know that adoption sp e l l s the greatest security f o r her c h i l d . Consequently i t comes as a blow when she I s t o l d , as she u s u a l l y - i s , that her c h i l d i s not adoptable and that to give the c h i l d proper guardianship, i t w i l l have to be made a ward of the agency. This means car e f u l work with the unmarried mother to ensure that she understands what i s at stake and that the placement strengthens rather than loosens the t i e between the mother and the s o c i a l worker. In each of the instances so f a r described, where the mother gave up her baby, i t was made a ward. Such 81. children are placed i n foster homes which may turn i n t o adoption homes i f , at a l a t e r date, the c h i l d proves to be adoptable on i t s own merits. Time has proven that many of these children develop successfully i f they are placed i n foster homes especially chosen to meet t h e i r needs. This again c a l l s f o r s p e c i a l s k i l l s on the part of the agency workers to fi n d appropriate homes f o r these children so that they may -be assured the best ^ possible chance to reach a happy, healthy maturity. Time of Referral and Worker-Client Relationship. Despite a l l the aforementioned d i f f i c u l t i e s , . t h e worker must meantime "carry on!' to the best of her a b i l i t y . She cannot pick and choose her c l i e n t s , but takes each g i r l as she comes. The task i s made i n f i n i t e l y easier i f the worker i s able to make contact with the mother early i n her pregnancy. The worker then i s free t o work slowly and ca r e f u l l y towards building the f e e l i n g of mutual t r u s t and confidence so essen-t i a l to therapy. I t i s therefore i n t e r e s t i n g to look at the 24 cases which comprise the group of "special problems" i n the l i g h t of the time of r e f e r r a l and the type of relationship established between the worker and c l i e n t . Exactly h a l f of these g i r l s were referred to the Agency following the b i r t h of t h e i r children. Of the remainder, a l l but two g i r l s came to the Agency i n the l a s t few weeks of pregnancy, and one of these was a ward. Of the 12 g i r l s not known to the Agency u n t i l a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d , 6 g i r l s kept the c h i l d ; 2 g i r l s 82. had no plan and the c h i l d was made a ward; 2 g i r l s placed the c h i l d p r i v a t e l y and 2 g i r l s aborted. Of the 12 g i r l s who were known to the Agency p r i o r to the b i r t h of the c h i l d , 6 g i r l s kept t h e i r babies. The other 6 had no plan, so that the c h i l d was made a ward. * I t i s obvious that the g i r l who had not been referred to a s o c i a l agency before the b i r t h of her c h i l d suffers a physical as w e l l as an emotional handicap. Often she does not have the proper prenatal check-ups. I t i s noted therefore, as might be expected, that the g i r l whor aborted had not been known previously to the Agency. S i m i l a r l y the g i r l who had no contact with a worker u n t i l a f t e r her c h i l d was born w i l l have been under the greatest stress and s t r a i n to evolve a plan f o r her c h i l d . She i s the g i r l who i s l i a b l e to make a "private" placement. This means that the baby i s placed haphazardly, regardless of i t s background or that of the adopting parents. Then too, the adopting parents often lose touch with the nat-u r a l mother, making i t d i f f i c u l t and sometimes impossible to obtain the consent and information necessary f o r the completion of the adoption. Often the adopting parents run the r i s k of taking a baby who may not develop normally either p h y s i c a l l y or mentally. Freda i s a case i n point. Freda i s one of the un-married mothers i n t h i s group who had had no contact with a s o c i a l agency u n t i l the adopting parents with whom she had p r i v a t e l y placed her baby, submitted t h e i r l e g a l notice of intention to adopt. The s o c i a l worker then had to locate 83. Freda and obtain from her the background information concerning herself and her c h i l d which i s an i n t e g r a l part of the court report submitted p r i o r to the completion of any adoption. In t h i s case the worker found Freda to be " f r i e n d l y but rather stubborn, es p e c i a l l y about giving information regarding herself and her family". However, t h i s worker learned that Freda was a breed, being of part Spanish and part Indian r a c i a l o r i g i n . Freda had had l i t t l e education, leaving school at Grade 6 when she was 17 years of age. Following t h i s she came to Vancouver where she worked as a domestic or chambermaid. Freda had a l -ways managed to be self-supporting. During the summer she would pick berries or work i n a cannery and, i n the winter, come back to Vancouver to work as a^domestic. She had had no contact with family since her mother diea and claimed to have no know-ledge of her father's whereabouts. She had managed to save enough money to pay her doctor and hosp i t a l b i l l s , but not enough to support her c h i l d , which she placed p r i v a t e l y when i t was 3 weeks old. The paternity o f the c h i l d was not establish-ed. From the adoption study the worker could not recommend completion of the adoption at that time. As a result there was the disappointment to the adopting parents; the possible i n -security f o r the c h i l d r e s u l t i n g from aheunsuitable placement and f i n a l l y the r e a c t i v a t i o n f or the mother of a l l the p a i n f u l circumstances surrounding the b i r t h of her c h i l d . Needless to say, the worker did not e s t a b l i s h a constructive relationship with Freda. A l l t h i s could have been avoided had the g i r l been referred to the s o c i a l agency early on i n her pregnancy. 84. From the recording i t did not appear as i f the worker was able to form a meaningful relationship with any of the remaining g i r l s i n t h i s group. This may have been due to a va r i e t y of reasons. The f i r s t and most obvious one was the lateness of r e f e r r a l to the s o c i a l worker. Then too the emphasis of the worker i n each instance was centered p r i m a r i l y on the planning f o r the c h i l d and did not i n addition focus on the r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of the mother. Where the mother kept her o h i l d , the tendency was to close the case as soon as she got a job, probably because the worker r e a l i z e d that she had been un-able to form a constructive relationship with the mother and therefore did not see any value i n prolonging the contact. Grace's case was1:the exception rather than the r u l e . In t h i s type of case the Agency kept contact with the unmarried mother for a period of 2^ years. Grace f i r s t became known to the Agency when she came seeking temporary placement f o r her 2 year old c h i l d . Grace was of Icelandic r a c i a l o r i g i n . She was f i f t h of nine children brought up on t h e i r parents' P r a i r i e dairy farm. Grace's mother died when her oldest c h i l d was only 15 years of age and when Grace was 10 years of age. Her l i f e was never easy.as she had to work hard and become more s e l f - s u f f i c i e n t than her years warranted. Grace remained at home u n t i l her l a t e 'teens, when her father movent to a farm i n the Praser Valley i n B r i t i s h Columbia. Grace moved with him and kept house f o r him. Soon, however, her father remarried -a widow with seven children. Grace's new stepmother was un-f r i e n d l y so, at one f e l l swoop, Grace l o s t her p o s i t i o n as 85. chatelaine of her father's home while she had to compete f o r h i s attention with the new wife and her children. This seemed to have made Grace most unhappy and lonely and to have been the s i t u a t i o n that p r e c i p i t a t e d her into.an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. Her relationship with the putative father was casual, and there never was any question of marriage. Grace's father and stepmother kept her baby and she came into Vancouver to work. Shortly a f t e r that she met the man who became the father of her second c h i l d * Marriage was discussed between them, but Grace never gave i t second thought. She kept her baby i n a private boarding home and maintained herself and her c h i l d by working as a waitress. F i n a l l y her health broke down and i t was at t h i s point that she came to the Children's A i d asking help i n caring f o r her l i t t l e g i r l . The worker described Grace as a "drab, unhappy looking g i r l " . She mentioned her "weary, d i s -couraged look", and noted that "she did not look bright". Grace's l i t t l e g i r l was taken into non-ward care but Grace her-s e l f did not get the emotional support she required. The work- . er reported, "Grace i s a d i f f i c u l t person to t a l k to as she i s a l l prepared to be antagonistic". Unfortunately t h i s worker was getting a l l of Grace's latent h o s t i l i t y projected upon her. The more the worker became concerned f o r the c h i l d , the more antagonistic Grace became. I t was almost as I f she were vying fo r a t tention with her own c h i l d . Then too, with the various changes i n s t a f f , d i f f e r e n t workers had to deal with Grace and thus a good working relationship never r e a l l y was formed with her. Gradually Grace stopped v i s i t i n g her l i t t l e g i r l . She 86. did not keep the agency informed of her plans and i t began to look as i f the c h i l d would have to be made a ward. F i n a l l y the c h i l d was apprehended. Grace at t h i s time was i l l i n h o s p i t a l and i t f e l l to the l o t of a temporary worker to discuss t h i s with her. The worker went i n with a fresh view-point though admittedly without the pressure of concern ibr plans for the c h i l d . She saw Grace as an i n d i v i d u a l and not merely as the mother of a c h i l d i n need of protection. Then f o r the f i r s t time Grace began to t a l k about herself and her family and her fears regarding her sickness. (Most of the background inform-ation that i s on f i l e was obtained at t h i s time). The worker formed a warm, supportive relationship with Grace and c a r e f u l l y arranged that s o c i a l assistance be paid to her following her discharge from the h o s p i t a l . Unfortunately t h i s worker' was only on temporary s t a f f and l e f t the agency at t h i s time. Thus following the f i n a l i z a t i o n of the adoption plans f o r Grace's l i t t l e g i r l , the case was closed i n the agency. Once again Grace was "on her own". Again she was bereft and again she was lonely, t h i s time f o r her c h i l d and the worker i n whom she had'placed her confidence. Thus, though the Agency kept con-ta c t with the unmarried mother f o r *a period of Z\ years follow-ing the i n i t i a l contact, the emphasis was.all on planning f o r the c h i l d and l i t t l e i f any constructive work was accomplished with the mother. I t w i l l be r e c a l l e d that the remainder of t h i s group of unmarried mothers of l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e were referred to the Agency a month or so p r i o r to the b i r t h of the c h i l d . Half 87. of these g i r l s kept t h e i r children and the others^ had no plan and so the children were made wards. I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g at t h i s point to examine these cases to see i f a better working r e l a t i o n -ship was established with these g i r l s than with the ones d i s -cussed previously. Once again the worker i s faced with i n -numerable d i f f i c u l t i e s i n the p e r s o n a l i t i e s of the unmarried mothers and i n the main i t cannot be said that any t r u l y con-struc t i v e relationship was established. However i n three i n -stances, a very p o s i t i v e relationship was engendered, though not with the worker who made the i n i t i a l contact with the un-married mother. I t w i l l be recalled that such a working basis was established with E l i n o r who was a p a r t i c u l a r l y reserved g i r l and who needed great warmth and understanding before her confidence was won. Beulah too eventually formed a very r e a l a f f e c t i o n f o r the s o c i a l worker, but she seemed to have to vent her h o s t i l i t y on the f i r s t worker with whom she came i n contact. She i s described by that worker as su l l e n and resentful of any form of advice. However i n her l a t e r contacts with the Agency, Beulah writes to her worker saying that she hopes they w i l l always be friends and write back and forth as she always looks on the worker as her own mother and hopes i t w i l l always be l i k e that. Both the workers who f i n a l l y achieved a s a t i s f a c t -ory working relationship with E l i n o r and Beulah, were mature warm-hearted women, with considerable experience and t r a i n i n g behind them. However, the i n i t i a l contact with the Agency played i t s part i n paving the way f o r these relationships ultimately to be formed. 88. The i i i r d and l a s t example i s that of a g i r l with whom the s o c i a l workers t o i l e d f o r a long time before they f i n a l l y managed to achieve a constructive r e l a t i o n s h i p , Hannah, as we s h a l l c a l l her, gave early i n d i c a t i o n of personality d i s t u r -bance. Her family h i s t o r y i s one long h i s t o r y of economic i n -security and i l l health. Hannah's father was i l l and crotchety. "Ser mother struggled along f o r a number of years on " r e l i e f " caring f o r her husband and family as best she could. F i n a l l y the burden became too great f o r her to bear, and she l e f t her husband and went to work supporting herself as a housekeeper. Hannah was the oldest and " d u l l e s t " of four children. She was always compared unfavorably with her younger s i s t e r , who took f u l l advantage of the f a c t , taunting her as being "crazy". Hannah seemed to be the outlet f o r a l l her mother's f r u s t r a t i o n with l i f e . When Hannah was about seven years o l d , she commenc-ed stealing. On examination at the c l i n i c , the p s y c h i a t r i s t said she was developing an i n f e r i o r i t y complex under her home conditions and recommended a change of environment i n a Children's Aid foster home. This recommendation was not c a r r i -ed out and Hannah continued to l i v e with her mother. When Hannah was about 17 years of age, her mother had a nervous breakdown. The resultant tension and worry appears to have been the p r e c i p i t a t i n g f a c t o r that led shortly a f t e r to the f i r s t of Hannah's pregnancies. Her mother had no sympathy f o r Hannah's predicament and berated her as "sloppy", "careless", and "brazen", and demanded that she be s t e r i l i z e d . As there was some question Hannah might have been promiscuous, her c h i l d 89. was made a ward, and she herself returned soon a f t e r the b i r t h to the home of her mother. Hannah soon got Into d i f f i c u l t i e s with her mother who then asked f o r her committment to the Pr o v i n c i a l Mental Hospital. Hannah, however, was not committab-l e . She was not psychotic and had at one time been given an I.Q. rating of 92 and at another the rating of " d u l l " normal. Shortly a f t e r t h i s , Hannah l e f t home and again became i l l e g i t -imately pregnant and returned to the Agency f o r assistance. On admission to the United Church Home, which was notable at that time f o r the s t r i c t , punitive, and mo r a l i s t i c a t t i t u d e of i t s matron, Hannah was most unhappy and was described as one of the most unpopular g i r l s i n the home. The worker was unable to establis h any bond with Hannah and commented on her emotional "flatness". Hannah claimed she had had her second c h i l d because the Agentfy took away her f i r s t , and announced that she was going to keep t h i s baby. Becoming i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant again the next year, she kept that c h i l d also, the Agency re-maining i n a supervisory capacity. Shortly a f t e r the b i r t h of yet a fourth c h i l d , Hannah was arrested by the police as she had l e f t her children alone and uncared f o r . Later she was allowed out on probation to the Children's A i d Society. This shock seemed to j a r Hannah to r e a l i t y . Her relationship with the worker strengthened and her behaviour progressively impicov-ed under the close supervision of the Agency. F i n a l l y Hannah entered into a stable common-law relationship with a man who undertook the family r e s p o n s i b i l i t y for Hannah and her children. On l a s t contact with the Agency the family was managing w e l l . 90. The factors influencing Hannah's personality i n the developmental years of her ohildhood are a l l self-evident here as are the progressive stages leading to the climax of i l l e g i t -imacy at physical maturity. Also indicated are the gaps i n the preventive work with the c h i l d when i t i s i n i t s most formative years. I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g too to note here yet another instance where the emotional tension of the mother apparently blunted her i n t e l l e c t u a l functioning. F i n a l l y , i t i s i l l u m i n a t i n g to observe that when the incentive was s u f f i c i e n t l y great, the c l i e n t could form and make good use of a professional r e l a t i o n -ship with the s o c i a l worker. These " s p e c i a l problem" cases c l e a r l y demonstrate a fact that i s w e l l known to every s o c i a l worker, namely, that theeworker must take the unmarried mother.as she presents herself to the agency. There i s no question of services being refused because the unmarried mother might be too emotionally disturbed to benefit from casework services, or too l i m i t e d i n t e l l e c t u a l l y to form a t r u l y constructive working r e l a t i o n -ship. Handicapped as the worker i s by the mother's "peculiar personality" and l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e , and by the lack of re-sources both with i n the family and the community, she v a l i a n t l y struggles to achieve the best s o c i a l solution to the problem. Her only chance to overcome these handicaps i s to have an early and continued contact with the unmarried mother. Even then, with the heavy caseloads and frequent changes i n workers, i t i s most often impossible for the worker to establish a working relationship with the mother. There are as yet no f a c i l i t i e s 91. e x i s t i n g i n the community, with the exception of custodial care of the grossly defective, to t r a i n and eventually r e h a b i l i t a t e the unmarried mother of l i m i t e d i n t e l l i g e n c e . There'is l i t t l e constructive work being accomplished with these mothers i n view of a l l these d i f f i c u l t i e s , and i t would seem u n t i l such time as the community awakens to i t s r e s p o n s i b i l i t y i n t h i s matter, that the worker* s role i s necessarily l i m i t e d to handling the emergent s i t u a t i o n . 92. Chapter 9. Case Differences: Cases Referred A f t e r C h i l d b i r t h . "Casework treatment that u t i l i z e s both environmental and personal treatment, often i n combination, has i n i t the pote n t i a l s f o r e f f e c t i v e reorientation of the c l i e n t . Such treatment—based on psychological understanding of the c l i e n t ' s needs and d i f f i c u l t i e s , and on our awareness that we are capable of influencing (her) by our attitudes, our a c t i v i t i e s and our arrangements ( p a r t l y i n an i n h i b i t i n g and p a r t l y i n a promoting way) — o f f e r s (her) the opportunities of achieving a basic readjustment" (Grete L. Bibring, M.D.: "Psychiatry and S o c i a l Work", Journal of S o c i a l Casework. June 1947, p. 210); I t was to be expected that the case worker would ex-perience d i f f i c u l t y i n forming a constructive relationship with the unmarried mother of below average i n t e l l i g e n c e . This mother* s capacity f o r gaining insight into her emotional d i f f i c u l t i e s i s l i m i t e d , as i s her a b i l i t y to plan or re-organize her l i f e i n a more s o c i a l l y acceptable and s a t i s f y i n g manner. I t i s therefore understandable that such g i r l s should tend to be r e c i d i v i s t s . However, the s i t u a t i o n i s somewhat dtifferent with the unmarried mother of higher i n t e l l i g e n c e . The case worker, though s t i l l faced with a l l the d i f f i c u l t i e s inherent i n the peculiar personality of the unmarried mother, here at least has a chance to apply her knowledge of human be-haviour to the conscious professional interplay of her person-a l i t y i n r e l a t i o n to that of her c l i e n t , and to "work with her" and her problems. 1 1' Bertha C. Reynolds: Learning and Teaching i n the Practice of S o c i a l Work. Farrar and Rinehart, Inc., New York, Sept.1942, p. 26. 93. As one authority has pointed out "the effect of (such) a relationship to a person i n whom they (the c l i e n t s ) have con-fidence, i s to give them the support that comes from sharing a burden, to release energies formerly t i e d up i n fear and h o s t i l i t y , and to free them to see more than they were able to bear to see before of the meaning of t h e i r s i t u a t i o n " . 1 Hope-f u l l y , a f t e r experiencing such a r e l a t i o n s h i p , the c l i e n t be-comes a better integrated person, and i s enabled to make a more adequate s o c i a l adjustment. I t w i l l be r e c a l l e d at this point that of the 66 oases comprising t h i s study, 40 involved r e c i d i v i s t unmarried mothers who were of average i n t e l l i g e n c e or above average i n t h i s regard. In these p a r t i c u l a r instances, despite casework treatment from professional s o c i a l workers, the unmarried mother did not achieve a "basic readjustment" and continued on i n her maladjusted and unconventional pattern of l i v i n g . Postulating here again that timing i s one of the c r i t i c a l factors influencing the formation of the constructive r e l a t i o n -ship that i s the basis of casework treatment, attention i n these cases has been fooussed on the time when the mother was referred to the Agency. The 40 cases therefore have been divided into two groups depending upon whether the mother was referred to the Agency before or a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d . These cases are then examined to see what casework r e l a t i o n -ship was established, what subsequent plans were made f o r the 1 i b i d , p. 27. 94. mother and c h i l d , and what circumstances surrounded the b i r t h of the next c h i l d . I t i s i n t e r e s t i n g to note that h a l f of these 40 eases were referred to the Agency a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d ; while w e l l over h a l f of the remainder were not referred u n t i l the l a s t month or so of pregnancy. This at once evidences the great l a g i n the matter of r e f e r r a l s and the consequent handi-cap to casework treatment. I t i s not su r p r i s i n g therefore to fi n d that out of the t o t a l 40 cases, 20 g i r l s kept t h e i r babies despite a l l the d i f f i c u l t i e s that face a mother with an i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d i n our present s o c i a l structure. In three instances the g i r l had no plan and the baby was not adoptable, so that the c h i l d was made a ward; s i x g i r l s placed the c h i l d p r i v a t e l y ; nine placed the c h i l d f or adoption with the co-operation of the Agency and i n two cases the c h i l d was dead or aborted. This again indicates the d i f f i c u l t y the s o c i a l worker encounters i n working with the mother to form an adequate plan f o r the c h i l d . The d i s p o s i t i o n of the second c h i l d shows quite a di f f e r e n t emphasis. Only nine g i r l s kept the second baby, f i v e of whom had already kept the f i r s t c h i l d ; f i v e g i r l s had no plan and the c h i l d , not being deemed adoptable, was made a ward; four g i r l s requested that the c h i l d be taken i n non-ward care ( t h i s turned into ward care i n three instances); f i f t e e n g i r l s placed.the c h i l d p r i v a t e l y and seven placed the c h i l d f o r adoption with the co-operation of the agency. I t i s understandable that fewer g i r l s would attempt to keep the 95. second c h i l d as the f i n a n c i a l cost of maintaining two children would be evident to a l l but the most u n r e a l i s t i c g i r l . However the sharp increase i n the number of private placements would seem to indicate the d i f f i c u l t y of getting these g i r l s to accept and t r u s t the service of the Agency. Jane was one of the r e c i d i v i s t unmarried mothers of average or above average i n t e l l i g e n c e who was not referred to the s o c i a l agency u n t i l a f t e r the c h i l d was already born and who decided to keep her baby. She f i r s t became known to the Agency i n 1939 when her c h i l d was born i n the General Hospital. Jane herself was born i n one of the P r a i r i e Provinces, the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d of her Jewish mother and I r i s h Catholic father. Her. mother l a t e r married but t h i s marriage turned out unhappily and she d r i f t e d into p r o s t i t u t i o n . Jane was appre-hended when she was s i x years o l d and made a ward of an agency i n another province. Shortly a f t e r Jane was taken into care she developed pneumonia and then s c a r l e t fever. When she re-covered from t h i s she was placed In a f o s t e r home and remained there f o r ten years. I t i s not known why Jane l e f t t h i s home but a f t e r that she just went from one fos t e r home to another u h t i l she came of age. She had somehow "kept track" of her mother's whereabouts through the years, and as soon as she was of age, Jane joined her mother i n Vancouver. Shortly a f t e r a r r i v i n g there she became i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant as the result, of a very casual relationship with the putative father. She was confined i n h o s p i t a l and at that point referred to the Agency. Following t h i s , Jane was admitted to the maternity 9 6 . home -where she s e t t l e d down c o n t e n t e d l y a f f i r m i n g t h a t she had " n o t h i n g t o w o r r y abou t a t p r e s e n t " . A s Jane was a s k i n g a d o p t i o n p l a c e m e n t , t h e w o r k e r i m m e d i a t e l y a t t e m p t e d t o g e t t h e n e c e s s a r y b a c k g r o u n d i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m h e r and as was cus tomary a t t h a t t i m e , a w o r k e r f rom t h e C h i l d W e l f a r e D i v i s i o n c a l l e d t o i n t e r v i e w h e r f o r i n f o r m a t i o n abou t t h e p u t a t i v e f a t h e r . A t t h i s p o i n t t h e w o r k e r r e e o r d s t h a t w h i l e Jane was i n t e r e s t e d i n d i s c u s s i n g p l a n s w i t h h e r , she was n o t a n x i o u s t o g i v e i n f o r m -a t i o n abou t h e r r e l a t i v e s . P a t e r n i t y was n o t e s t a b l i s h e d , and t h e w o r k e r , i n k e e p i n g w i t h t h e a c c e p t e d p r o c e d u r e s a t t h a t t i m e , had t o t e l l Jane t h a t h e r c h i l d c o u l d n o t be p l a c e d f o r a d o p t i o n . The o l d m o r a l i s t i c t h i n k i n g t h e n p r e v a l e n t i s r e -f l e c t e d i n t h e w o r k e r s comment t h a t i f Jane k e p t t h e c h i l d , i t w o u l d be a " s t a b l i z i n g i n f l u e n c e on h e r " . Jane k e p t c o n s i s t e n t -l y a s k i n g a d o p t i o n and t h e w o r k e r had e q u a l l y c o n s i s t e n t l y t o r e f u s e . Jane was u r g e d t o keep h e r b a b y , and t h e w o r k e r comments: " I t was f e l t v e r y d e f i n i t e l y t h a t m o t h e r s h o u l d n o t have t h e p r i v i l e g e o f f o s t e r home p l acemen t a t t h e p r e s e n t t i m e due t o h e r p a s t b e h a v i o u r and l a c k o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y " . J a n e ' s m o t h e r was a l s o v e r y j u d g m e n t a l ; when Jane r e b e l l e d a t t h i s t h e v i s i t o r r eminded h e r t h a t , even i f t h e m a t e r n a l g randmothe r seemed d i f f i c u l t , " she was h e r m o t h e r " , and she " s h o u l d show some r e s p e c t f o r h e r " because o f t h i s . J ane p l a c e d h e r baby i n a p r i v a t e b o a r d i n g home and g o t h e r s e l f a j ob a s a d o m e s t i c a t $12.00 p e r mon th . S i x months l a t e r t h e A g e n c y had t o t a k e t h e baby i n t o n o n - w a r d c a r e . G r a d u a l l y Jane d r i f t e d o u t o f t o u c h w i t h h e r c h i l d and t h e 9 7 . Agency and a year-and-a-half a f t e r i t s birth, a l l contact was l o s t with Jane and the c h i l d was made a ward. A few months a f t e r t h i s , Jane again became known to the Agency when she was referred f o r assistance with her second i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d . This time Jane was using an a l i a s . She gave the worker a story of her l i f e which was a complete fantasy, claiming i n part that she was an "adopted c h i l d " . 3iane l a t e r placed t h i s baby p r i v a t e l y f o r adoption. Here i s seen an unmarried mother who herself was an i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d . She was exposed to some sordid scenes i n hereearly childhood and suffered actual physical neglect'. In addition to t h i s she was suddenly separated from her mother at age 6 and then ten years l a t e r suffered a s i m i l a r rude separ-ation at age 16 from the foster home In which she had been staying f o r the past ten years. Jane had a strongly ambivalent t i e to her mother, with the weight on the side of h o s t i l i t y and sho r t l y a f t e r r e j o i n i n g her, she followed her mother's pattern by becoming i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant. The care Jane got i n the maternity home seemed to meet her dependency needs and she f e l t contented and secure, but without much sense of r e a l i t y since she did not f e e l the need to plan f o r her future. Jane's mother was very judgmental, projecting her very mixed feelings regarding her own past conduct on to her daughter. The s o c i a l worker by r e f l e c t i n g the m o r a l i s t i c pat-tern of thinking customary at that time, e f f e c t i v e l y alienated Jane by reminding her of her "duty" to her mother. Thus Jane could not accept and t r u s t the worker. Then too Jane was 98. forced into a more adequate maternal role than she was capable of maintaining and her old h o s t i l i t i e s , i n s e c u r i t i e s and depeney. needs were never resolved. I t would seem i n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r instanoe that Jane's o r i g i n a l pregnancy aggravated the d i f f i c u l t i e s that resulted i n her becoming i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant a second and t h i r d time. Kay was another of the mothers who did not become known to the Agenoy u n t i l a f t e r the b i r t h of her c h i l d . She, l i k e Jane, kept her f i r s t baby, but the case handling here d i f f e r s markedly and exemplifies w e l l the new approach i n professional work. I t covers a space of two years. Kay became i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant at 16 years of age. She was the only daughter of four children born to a working man and h i s wife who l i v e d i n a remote l i t t l e town on Vancouver Island. Kay's father and mother could not get along together so they separat-ed. The three boys l i v e d with the father while Kay l i v e d and worked with her mother as a domestic. When Kay f i r s t came to the attention of the Agency, she was i n the Salvation Army Maternity Home with her c h i l d already three weeks old. The worker met her and observed that she was young and unsophist-icated. Her attachment to the putative father, who was a s a i l o r , allegedly had been most casual, Kay did not know h i s name, or where he l i v e d , and claimed that he had raped her at a party. The worker had no chance to break through the g i r l ' s reserve, as Kay was determined to leave the Home and return to her mother with her baby. However, the worker did a l l that was possible, getting her t i c k e t s , taking her to the boat, and re-99. f e r r i n g her to the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n f o r continued super-v i s i o n at her home. Two years l a t e r , Kay came v o l u n t a r i l y to the Agency asking f i n a n c i a l assistance f o r herself and c h i l d . As that was not the function of the Agency she was referred to the C i t y S o c i a l Service Department for t h i s service. They promptly referred her back again to the Children's Aid as they had discovered she was again pregnant. Kay had been ashamed to t e l l the Agency worker of her second pregnancy and was i n dread l e s t her mother learn of i t . Evidently Kay's mother had grown t i r e d of earning her l i v i n g as a domestic and had l e f t the small town where she previously l i v e d and gone to Yancouver. There she was soon l i v i n g with a man i n a eommon-law r e l a t i o n -ship. Kay had come to Yancouver with her mother and while she maintained contact with her, she could not tolerate her mother's relationship with a man other than her father. Kay therefore l i v e d separately and maintained herself and her c h i l d as best she could. Kay was vague about her second pregnancy, but evid-ently her relationship with the putative father had once more been most casual. Kay did not know his name, "believed" i n t e r -course had taken place, and "believed" contraceptives had been used. She f e l t she would l i k e to keep her c h i l d but knew she couldn't manage two children and so was asking adoption placement. Fortunately, t h i s time, one Agency worker was able to work with Kay from the very f i r s t . This worker was able to overcome Kay's i n i t i a l aloofness and h o s t i l i t y , and help her to pjjtan the care f o r her f i r s t c h i l d . She assisted her to make 100. the necessary arrangements f o r the b i r t h of the second c h i l d and gave her a great deal of emotional support at that time. Following the b i r t h of the c h i l d , she was able to interpret to Kay, the need for consultation with the Child Guidance C l i n i c i n order to determine whether or not the c h i l d would be con-sidered adoptable. F i n a l l y , when the c h i l d was not deemed adoptable i n view of the lack of paternity and the mother's apparent i n s t a b i l i t y , the worker c a r e f u l l y explained court pro-cedure and interpreted what wardship would mean fo r the c h i l d . Out of a l l t h i s continuous supportive contact, a good c l i e n t -worker relationship was established and Kay f e l t secure enough to s t a r t t a l k i n g about her feelings about having given up her c h i l d and her resentment towards her mother f o r the way she had treated her father. Here the worker was able to interpret some of the r e a l i t y s i t u a t i o n with regard to Kay's father, who had had a severe mental breakdown, and to show Kay that her mother had not deserted him but had r e a l l y t r i e d her best to help him. Interpretation was also given to Kay's mother of some hf her daughter's feelings i n t h i s regard and as a re s u l t the t i e be-tween Kay and her mother strengthened. Kay eventually moved out of the worker's d i s t r i c t , but the worker kept contact with her, thinking that she needed continuing casework services. At the close of the case, Kay was making a better adjustment to l i f e and had a more r e a l i s t i c appreciation of the true s i t u a t i o n between her parents. From the i n i t i a l contact with t h i s g i r l and her sub-sequent pregnancy, she c e r t a i n l y appeared to be deep i n fantasy 1 0 1 . l i f e and remote from r e a l i t y . The progress f o r forming a mean-i n g f u l relationship with the caseworker seemed poor. Yet t h i s was accomplished over a period of continued supportive help during which Kay's immediate anxieties were dealt with. When she trusted the worker s u f f i c i e n t l y , Kay was able to express the f e e l i n g of h o s t i l i t y she had towards her mother f o r the mother's apparent desertion of Kay's father. The worker accepted the fact that people do have these fe e l i n g s , but point-ed out the r e a l i t y s i t u a t i o n which Kay up to then had ignored. Following t h i s catharsis and int e r p r e t a t i o n , Kay appeared to mature and become able to make a much more adequate adjustment to l i f e . Thus while Kay's o r i g i n a l pregnanoy did l i t t l e but complicate her already mixed-up emotions, the casework treatment she received at the b i r t h of her second c h i l d enabled her to gain some insight and resolve some of her d i f f i c u l t i e s . Lucy provides an example of a s i t u a t i o n where the pathology i s too great f o r therapy. The worker recognized t h i s and knew that a l l she could do was supportive casework. Accordingly, she gave to the mother a l l the warmth and emotion-a l support that she could, and saved what was possible from a bad s i t u a t i o n . Lucy was o r i g i n a l l y referred from the govern-ment c l i n i c as she was i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant and considering an abortion. She formed an easy surface relationship with the worker and showed considerable insight into the cause of her d i f f i c u l t i e s but was unable to do anything about them. Lucy's father had been k i l l e d when he was 30 years of age. This l e f t Lucy's mother with two small children to care for. The boy 102. was sent to l i v e with h i s father*s people but Lucy stayed with her mother. Lucy's mother was irresponsible and immature, and having been awarded s u f f i c i e n t compensation f o r the death of her husband to take care of her immediate needs, she moved from place to plaoe as the s p i r i t w i l l e d . Lucy at one time stated b i t t e r l y that "they had moved around so much i t wasn't funny". Lucy's home and school l i f e i n consequence were very broken. Lucy's mother l i v e d i n common-law relationship f o r a period of time and at other times seemed to have been promiscuous i n her relationships. Lucy witnessed sex practices constantly as she shared a sleeping room with her mother. Lucy herself had had her f i r s t sex experience i n her early 'teens. Her re l a t i o n s with men had no emotional meaning to her and she t o l d the worker, "she did pr o s t i t u t e but did mot thke money . . . drink and sex gave her an escape from her problems, but the next day she was depressed". In t h i s p a r t i c u l a r instance, the unmarried mother was too sick a person to helped much by casework. Fortunately however, the worker was able to get i n touch with Lucy's grandmother, who was the one strength i n the whole sorry s i t u a t i o n . I t was arranged that she would care f o r Lucy's c h i l d . However i t was impossible to work out any constructive plans f o r Lucy herself. She had been too badly damaged by her experiences and too weakened p h y s i c a l l y and s p i r i t u a l l y to re-adjust herself. She d r i f t e d back into her old l i f e of p r o s t i t u t ing. Within four months Lucy was pregnant again but t h i s time she ended her pregnancy by abortion. A f t e r t h i s the Agency l o s t contact with Lucy. 1 0 3 . Margaret's experience i s worth noting a t t i i i s point. Margaret had intermittent contact with the Agency over a period of 18 years. She f i r s t became known when she came into the o f f i c e asking help i n planning for her 10 months old i l l e g i t -imate c h i l d . Margaret was then 19 years of age. She was born i n England but came out to Canada as a small c h i l d . There i s not much on f i l e about her family relationships but she stated she could not possibly take her baby home because of her step-father's a t t i t u d e . Margaret had completed grade 10 at 16 years of age and had then taken a course which enabled her to work i n a doctor's o f f i c e . She t o l d a story of having entered a private maternity "home" where the woman who ran i t forced her to make a private settlement with the putative father f o r $75.00. This money was then appropriated by the owner of the "home*"for the baby's board. 1 Shortly thereafter the putative father married and since then Margaret had been maintaining the c h i l d . Margaret asked the help of the Agency i n placing her c h i l d i n a foster home. However these were depression times, and Margaret was the l e g a l r e s p o n s i b i l i t y of an outside munici-p a l i t y who would not underwrite maintenance f o r the care of her c h i l d because of the general shortage of funds. Consequently the Agency was not able to do much planning for Margaret or her c h i l d . Margaret placed the baby p r i v a t e l y and the case was closed. Nothing further was known of Margaret u n t i l 8 years 1 A f t e r being investigated, the "home" was closed and i t was as a re s u l t of t h i s that l e g i s l a t i o n was passed compelling a l l such places to be licensed. 104. l a t e r when i t was reported that she had deserted her i l l e g i t -imate c h i l d i n h o s p i t a l . Margaret took her c h i l d from hospi t a l and then deserted i t again. The baby was then made a ward of the Catholic Children's Aid as by t h i s time, Margaret had changed her mind about her r e l i g i o n and was professing to be a Roman Catholic. Nothing further was known of Margaret by either Agency f o r a period of s i x years, when a neglect com-p l a i n t was received regarding Margaret's two children. Margar-et during t h i s period had been l i v i n g i n a common-law r e l a t i o n -ship which had produced two children. Following the putative father's death, Margaret placed the ch i l d r e n i n a private foster home and then disappeared. The children were apprehend-ed, pending contact with the mother, but permitted to remain i n the home where the mother had placed them. A year and a half l a t e r Margaret contacted the agency regarding her children. She had married i n the meantime and had another c h i l d , and stated she was now able to care for the children she had previously deserted. The home was referred to the Chi l d Wel-fare D i v i s i o n f o r i n v e s t i g a t i o n and on t h e i r recommendation, the children were returned on probation to t h e i r mother. A year l a t e r , the wardship of the children was rescinded and the case closed. Margaret's case i s i n t e r e s t i n g from several angles. In addition to the usual complexities inherent, i n dealing with any s i t u a t i o n involving an unmarried mother, the workers were beset by a m u l t i p l i c i t y of t e c h n i c a l i t i e s . F i r s t the municipality i n which Margaret had established l e g a l residence, 105. and which was therefore responsible f o r the cost of any finan-c i a l assistance she might require, would not underwrite the cost of taking her c h i l d into non-ward care. Thus the Agency worker was blocked by t e c h n i c a l i t i e s and unable to help the mother when she asked f o r shelter f o r her c h i l d . Margaret's change of r e l i g i o n , secondly, necessitated a r e f e r r a l to the Catholic Children's Agency, though she l a t e r professed to be no longer of that f a i t h and came back again to the o r i g i n a l Agency. F i n a l l y , by changing her abode, she came under the supervision of the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n . A l l these factors made i t extremely d i f f i c u l t , for the workers concerned, to help the unmarried mother resolve her d i f f i c u l t i e s and readjust her mode of l i f e . Indeed i t would appear that i t was the mother's marriage that was the r e a l l y s t a b i l i z i n g factor. While she may have matured through t h i s marital r e l a t i o n s h i p , the p r o b a b i l i t y i s that had i t dissolved, the mother would soon have reverted to her old pattern of behavior. The workers involved made the best they could of a complex s i t u a t i o n and did an excellent piece of co-operative work, e s p e c i a l l y i n the supervision of the l a t e r children born to the mother. Nora was one of the two g i r l s who did not attempt to keep her c h i l d . She had instead arranged a private placement through her doctor. However t h i s plan miscarried because when the c h i l d was born i t was deformed by a large f a c i a l birthmark and a club foot. I t was at t h i s point that the mother became known to the Agency, as Nora, who had entered the h o s p i t a l as a private patient, had been discharged before her c h i l d was ready 106. to leave the h o s p i t a l . She had then gone "up the coast" where work was plentifu.1 and wages high, thinking that the doctor would make a l l the necessary plans f o r the c h i l d . By t h i s time the c h i l d was a month old and the h o s p i t a l was pressing f o r i t s discharge. Accordingly the c h i l d had to be apprehended and taken into care by the Agency. When Nora was located by the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n , i t was discovered that she was despondent and unhappy and f e e l -ing very g u i l t y about her c h i l d . She did not want to keep the baby, but wanted to assure herself that i t got good care. I t was learned that Nora's mother was Czechoslovakian and her father of I r i s h r a c i a l o r i g i n . They were farmers l i v i n g i n the Okanagan Val l e y i n the i n t e r i o r of the province. Nora was the oldest of seven children. She had l e f t school at 14 years of age to help at home. She l a t e r t o l d the worker that she had never been happy at home, though she could not give any s p e c i f i c reasons f o r t h i s . She l e f t home at 16 years of age and went into one of the nearby towns i n the i n t e r i o r where she worked as a clerk i n a. store. However she could not get along with the other g i r l s , though again she did not know why, and was lonely and unhappy. Soon she l e f t f o r Vancouver where she obtained work as a waitress. There she d r i f t e d into a r e l a t i o n -ship with a s a i l o r she "picked up" i n one of the lower class cafes. Nora claimed that he wanted to marry her but she did not want to " s e t t l e down", even though she f e l t she would never be happy u n t i l she had a home of her own. Nora's mother knew of her pregnancy and had offered to take the baby but Nora did 107. not want her to have I t . The d i s t r i c t worker formed a good working relationship with Nora, but Nora could not s e t t l e . She came back to Vancouver and at t h i s point Nora had her f i r s t personal contact with the Agency who had been caring f o r her c h i l d a l l t h i s time. Nora projected a l l her feelings of g u i l t regarding her c h i l d on to the Agency and was very h o s t i l e to the Agency worker. Unfortunately her c h i l d was not developing w e l l . I t could not be considered adoptable and i t was also a d i f f i c u l t c h i l d to place In a permanent foster home as I t p e r i o d i c a l l y developed unaccountably high fever. Naturally the Agency saw placement with the r e l a t i v e s as the best plan f o r the c h i l d , e s p e c i a l l y as Nora's mother had expressed her w i l l -ingness to care f o r i t . This planning offcourse only made Nora a l l the more h o s t i l e to the Agency worker. F i n a l l y , when the c h i l d was 1^ years of age and a f t e r i t had had several attacks of high fever, i t was examined at the Child Guidance C l i n i c where i t was diagnosed as an imbecile and admitted to custodial care at Essondale Mental Hospital. Three months l a t e r the hospita l reported that Nora had given b i r t h to another i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d . This time a new worker v i s i t e d Nora. She found that Nora had degenerated. She had become hard looking, applied make-up l a v i s h l y , and was to a l l intents and purposes, now a woman of the streets. Nora was very h o s t i l e to the Agency worker. She repudiated a l l help from the Agency claim-ing that she was now of the Roman Catholic f a i t h and wished to have nothing more to do with the Agency. She was accordingly referred to the Ather Agency who now have her c h i l d i n care. 108. This ease exemplifies a p a r t i c u l a r l y unhappy s i t u a -t i o n f or both the unmarried mother and the worker. Because the doctor did not ref e r the mother to a s o c i a l agency, she went ahead with plans for the private placement of her baby. This resulted i n the mother incurring a large h o s p i t a l b i l l and then f i n a l l y being faced with the bald fact that her baby had had to be apprehended. Because the mother had moved around so much the agency had great d i f f i c u l t y i n determining her l e g a l residence and the worker spent much time and e f f o r t to estab-l i s h t h i s . Then too the c h i l d presented a worrisome problem to the worker who was anxious to see that i t got the best possible care. Nora had great d i f f i c u l t y with her i n t e r -personal relationships and although she did confide i n the d i s t r i c t worker i n the up-coast d i s t r i c t , the relationship established was too tenuous to withstand the transfer to a worker i n another agency. This was especially so when the agency concerned was caring for her sick c h i l d and was repre-sentative to her of a l l the shame and g u i l t she wished to forget. .The opportunity of doing constructive work with Nora was l o s t because of the lack of early r e f e r r a l to the agency. Paula was one of the mothers who placed her c h i l d p r i v a t e l y . She was referred to the Agency when her baby was about 2 months old. Paula was described by the worker as a husky, p l a c i d peasant g i r l of Russian r a c i a l o r i g i n . She was very r e t i c e n t , did not wish any help and stated that she had a l l plans made. The worker v i s i t e d again only to f i n d that Paula had disappeared and l e f t no forwarding address. 109. Consequently the Agency had no recourse but to close i t s case. I t was reopened 1_- years l a t e r when the putative father approach-ed the agency regarding plans f o r Paula's second i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d . Evidently Paula had l e f t the c h i l d with him a f t e r i t s b i r t h and he had placed and replaced i t i n innumerable private boarding homes before seeking the assistance Of the Agency. The c h i l d was made a ward and three years l a t e r was s t i l l showing signs of residual i n s e c u r i t y . I t was very shy and slow at t a l k i n g but i t was hoped that eventually i t would be able to be adopted by i t s foster parents. Meantime, the Agency has been unable to trace the natural mother f o r her consent to the adoption. The mother's f i r s t c h i l d which she placed p r i v a t e l y , l a t e r came to the attention of the Agency when the adopting parents wished to complete the adoption. I t was then found that the c h i l d had been placed i n a most unsuitable home and the agency had to supervise the c h i l d i n the home from a pro-t e c t i o n angle. The dangers i n such a s i t u a t i o n are self-evident. I f the c h i l d has to be removed from the home i t w i l l be d i f f i -c u l t f o r i t to adjust i n another. I f i t remains, i t w i l l never be i n too secure a s i t u a t i o n . Meantime a l l trawe i s gone of the natural mother. Ranhild placed her c h i l d f o r adoption i n a home approved by the agency. She was referred by an agency i n another province for plans f o r her 5 week old c h i l d . Ranhild was of Danish-Scottish r a c i a l o r i g i n . Her parents were hard working respectable people who owned a home i n a good resident-i a l d i s t r i c t . The standards i n the home were high and Ranhild 110. had a s t r i c t up-bringing. Ranhild graduated from high school and then took a business course. . When her mother died a f t e r a li n g e r i n g i l l n e s s of cancer, Ranhild joined the a i r f o r c e . She was placed as a nurses' aid and then posted to Eastern Canada. The sudden change from the r e s t r i c t e d environment of home appeared to be the factor that precipitated Ranhild into an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. The putative father was a casual acquaintance whom she met when on a week-end leave and whom she never saw again. As Ranhild expressed the desire to have her c h i l d adopted and return home to Vancouver, arrangements were made f o r t h i s by the a i r f o r c e and the Eastern s o c i a l agency with the co-operation of the l o c a l agency. The agency worker described Ranhild as a buxom, round-faced g i r l with a ready smile and a f r i e n d l y l i k e a b l e manner. I t was f e l t that she would make a "good" adjustment a f t e r she returned to her home. Accordingly plans were completed within 6 weeks f o r the adoption of the baby and Ranhild returned to her home and the case was closed. A year and a half l a t e r , the agency received l e g a l notice from Ranhild's aunt of her intention to adopt Ranhild's second i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d . When the worker ca l l e d to obtain the necessary adoption information, i t was discovered that no one had known Ranhild was pregnant. She had worked as a t a x i d r i v e r right up to the l a s t , returning home one night at mid-• night, and giving b i r t h to her c h i l d at home. This time, when the worker v i s i t e d she was only able to make a very s u p e r f i c i a l contact with Ranhild, who was very much on the defensive. She would give no information regarding the putative father and she . 111. wished no assistance f o r herself. Accordingly, the worker obtained as much background information f o r the adoption as she could and contact with Ranhild was then terminated. Here the Agency worker was handicapped by the lateness of r e f e r r a l and also by the fact that too many s o c i a l workers had been i n contact with the mother p r i o r to r e f e r r a l . The mother never grew to t r u s t or confide i n any one worker, as her contact, instead of being a l l channelled through one person, was diffused over severl. Then too, Ranhild appeared to be a much more adequate person than she r e a l l y was, so contact with her was terminated with the placing of the baby f o r adoption instead of being maintained to help Ranhild with her readjustment to c i v i l i a n l i f e . These cases c l e a r l y show the extremely complicated situations that faced the s o c i a l worker who was attempting to help'these unmarried mothers. I t i s evident that i n such instances, the r e f e r r a l of the mother a f t e r the c h i l d i s already born merely increased the d i f f i c u l t i e s that already confronted the s o c i a l worker. In the majority of these instances the s o c i a l worker was unable to establish a relationship of mutual confidence and co-operation; l i t t l e or no plans were able to be made for the mother's r e h a b i l i t a t i o n and i n general i t could be stated that the circumstances surrounding tthe f i r s t pregnancy a l l served to increase the unmarried mother's d i f f i c u l t i e s . 112. Chapter 10. Case Differences. Cases Referred Before C h i l d b i r t h . " S o c i a l work f o r unmarried mothers, demands a l l that general s o c i a l work c a l l s f o r , plus special s k i l l s i n analyzing the needs of children born out of wedlock and i n dealing with the mother whose attitude may be complicated by g u i l t . " (Mary S. Labaree: "Unmarried Parenthood tinder the S o c i a l Security Act, p. 9. In the previous chapter, i t was observed that the case worker was unsuccessful i n forming a relationship with the unmarried mother who was referred to her following the b i r t h of her c h i l d . This i s as might have been expected i n view of the general personality pattern of the unmarried mother, and sub-stantiates the b e l i e f that the time of r e f e r r a l has a direct bearing on the formation of a constructive relationship between the worker and c l i e n t . The formation of such a relationship has a twofold purpose. F i r s t the case worker endeavours to help the unmarried mother reach a wise decision f o r herself and her c h i l d . Secondly she attempts to make the experience as constructive as possible so that i t may r e s u l t i n some emotion-a l growth f o r the mother. The optimum condition f o r achieving t h i s goal Is reached when the unmarried mother i s i n t e l l i g e n t , and when she i s referred to the case worker at em early stage i n her pregnancy. I t i s now prop'osed to examine the case h i s t o r i e s of those mothers of average or above average i n t e l l i g e n c e who were 113. referred to the Agency p r i o r to the b i r t h of the c h i l d . I t w i l l be r e c a l l e d that there were 21 such mother. Well over h a l f of these, however, were not referred u n t i l the l a s t month or so of pregnancy. Ten of these mothers kept t h e i r children; 3 made private placements., and 6 placed f o r adoption with the co-operation of the agency. Of the remaining mothers, 1 had no plan and the c h i l d was made a ward, while the other mother l o s t her c h i l d by abortion. Sarah was 24 years of age when she came to the Agency. She was the middle c h i l d of a family of four. Her mother and father were of Scotti s h r a c i a l o r i g i n and were decent, hard working people. Sarah*s mother was very active i n her church and was a member on the board of the church* s maternity home. Sarah was not fond of her mother, who was quite s t r i c t ^ but was very attached to her father. He was away from home a great deal as hi s job entailed much t r a v e l l i n g , and was indulgent with Sarah when he was at home. Sarah, although she tested i n the superior feroup of general i n t e l l i g e n c e , had only had 2 years at high school and had worked as a domestic and a ward maid i n a children's h o s p i t a l p r i o r to jo i n i n g the a i r force. Sarah described herself as always having been "crazy" about babies and wanting one of her own. Before Sarah was trans-ferred to an eastern base, she had r e l a t i o n s with an older married man who had daughters as old as herself. Here i t seemed as i f Sarah were deli b e r a t e l y flaunting her mother, both with respect to her "rescue" work among "unfortunate" g i r l s , and by having a relationship with a man reminiscent of her own 114. father. Sarah was referred to the Agency when she was 7§ months pregnant. At the time of r e f e r r a l she was ambivalent about her wishes f o r the c h i l d but quite anxious to get finan-c i a l support from the putative father. She was accordingly re-ferred to the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n as that was the o f f i c e that took such action. On returning to the agency, she was assigned to a temporary worker. This worker had to overcome the handicap of the e a r l i e r procedures and Sarah was just beginning to have confidence i n her, when the worker's time at the Agency expired. Unfortunately t h i s coincided with Sarah's entering the h o s p i t a l f o r the b i r t h of her c h i l d , and was at just the worst psychological time for a change of workers to take place. Sarah was given great acceptance and warmth, but never much opportunity to t a l k about her family. She made a tentative attempt, once saying that she wished her mother could have taken her landlady's attitude about her pregnancy. To t h i s the worker replied that i t was unfortunate but that her mother could not help f e e l i n g the way she di d . Sarah h a s t i l y said she re a l i z e d that and did not blame her mother. At t h i s point the record states " V i s i t o r encouraged the attitude". In other words, the worker reinforced Sarah's f e e l i n g that i t was "bad" to f e e l as she did about her mother. Sarah was of superior i n t e l l i g e n c e and presumably could have been given some insight into her d i f f i c u l t i e s , but the worker's attitude caused her to repress a l l her f e e l i n g that needed to be drained o f f before she could s t a r t to function i n a more adequate manner. Points such as 115. t h i s heighten the r e a l i z a t i o n of the s k i l l and sense of timing needed to deal with these g i r l s . A f t e r the b i r t h of her c h i l d , Sarah decided to keep i t , and moved out of the c i t y , taking a housekeeping job to maintain herself and her c h i l d . "When she returned to the c i t y a year or so l a t e r , she again began to see the man who had been the father of her f i r s t c h i l d . A f t e r a time she once more became pregnant. She herself did not come to the agency f o r help, but was referred following the b i r t h of her c h i l d i n h o s p i t a l . This time another worker saw Sarah, who again wished to keep her c h i l d . However, Sarah was r e a l i s t i c enough to know i t was impossible f o r her to maintain the two children so she asked f o r adoption placement. The putative father gave background information f o r adoption purposes and the baby was placed for adoption. Following t h i s the case was closed and the agency had no further contact with the mother. I t would seem here that while Sarah received assistance i n planning for her c h i l d , she herself never experienced a s u f f i c i e n t l y close relationship with a worker to gain any insight into her own d i f f i c u l t i e s or to make a more sa t i s f a c t o r y adjustment to l i f e . T i l l i e was referred to Agency when 5 months pregnant, at the age of sixteen. The youngest of a family of four, she was brought up by her father, a weak, inadequate person who had struggled unsuccessfully f o r years to maintain his family. T i l l i e ' s mother had died when she was 14, a f t e r having been a helpless i n v a l i d f o r 10 years p r i o r to her death. The home was i n one of the most squalid parts of the c i t y . T i l l i e had l e f t 116. school i n grade 9. An old school report rated her as having an in t e l l i g e n c e quotient of 110 but commented that she was pale and t i r e d as a resu l t of laterhours and poor hygiene. A f t e r her mother's death, T i l l i e l e f t school and stayed home to keep house f o r her father. .She "went around" with a boy a year or so older than herself and i t was through him that she became pregnant. The youth wished to marry her but the Judge refused hi s consent on the grounds that they were too young to marry. T i l l i e soon a f t e r t h i s quarrelled with the putative father. She became quite uncontrollable, staying out very l a t e at night, but her father projected a l l the blame f o r t h i s on the "J u s t i c e " who would not l e t her marry. F i n a l l y T i l l i e was picked up by the p o l i c e and lodged i n the Detention Home. The Agency arrang-ed for her release and saw that she was placed i n the Maternity Home. T i l l i e , needless to say, did not l i k e the rules and regulations of the home, and seemed to have absorbed her father's a t t i t u d e to authority. The so c i a l worker found that she could get nowhere with T i l l i e and the record states: "Mother i s s u p e r f i c i a l l y f r i e n d l y and accepting of v i s i t o r ' s i n t e r e s t , but one gets the f e e l i n g she i s bored with any s o c i a l worker". T i l l i e kept her baby and her father encouraged her i n t h i s plan and helped her to care f o r the c h i l d . The.social worker "stood by", attempting to do what she could, as there was not s u f f i c i e n t tangible court evidence to apprehend the c h i l d , though i t was obvious to the worker that neither T i l l i e nor her father would be able to properly care f o r a c h i l d . Later the c h i l d was placed i n a private boarding home where i t died of 117. pneumonia. T i l l i e became pregnant a second time but did not seek the assistance of the agency and placed her baby p r i v a t e l y . This was one instance where the r e f e r r a l , though made before the b i r t h of the baby, was too l a t e f o r the s o c i a l worker to accomplish anything constructive with the unmarried mother. T i l l i e 1 s s i t u a t i o n should have been picked up during her childhood years when i t was reported that she was n p a l e and t i r e d and suf f e r i n g from l a t e hours and poor hygiene". Un-sat i s f a c t o r y as i t seems, the s o c i a l worker here could do noth-ing but "stand b$" i n a nearly impossible s i t u a t i o n . Ursula represents another type of g i r l to whom the worker could only give l i m i t e d service. Ursula was 31 years of age when she came to the attention of the Agency. At that time she came seeking help i n planning temporary care f o r her 2^ month old son* She was again i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant but did not divulge that fact to the worker at that time. Ursula was of English-Scotch descent. She was the oldest of four children. She described her family as a l l being "strong i n d i v i d u a l i s t s , independent and s e l f - s u f f i c i e n t " . Her father was a graduate engineer and her mother had been a school teacher. Ursula herself was a smart,' sophisticated, well-mannered person. She had a d i r e c t frank approach, an excellent education, and was supporting herself i n her own business. Ursula had l e f t her home i n the East shortly a f t e r the b i r t h of her f i r s t c h i l d and had been independent of her family since that time, she stated she had "no admiration" f o r the father of her coming c h i l d , and that she wanted i t placed f o r adoption. She had a l l her plans 118. cut and dried and In business-like fashion, Ursula used the Agency f o r the service i t could give her but repelled any attempt on the worker's part to form a closer r e l a t i o n s h i p . There was l i t t l e l e f t f o r the Agency to do f o r Ursula and the case was closed on the completion of the adoption. By contrast, Velma presents a s i t u a t i o n that i s only too f a m i l i a r to the s o c i a l worker. Velma was 19 years of age when she came to the Agency seeking help f o r the c h i l d which ~ she was expecting i n 6 weeks time. Her parents were peasants who came from the Ukraine to s e t t l e i n the p r a i r i e land of Canada and Velma was one of eight children. The parents were i l l i t e r a t e and did not assimilate the culture of the new country, being content to farm the land and raise t h e i r family. Velma went as f a r as grade 9 i n the p r a i r i e school; then, when she was about 17 years of age, "struck out" for Vancouver, where she obtained employment as a waitress. Soon she became i n -volved with a s a i l o r whom she thought was going to marry her. However, t h i s did not work out, and although the putative father admitted paternity, he would not marry Velma. When Velma came to the Agency, the worker described her as a plump, n i c e l y mannered Ukrainian g i r l who appeared frank and outspoken and anxious f o r advice and help. Velma decided to keep her baby and the emphasis of the s o c i a l worker f e l l upon es t a b l i s h -ing paternity and obtaining maintenance for the c h i l d . Velma did not adjust w e l l a f t e r the b i r t h of her c h i l d , however, and within a few months appeared at the Agency, again pregnant. This time Velma had a di f f e r e n t worker who described Velma as 119. f e e l i n g depressed and alone. She stated that her family were disinterested i n her. Velma, despite the faot that she was already $100 i n debt f o r the care of her f i r s t c h i l d , deter-mined also to keep her second c h i l d . Unfortunately, due to crowded conditions at the maternity home, the worker could not arrange for Velma to go there following the b i r t h of the c h i l d . Velma accordingly made arrangements to stay with another un-married mother, of questionable repute. Velma obtained s o c i a l allowance and attempted to struggle along, caring for herself and her two children. She soon d r i f t e d out. of the c i t y and out of the knowledge of the Agency. The next that i s known of, Velma i s that she deserted her children i n another c i t y and they had to be apprehended and taken into care. At the l a s t known contact, Velma had married a negro and had become and inmate of a "disorderly house". This case c l e a r l y demonstrated the need f o r continued counselling service to the unmarried mother who decided to keep her baby. I t i s imperative that some plan be worked out, such as a private boarding home where the mother could stay with her c h i l d and not be l e f t to the prey of economic i n s e c u r i t y , bad housing and poor companionship. I f there i s to be any work done to prevent such damage to personality as has been observed i n the cases under discussion, much study should be given to the formative years of a child ' s l i f e . This i s the time when personality i s malleable, and when warning signals of i t s disturbance can be picked up, and hopefully r e c t i f i e d before too great damage i s 120. done. Wilma's case i s presented with t h i s i n mind. I t appears to o f f e r some prognostic value to the children's worker and to point out "damage signals", which may or may not lead to an i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. Wilaa was the i l l e g i t i m a t e c h i l d of a self-confessed p r o s t i t u t e . She was made a ward at 15 months of age and placed i n a fo s t e r home. This i s one of the rare cases where the c h i l d was able to remain i n the one foster home continuously. The foster mother was an older woman with a grown-up son and daughter, and, from a l l appearances, she spoiled and over protected Wilma. At age 6 years, when taken to the Guidance C l i n i c , Wilma was reported to be "vain, domineering and s e l f -w i l l e d " . I t was added she was " i n a good foster home, except that the foster mother was i n c l i n e d to s p o i l her". When Wilma went to school, she got into d i f f i c u l t i e s with the teacher and played truant, running away to a place where the son of the foster mother was working. The foster mother sided with Wilma against the school, blaming the school authorities f o r not understanding the c h i l d ; and there i s some in d i c a t i o n that the son, a man i n h i s l a t e t h i r t i e s or early f o r t i e s , was greatly attached to Wilma and that he also Indulged and spoiled her. In the early 'teens, Wilma was a "behaviour problem" at school and there was some suggestion that she had been molested by an older man, though the foster mother refused to believe t h i s . However, Wilma became pregnant, and gave b i r t h to her f i r s t c h i l d shortly a f t e r her sixteenth birthday. While Wilma was i n h o s p i t a l , the foster mother died, and Wilma was 121. very upset, reproaching herself as the cause of the death. The foster mother's son and daughter accepted Wilma back i n the home, but, a month l a t e r , the son married and brought h i s wife, a widow with a c h i l d of her own, into the home. This arrange-ment, as might have been expected, did not work out success-f u l l y . Wilma was antagonistic to the son's new wife and c h i l d , and the son took Wilma's part, blaming h i s wife and s i s t e r f o r being unsympathetic to her. This i s an i n t e r e s t i n g case from several angles. One wonders how much in s e c u r i t y Wilma had absorbed during the f i f t e e n or sixteen months she was with her own mother. The foster mother provided a "good" home. P h y s i c a l l y Wilma was well cared f o r but the succession of workers who v i s i t e d were unable to pick up the undertones of emotions i n the home. I t would seem that Wilma's attitude to her teachers at school, indicated that she had no s o l i d r e l ationship with the foster mother, but she had a petulant, demanding, over indulged attitude to her. To t h i s was added the over-attachment to the foster mother's son, who may, consciously or unconsciously, have over-stimulated her sexually. Indications of poorly worked out f a m i l i a l relationships were evident early i n her his t o r y but came to a climax with the onset of adolescence. To date, Wilma has had three i l l e g i t i m a t e children. The record i s long and complete, f i l l e d with d e t a i l s regarding health, school adjustment, and other factors. Many workers have been i n and out of the picture but none has succeeded i n forming a relationship with the g i r l . I t i s doubtful now i f one could ever be established, and i t 122. would seem almost i n e v i t a b l e that Wilma would continue i n her mother's path. The record i s f u l l of warning signals during the g i r l ' s development and shows attitudes which may be over-looked i n the young c h i l d , but which pr e c i p i t a t e her into d i f f i c u l t i e s when she matures p h y s i c a l l y . No attempt has been made i n t h i s study to do more than indicate the f i n a l plan made for the c h i l d , but i t i s s i g n i f i c a n t to note the number of private arrangements that were made. This undoubtedly would occur as a direct r e s u l t of the fact that many of the children were judged to be "not adoptable" because of the fact that the mother was a "repeater", and no paternity was established. I t would seem that "adoption" c a r r i e s with i t a f e e l i n g of security f o r the unmarried mother, and that any other plan f i l l s her with un-certainty and drives her into placing her baby " p r i v a t e l y " for adoption. Such was the ease with Winnifred. Winnifred was a "repeater" and because paternity could not be established, the worker had to interpret to the mother the need for examination at the Child Guidance c l i n i c i n order to a s s i s t i n making plans f o r the placement of her c h i l d . The worker immediately got resistance to t h i s plan. Winnifred had at f i r s t seriously considered abortion. She had l a t e r discarded t h i s idea and decided to go ahead and have her baby and place i t for adoption. Now, to Winnifred, a l l she had gone through appeared to be f o r nothing. The worker would not place her baby f o r adoption! The worker too was completely "stymied". Here was a baby whose mother showed i n s t a b i l i t y and f o r whom paternity was not 1 1£3. established. Thus beoause the worker was getting "nowhere" with Winnifred she became more and more concerned to get a "social-'history" as background information i n helping to place the baby. Winnifred countered by placing her c h i l d p r i v a t e l y and saying to the worker "The adopting mother was s a t i s f i e d with the baby and wouldn't give i t up, no matter how many babies Winnifred had had!" In t h i s p a r t i c u l a r instance the lack of understanding between Winnifred and the worker made interpretation regarding Agency p o l i c y impossible, and the worker's concern over the eventual fate of the c h i l d made her over-anxious to obtain a l l the information possible, thus antagonizing the c l i e n t . There are many examples of such situations throughout the records, showing how the worker's emphasis on the establishment of paternity before she had established a relationship with the mother, alienated the mother and led her to a private placement, almost as i f i t were to " s p i t e " the worker. Examples of More Resent Cases. In going through the f i l e s to c u l l out the r e c i d i v -i s t s , a few unmarried mothers were noted who had f i r s t been known to the Agency i n 1946, and had since that time become repeaters. I t was though that i t would be i n t e r e s t i n g to look at one or two.of these cases, which were chosen at random, i n order to see i f i t might be possible to point up contrasts between the older cases and these most recent ones. Of the six mothers, f i v e were judged to be of average i n t e l l i g e n c e 124. (by c l i n i c testing) and one was d e f i n i t e l y subnormal. One was a ward and had been known to the Agency f o r some time but the others were referred i n the l a s t month or so of pregnancy. Mable had anehild i n January 1946, and another i n February of 1948. She came from a broken home and had had a most unhappy childhood. Mabel's step-mother married her father when Mabel was only 2 years old, and Mabel claimed that she had only learned t h i s very recently. This may have been the very factor that precipitated the i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy. When f i r s t known to the Agency, Mabel was helped to get a l i g h t house-work job through the Employment Service. As the time of confinement drew near, she was admitted to the United Church Home. This, according to Agency procedure, meant a change of workers. At that time the matron of the home was a most demanding person, who herself required very d e l i c a t e handling. I t was considered from the Agency standpoint that work could be better channeled through one worker who alone was responsib-l e f o r the unmarried mothers i n the home. Indeed, i n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r instance, shanging workers at t h i s most c r i t i c a l time did.not apparently upset Mabel, who formed act u a l l y a better relationship with the new worker. In other cases a, change of workers at such a time has proved disastrous, as a subsequent example I l l u s t r a t e s . In the home, Mabel had no plans for the f u t u r e — n o r did she want to make any. She was content to have her needs taken care of, and was sure that the putative father would marry her. When he was traced and i t was discovered herwas a married man, Mabel reacted by repudiating 125. the baby v i o l e n t l y and wanted to have i t placed f o r adoption. However, when the c h i l d was born, her fantasy of having a home and husband was so great that Mabel said she did not believe the army records which said the putative father was married. She was sure he would return to marry her. The worker t r i e d to make her r e a l i s t i c , but to no a v a i l . Mabel was determined to keep the c h i l d , and so was assisted to f i n d a private boarding home to care f o r her and her c h i l d . Once, again she was perfect-l y s a t i s f i e d with the solution, claiming she was only "waiting" f o r the putative father to come. Here was a g i r l whose dependency wishes were so great that she almost seemed to have i d e n t i f i e d herself with her c h i l d , and to have been looking for.a loving "father" person to take care of her. Mabel related on a very surface l e v e l to the t h i r d worker, but was s t i l l i n a "dream" world when the case was closed on her return to the home of a married s i s t e r . The next time Mabel came to the attention of the Agency on r e f e r r a l from the h o s p i t a l , where she had already given b i r t h to her second e h i l d . A new worker interviewed her and found Mabel seclusive and shy, and wrapped i n day dreams. A l l she wished was to meet some man who would take care of her and her children. She had t o l d the putative father of her pregnancy, hoping he would marry her, but once more she had been " l e t down". Mabel knew she could not care f o r two children, and wanted t h i s one made a ward, so that " i f she got married she could get i t back". Obviously t h i s was a very deprived and very sick g i r l , who had retreated f a r from r e a l i t y into a fantasy l i f e , where 126. she was loved and cherished. I t i s doubtful i f anything short of p s y c h i a t r i c care could have helped Mabel. Dorothea gave b i r t h to her f i r s t c h i l d when she was 20 years old. She herself came to the Agency f o r assistance when she was about seven months pregnant. In speaking to the intake worker, Dorothea was most upset. Her eyes f i l l e d with tears and she said she f e l t ashamed of being seen In her condition. Later Dorothea was seen by her d i s t r i c t worker, who was a very warm, motherly person. To her Dorothea spoke of her home, which was i n a remote area i n the northern part of the province. She t o l d of her lonely l i f e there, where she had l i v e d with her mother and stepfather. Dorothea's mother had come to Canada from Bohemia and married a farmer; when he died two years l a t e r she had two children. She then kept house for a man over t h i r t y years older than herself and he married her. Dorothea was the c h i l d of t h i s marriage, which was apparently a happy one. When Dorothea's father died he l e f t her mother f i n a n c i a l l y w e l l taken care of. She, soon, however, entered into a common-law relationship with a man who squandered most of t h i s money. She l a t e r married a man who drank heavily and with whom she was most unhappy. F i n a l l y she broke down mental-l y and had to be admitted to Essondale Mental Hosp i t a l , the diagnosis there being given as paranoidal schizophrenia. Dorothea had a good relationship with her mother, had stayed with her f a i t h f u l l y , and was upset when she had to be committed. Dorothea had l i v e d a lonely l i f e , with a mother who was "queer" and had l i t t l e or no companionship, as the nearest neighbor was 127. three miles away. She had known the putative father f o r about si x years. He had wanted t o marry her about three years previously, but she was too young. He then went into the army, but Dorothea met him again by chance and began to go out with him. When she became pregnant, Dorothea was absolutely certain "he would not l e t her down". As was then customary, Dorothea was seen by a worker at the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n , as she wished him approached regarding paternity. When contacted, i t was discovered the putative father was married with children of h i s own. However, he admitted paternity, and agreed to pay a cert a i n amount each month. He did not keep h i s bargain, and Dorothea projected a l l her resentment on to the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n . Here i s a g i r l who l o s t her father when a c h i l d , and who had led a very lonely l i f e i n a remote area, i n the company for the most part of her mother, who was mentally unwell a great deal of the time. I t would therefore seem as i f Dorothea were l i k e l y to be emotionally a very sic k g i r l . 1 She was able, however, to form a good relationship with a Children's Aid worker who talked with her about the approaching c h i l d b i r t h , took her out shopping i n her noon-hours, and was generally a warm, comforting, motherly person. Then Dorothea was moved to a 1 "In general, i t may be said that a c h i l d with a schizoid parent, may be l i a b l e to become a behaviour problem i n cases of close mother-son or mother-daughter relationship . . . when the mother becomes mentally sick or when she i s removed to ho s p i t a l . " Lauretta Bender: "Behaviour Problems i n the Children of Psychotic and Criminal Parents", Genetic Psychology Monograph. May 1937, V o l . 19, No. 2, p. 234. 128. work home outside of the worker's d i s t r i c t and the case was transferred to another worker. Dorothea would come into the Agency to see her new worker and would ask for the o l d one, wanting to show her her c h i l d . Gradually things became more d i f f i c u l t ; maintenance from the putative father was not f o r t h -coming, Dorothea l o s t her mother substitute, and the record shows her as saying b i t t e r l y "no one wanted to help her—she was blamed for everything and had to face her r e s p o n s i b i l i t y alone". Towards the end of 1947, the h o s p i t a l t o l d the Agency that Dorothea was again i l l e g i t i m a t e l y pregnant and asking f o r a therapeutic abortion, and refusing r e f e r r a l to the Children's Aid. When f i n a l l y Dorothea had to come to them f o r help, she was seen by s t i l l another worker. At a l a t e r date Dorothea was examined by a p s y c h i a t r i s t who found she had a "mixed anxiety state coupled with depression". She i s now i n receipt of Social Allowance, using an a l i a s to cover the fact that she i s unmarried. She i s f u l l of feelings of g u i l t and i n f e r i o r i t y , and showing marked indications of persecutory trends. There i s no doubt that t h i s g i r l was suffering from deep-seated d i f f i c u l t i e s . There i s also no doubt that l o s i n g her contact with the worker who was a mother substitute to her added to Dorothea's d i f f i c u l t i e s . I t would seem imperative that a very uareful evaluation of the personality pattern of the unmarried mother and of the relationship e x i s t i n g between her and her worker should be made whenever there i s any question of a transfer to another worker, and that p o l i c y here should be f l e x i b l e and adjusted to the needs of the c l i e n t as f a r as 129. humanly possible. These cases again exemplify the t y p i c a l l y complex problems that face the s o c i a l worker who deals with unmarried mothers. I t i s notable that i n those instances where the mother was referred before the b i r t h of the c h i l d , many of the r e f e r r a l s were very close to the time when the c h i l d would be born. The r e f e r r a l was therefore too late to a s s i s t the s o c i a l worker materially i n achieving her goal with the unmarried mother. In these cases, as i n those referred a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d , i t i s evident that the s o c i a l worker was unable to e s t a b l i s h a good working relationship; few plans were able to be made f o r the mothers r e h a b i l i t a t i o n , and i n general i t ' would appear again that the circumstances surrounding the f i r s t pregnancy served to increase, rather than diminish, the mother's d i f f i c u l t i e s . tl Part IT. Chapter 11. Evaluation and Conclusion. 130. Chapter 11. Evaluation and Conclusion. "Evaluation looks forward i n prognosis—or r e f l e c t i v e -l y back on the success or f a i l u r e of.treatment". (Bertha Gapen Reynolds: Learning and Teaching In The Practice of Soci a l Work, p. 95T) I f there i s one thing that i s a common denominator i n a l l these cases of r e c i d i v i s t s , i t i s the fact that each and every one of the g i r l s have severe personality d i f f i c u l t i e s . These d i f f i c u l t i e s appear to have arisen from unsatisfactory parent-child relationships i n the early years of l i f e . Super-imposed on these as contributing factors are economic insecur-i t y , i l l health, and poor environment. Sometimes the factor that precipitates the g i r l into a n - i l l e g i t i m a t e pregnancy may be her emergence into physical maturity, a casual a t t r a c t i o n , the loss of a parent, or sudden release from a harsh r e s t r i c t i v e environment. Whatever the combination of fac t o r s , they a l l "add up" to a g i r l with a disturbed personality pattern. I f the personality of the unmarried mother i s disturbed to the point where she i s d e f i n i t e l y psychotic, the community then recognizees the problem and psychiatric help i s obtained f o r her. However, usually the mother's behaviour, while s o c i a l l y unsound, i s not such as would make the la y person see the necessity of psychiatric help. These are complicated circumstances. The p u b l i c , while i t has come a long way i n modifying i t s censorious a t t i t u d e to i l l e g i t i m a c y , has not yet achieved f u l l understand-131. ing of i t s implications. Consequently the resources i n the community, both f i n a n c i a l and otherwise, f o r the treatment and r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of the unmarried mother are d e f i n i t e l y l i m i t e d . At. present the s o c i a l agency i s bearing the f u l l weight of the problem. I t cannot choose only those g i r l s whom i t thinks can be helped by casework treatment, but must take the g i r l s as they come, and work with them, and the community resources as they are. In the cases discussed i n the l a t t e r part of t h i s study, i t was to be expected that the unmarried mother of lower than average i n t e l l i g e n c e would not be m a t e r i a l l y assisted by casework treatment and so would eventually become a r e c i d i v i s t . However, i t seemed reasonable to think that with a mother of higher i n t e l l i g e n c e , a d i f f e r e n t story would be t o l d . This has not proven to be the case, and i n practice i t would appear that the degree of i n t e l l i g e n c e i s not the major point facing the s o c i a l worker who deals with the unmarried mother. The actual d i f f i c u l t y i s much more intangible, and because of the synopsized form of the recordings used, i t has been d i f f i c u l t to assess. I t seems, however, to l i e b a s i c a l l y In the weakness of the actual contact of the unmarried mother with the s o c i a l worker. This weakness i n turn appears to be due to a number of factors. One of the most obvious factors which weakens the worker's contact with the unmarried mother i s the lateness of her r e f e r r a l to the s o c i a l agency. This can only be corrected by careful i n t e r p r e t a t i o n to the general public of the needs of 132. the unmarried mother and the services the s o c i a l agency renders on her behalf. The g i r l s themselves need better information. To date s o c i a l agencies have been noticeably chary of p u b l i c i t y because of the c o n f i d e n t i a l i t y of t h e i r work. However much can be learned from the way the public i s being educated i n other f i e l d s , and semi-professional a r t i c l e s released to the press and the better popular magazines would seem to o f f e r an excel-lent channel f o r i n t e r p r e t a t i o n regarding the background and needs of the unmarried mother. Educational radio drama and fi l m s under the auspices of a mental health program would reach a l l sections of the country, and would portray the s i t u a t i o n v i v i d l y . Another factor which weakens the contact with these g i r l s i s the "peculiar personality" of the unmarried mother herse l f . Each case that has been discussed has pointed up the great d i f f i c u l t y the worker has i n getting the unmarried mother to accept and trust her. The whole a t t i t u d e of a g i r l i n trouble i a h o s t i l e and wary, and i t takes consummate s k i l l on the part of the s o c i a l worker to break down t h i s d i s t r u s t . I t i s gradually being realized that i t i s wise f o r the worker to "make haste slowly"; i n p a r t i c u l a r , that premature questioning regarding intimate facts i n the mother's l i f e only increase her h o s t i l i t y and d i s t r u s t . At the time the cases discussed i n t h i s study were a c t i v e , i t was the p r e v a i l i n g p o l i c y that the unmarried mother had to be interviewed by a worker from the Child Welfare D i v i s i o n "to est a b l i s h the facts of paternity". Thus, the Agency worker would no sooner make her contact with 133. the g i r l than i t wohld be necessary to refer the mother to another s o c i a l worker i n another agency. The mother would then have to d e t a i l the most intimate f a c t s i n her personal r e l a t i o n -ships to a person who was an u t t e r stranger to her. I t began to be r e a l i z e d that t h i s p o l i c y was extremely poor, and i t has since been abandoned, so that the s o c i a l worker now has one less handicap, to overcome i n making her contact with the unmarried mother. The emphasis on the need for the establishment of paternity of the c h i l d was a r e a l point of pressure with the s o c i a l worker because she knew that, i f i t were not established, the chances f o r placing the c h i l d permanently were considerably diminished, especially i f (as i n the present examples) the mother was a "repeater". I t i s now being recognized that the mother w i l l give t h i s information without pressure to obtain i t i f her present needs are met and she f e e l s comfortable and secure with the*worker. Accordingly the emphasis has swung away from the immediate need to e s t a b l i s h paternity. This has had the r e s u l t also of making the s o c i a l worker f e e l much more relaxed i n her i n i t i a l contact with the unmarried mother. Another f a c t o r which weakened the worker's contact, with the unmarried mother was the lack of available p s y c h i a t r i c consultation and guidance. I t has been t r u l y said that "the art of s o c i a l work i s learned by experience illumined by theory"! In the cases under discussion, the f a c i l i t i e s of the C h i l d 1 Bertha Capen Reynolds: Leamning and Teaching i n the P r a c t i c e of S o c i a l Work, p. 95. 134. Guidance C l i n i c were requested pr i m a r i l y as a means of assess-ing the i n t e l l i g e n c e of the unmarried mother, and, on that basis, to then ask whether or not the c h i l d could be considered adoptable. In no case was an assessment made of the g i r l ' s personality needs with a view to her possible treatment and re-h a b i l i t a t i o n . This i s understandable, "in view of the pressure of work and the dearth of p s y c h i a t r i s t s during the war years, and w i l l be r e c t i f i e d as more psychiatric help becomes available f o r consultation. Community Resources. This leads to- the f i n a l l i n k i n the chain of factors which make up the relationship between the worker and the un-married mother. This i s the very great defect i n community organization at the employment l e v e l . I t was Impossible for the worker to channel the mother* s int e r e s t s into work which was more remunerative and more rewarding i n i t s s a t i s f a c t i o n s , as these opportunities were simply not available. In consequence, the mother reverted to her usual employment as a waitress or domestio—neither w e l l paid nor s a t i s f y i n g i n character. Usually too, there was not s u f f i c i e n t follow-up work done with the mother a f t e r the b i r t h of the c h i l d . This of course was due to the large case loads and the shortages and changes i n professional s t a f f . I t i s now being recognized that the un-married mother i s very vulnerable i n the i n t e r v a l following the b i r t h of her c h i l d , and that she needs active support and guidance from the s o c i a l worker more than ever at t h i s time. 135. As more professional s t a f f becomes av a i l a b l e , i t should prove possible to give t h i s type of continuing service. From the foregoing, i t i s evident that the s o c i a l agency i s carrying r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r the treatment and even-t u a l r e h a b i l i t a t i o n of the unmarried mother. I t i s attempting to r e c t i f y the immediate s i t u a t i o n of the unmarried mother and her c h i l d . To cope with the s i t u a t i o n adequately, however, i t i s necessary to come to grips with the problem of these g i r l s ' 1 inter-personal relationships before they thrust themselves upon our attention by t h e i r climax i n i l l e g i t i m a c y . This means, of course, a broadening and strengthening of a l l e x i s t i n g family and c h i l d welfare service. I t i s . only as the public r e a l i z e s the l a s t i n g effects of poverty, bad housing, and disorganized home l i f e on the personality of the c h i l d , that i t w i l l be possible to get at the roots of the personality disorders that l a t e r flower into unmarried motherhood. A l l children should be w e l l fed, w e l l clothed, and w e l l housed. Any measure that increases the s o c i a l s ecurity of the family automatically helps to decrease the tensions that lead to d i f f i c u l t i e s i n l a t e r l i f e . The public therefore must be educated to r e a l i z e that i t i s essential that the s o c i a l allowances paid to families that are i n need are s u f f i c i e n t to provide a decent and healthful l e v e l of existence. At present a great deal of emphasis i s f a l l i n g on obtaining s o c i a l security o f r the aged. This i s necessary, admittedly, but other needs are not getting t h e i r due share of attention. There must be a recognition of the economic stress, 136. and the emotional s t r a i n s that go with i t , i n the young family that i s struggling along on the subsistence l e v e l of the s o c i a l allowance or the mother's pension. The recognition of the emotional and physical needs of the c h i l d must be so widespread that education f o r family l i v i n g w i l l permeate a l l groups, both lay and professional, u n t i l i t i s an accepted fact i n the community. This means a general o r i e n t a t i o n i n our educational system to a study of basic human needs and how they ef f e c t human relationships. Perhaps as good a way as any would be to s t a r t with the education of the expectant mother, which so f a r has stressed only the physical aspects of pregnancy and c h i l d care. This could go on to include recognition, i n the well-baby centres and i n the pre-school groups, of those children who are not developing at a normal rate, e i t h e r mentally, emotionally, or p h y s i c a l l y . The mentally or p h y s i c a l l y retarded c h i l d could then be channeled into work i n keeping with i t s a b i l i t i e s , and l a t e r could receive s p e c i a l t r a i n i n g i n f i e l d s f o r which i t show-ed most aptitude. Job c l a s s i f i c a t i o n should be made for special cases, so that jobs could be given which would enable them to work up to the l i m i t of t h e i r c a p a b i l i t i e s and which would prove both i n t e r e s t i n g and s a t i s f y i n g . The emotionally handicapped c h i l d should have the service of a guidance c l i n i c to i r o n out h i s d i f f i c u l t i e s before they become too deep-seated. Treatment and Personnel. On the treatment side there i s need f o r highly s k i l l e d , 137. sympathetic case workers. These workers should have a small case load and should have psy c h i a t r i c consultation and super-v i s i o n available to them. They should be able to give a more continuing service to enable the mother to make the t r a n s i t i o n to a more s a t i s f y i n g and more s o c i a l l y acceptable mode of l i v i n g . Community resources should be explored with a view to f i n d i n g family homes where the mothers could l i v e following the b i r t h of the o h i l d . Perhaps some of the older.foster mothers could be used i n t h i s way. Such a home environment would protect the mother, and cushion her against the l o n e l i -ness and i n s e c u r i t y she cannot help but experience during her period of r e h a b i l i t a t i o n . F i n a l l y , there should be vocational centres and funds a v a i l a b l e , regardless of residence laws, to t r a i n the mother i n the job f o r which she shows the most aptitude. In conclusion, some questions are posed which would seem to afford valuable discussion points within the agency. F i r s t , considerable d i f f i c u l t y was encountered i n obtaining a l i s t of r e c i d i v i s t s . I f future studies are to be made, the question arises as to whether i t would be valuable to have Bach worker report these cases as she encounters them, so that a central index could be kept f o r future reference. I t was also noted that sometimes i t took the f i l i n g clerks several days to locate a f i l e and the p o s s i b i l i t i e s of a s t r i c t "recharge" system f o r the f i l e s arisen. Face sheet material was _ s u a l l y incomplete and i n many cases e n t i r e l y lacking. Sometimes d i c t a t i o n was incomplete. These are a l l points that 138. r e f l e c t the large case loads and consequent pressure of work on the i n d i v i d u a l workers. In view of the importance attached to the intake interview with the unmarried mother, t h i s appears to be a point which merits study w i t h i n the Agency. How are the i n i t i a l intake interviews handled? Do they ooncentrate on f a c t u a l i n -formation or on reassurance and quick contact with the d i s t r i c t worker? Along t h i s l i n e too, might there not be careful scrutiny of any p o l i c y that r o u t i n e l y transferred the mother to another worker when she moved, either to another d i s t r i c t with-i n the c i t y or into a maternity home? I t would seem that when-ever a transfer seems to be necessary, a careful analysis should be made of the relationship e x i s t i n g between the mother and the worker. In the past, due to d i f f i c u l t i e s i n the per s o n a l i t i e s of the s t a f f of one of the homes, Agency p o l i c y was l a i d down p r i m a r i l y for the convenience of the home. I t i s apparent that i n many instances, a transfer between workers i s exceedingly damaging to the mother at t h i s p a r t i c u l a r time; now that a new matron i s at the home, the Agency might work out a p o l i c y whereby i n d i v i d u a l workers could keep contact with t h e i r "own" mothers. Then there i s the question of temporary workers deal-ing with unmarried mothers on a casework basis. In the cases discussed, there have been examples of arguments f o r and against t h i s . At the l e a s t , I t would seem that the period of the mother* s pregnancy should be c a r e f u l l y checked so that the Worker's time at the Agency w i l l not expire before plans f o r 139. the mother are f i n a l i z e d . What of the use of work homes? Should they not be as ca r e f u l l y investigated, used and supervised as foster homes? Does the mother not need to be prepared before going into one as c a r e f u l l y as a c h i l d i s prepared before being moved to a new environment? Are the cases terminated too soon? I t seems that usually contact i s terminated when plans for the c h i l d are completed. In other words, the d i s p o s i t i o n of the c h i l d deter-mines the length of our contact with i t s mother. Is t h i s the proper emphasis? Is i t not possible that the mother Is i n even greater need of casework service a f t e r she has disposed of her child? When the c h i l d i s deemed not adoptable, i s the empha-s i s here weighted too much on the negative aspects? Can better ways of interpreting the r e l a t i v i t y of adoption be worked out by the workers f o r t h e i r own, and t h e i r c l i e n t ' s s a t i s f a c t i o n ? Do we need to revise our "standards'1 of adoptability? F i n a l l y , how does a l l t h i s t i e i n with the worker i n the public agency? I t would seem that these cases have demon-strated that the majority of such g i r l s have deeply disturbed pe r s o n a l i t i e s and that i t i s exceedingly d i f f i c u l t f o r the s o c i a l worker to establ i s h a constructive relationship with them. I t i s also apparent that most of these mothers are ac t u a l l y i n need of psychiatric consultation. Yet i t i s obvious that at present such consultation i s the exception rather than the rul e . The key to t h i s stalemate seems to be 140. for the worker to be able to d i f f e r e n t i a t e between eases, and to' know which g i r l s are too disturbed f o r the worker to be of more than supportive help. She can then concentrate her time on those g i r l s who are not so seriously disturbed, and by patience and s k i l l , e s t a b l i s h a constructive relationship with time. The motto f o r a l l such workers, both i n public or private agencies, would seem to be incorporated i n the advice given i n a report of a Seminar held by the St. Louis Children's Ai d Society i n 1941: "Go slow . . . meet immediate needs . . • win her confidence . . . of such minutiae i s the casework relationship constructed." A P P E N D I X . Bibliography. I . General References. BOOKS Grace Abbott: The Chi l d and the State. University of Chicage, -Chicago, 1938. Helene Deutsch: The Psychology of Women. Grune and Stratton, New York, Vols. 1 and 2, 1945. Arthur E. Fink: The F i e l d of S o c i a l Work. Henry Holt and Co., New York, 1948. ~~ J.C. Flu g e l : The Psycho-Analytic Study of the Family. Hogarth Press, London, 1921. Thomas Morton French and Alexander Franz: Psycho-analytic Therapy. Ronald Press Co., New York, 1947. S. Freud: New Introductory Leotures. Hogarth Press and The In s t i t u t e of Psychoanalysis, London, Third E d i t i o n , 1946. C. Luther Fry: Technique of S o c i a l Investigation. Harper and Brothers, New York and London, 1934. Gordon Hamilton: P r i n c i p l e s of Soci a l Case Recording. Columbia University Press, New York, 1946. Howard W. Odum and Katharine Jocher: An Introduction to So c i a l Research. Henry Holt & Co., New York. The Psycho-Analytic Study of the Ch i l d . International U n i v e r s i t i e s Press, New York, Vol. 1, 1945. Bertha C. Reynolds: Learning' and Teaching i n the Practice of S o c i a l Work. Farrar & Rinehart Inc.., New York, 1945. Mary E. Richmond: S o c i a l Diagnosis. Russel Sage Foundation, New York, 1917. PAMPHLETS, ARTICLES, REPORTS, ETC. Maurine Boie: "The Case Worker's Need f o r Orientation to the Culture of the C l i e n t " , The Family. Oct. 1937. Canadian Welfare Counoil Annual Report. The Canadian Welfare Council, Ottawa, 1940 and 1946. B. M. Finlayson: "Changed Concepts i n Case Work", The S o c i a l Worker, Canadian Association of S o c i a l Workers, Ottawa, Jul y , 1948, p. 15. Thomas M. French and Ralph Ormsby: Psycho-Analytic Orient- ation i n Case Work. F.W.A.A. Pamphlet, 1944. K. Homey: "Maternal C o n f l i c t s " , American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. V o l . 3, 1933. Rae A. Levine: "Case Work's Stake i n Research", The Family. June, 1946, p. 151. Elizabeth S. McCormick, Dorothy M. Muller and Phebe Rich: "Management of the Transference", Journal of S o c i a l Case- Work. Oct., 1946. Leroy Maeder: "Generic Aspects of the Intake Interview", The Family. March, 1942, p. 14. Margaret Mead: "The American Family", Proceedings of the National Conference of S o c i a l Work. 1947. Helen Ross and M.D. Johnson: "The Growing Science of Case Work", Journal of S o c i a l Case Work. Nov., 1946, p. 273. Isabel Stamm: "Understanding the Total Personality i n Treatment", The Family. Jan., 1946, p. 323. P e r c i v a l M. Symonds: "A Study of Parental Acceptance and Rejection", American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. 1938, p. 679. Florence Sytz: "The Unit of Attention i n the Case Work Process", The Family. June, 1946. "The Development of Method In So c i a l Case Work", The Family. March, 1948, p. 83. A l i c e L. Voiland: "Guiding P r i n c i p l e s Defined", Developing Insight i n I n i t i a l Interviews. F. S. A. A. Pamphlet, 1947. I I . S p e c i f i c References. BOOKS Francis L. Adkins: I l l e g i t i m a c y i n Cook County. Council of S o c i a l Agencies, Chicago, 1935. Albert S. Guibord and Ida R. Parker: What Becomes of the Unmarried Mother?, Research Bureau on S o c i a l Case Work, Boston, 1922. Percy G. Kammerer: The Unmarried Mother. L i t t l e , Brown & Co., Boston, 1918. George B. Mangold: Children Born Out of Wedlock, University of Missouri Studies, V o l . I l l , No. 3, June 19£1. Ruth Reed: The I l l e g i t i m a t e Family i n New York. The Welfare Council of New York C i t y , Columbia University Press. Amelia Schultz: Indian Unmarried Mothers. Thesis submitted for the degree of M.S.W. at University of Washington, S e a t t l e , 1947. PAMPHLETS, ARTICLES, REPORTS, ETC. Lauretta Bender and Ruth Nottingham: "A Psychological Study of 40 Unmarried Mothers", Genetic Psychology Monograph, Vo l . 19. No. 2. Provincetown, Mass., 1937. Max Braithwaite: "Born out of Wedlock", Maclean's Magazine, Nov. 15, 1947, p. 16. V i o l a W. Bernard: "Psyohodynamics of Unmarried Motherhood i n Early Adolescence", The Nervous Child . Oct. 1944, p.26-45. J u l i a Ann Bishop: "Understanding and Helping Unmarried Mothers", Proceedings of Canadian Conference on S o c i a l Work, Oct. 1945. Erma C. Blethen: "Case Work Services to a Florence C r i t t e n -ton Home", The Family. V. 23, Nov. 1942, pp.248-254; Dec. 1942, pp. 291-6. Babette Block: "The Unmarried Mother - Is She Different?", The Family. Vol. 26, No. 5, p. 163. R.F. Brenner: "Case Work Service f o r Unmarried Mothers", The Family. Nov. 1941, pp. 211-219; Dec. 1941, pp. 269-276. R. F. Brenner: "What F a c i l i t i e s are E s s e n t i a l to the Adequate Care of the Unmarried Mother?" Proceedings of the National Conference of S o c i a l Work. Columbia University Press, New York, 1939, pp. 435-445. Mary S. Bresley: "Parent-Child Relationships i n Unmarried Parenthood", Proceedings of the National Conference of So c i a l Work. Columbia University Press, New York, 1939, pp. 435-445. Canadian Welfare Council P u b l i c a t i o n #46; Ottawa, published 1929, revised 1945, " L e g i s l a t i o n of Canada and Her Provinces A f f e c t i n g the Status and Protection of the Child of Unmarried Parents". The Child: Vol.. 10, No. 3, Sept. 1945, " B r i t i s h Report on Children Born out of Wedlock". Children's Aid Society Annual Reports. Vancouver, B.C. Children's Bureau P u b l i c a t i o n #77; 144; 310: U.S. Govern-ment, Washington, D.C. Child Welfare League of America: New York, 1945, "Findings of a Survey Made by a Committee on Problems of the Non-Resident Unmarried Mother". Florence C l o t h i e r : "Psychological Implications of Unmarried Parenthood", American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. July 1943, p. 531. Mildred Corner: "Importance of the I n i t i a l Interview with the Unmarried Mother", F. S. A. A. Pamphlet, 1947. Kingsley Davis: " I l l e g i t i m a c y and the S o c i a l Structure", American Journel of Sociology. Sept. 1939, p. 215-33. A. M. Donahue: "Children Born out of Wedlock?,"Annals of American Academy of P o l i t i c a l and S o c i a l Science, Sept. 1930. Louise Drury: ''Milestones i n the Approach to I l l e g i t i m a c y " , The Family. 1925, pp. 40-42, 79-81, 95-99. Frank P. Hankins: " I l l e g i t i m a c y " , Encyclopaedia of the S o c i a l Sciences. McMillan Co., New York, 1932, Vol. 7, p. 579-582. Agnes K. Hanna: "Changing Care of Children Born Out of Wedlock", Annals of American Academy of P o l i t i c a l and S o c i a l Sciences. No. 1940, pp. 159-167. Sh i r l e y Harrison: "A Comparative Study of Behaviour Problems i n I l l e g i t i m a t e and Legitimate Children", Studies of Smith College School of S o c i a l Work. Dec. 1944, p. 120. Charlotte Henry: "Objectives i n Work With Unmarried Mothers", The Family. May, 1833. Jane S. Hosmer: "A Follow-up Study of Unmarried Mothers who kept t h e i r Children", Smith College Studies of S o c i a l Work, 1941, pp. 263-301. s J. Kasanin and Siegleude Handschin: "Psychodynamic Factors i n I l l e g i t i m a c y " , American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. Jan. 1941, p. 66-85. Mary S. Labaree: "Unmarried Parenthood Under the S o c i a l Security Act", Proceedings of the National Conference of Soc i a l Work. 1939, pp. 446 - 457. Maud Morlock: "Wanted - A Square Deal for the Baby Born Out of Wedlock", The Child. May, 1946. "Establishment of Paternity", Proceedings of National Conference of Soc i a l Work. 1940, p. 363. "Some Aspects of Il l e g i t i m a c y " , Proceedings of Canadian Conference on So c i a l Work, Ha l i f a x , N.B., June 1946, p. 60. "Babies on the Market", The Survey Midmonthly. March, 1945. Esther E l l s b e r g Osterman: "Case-work Treatment of an Il l e g i t i m a t e Adolescent G i r l " , The Family. July 1945, p. 169. Norman Reider: "The Unmarried Father", National Conference of S o c i a l Work. Apr. 16, 1947. __ Ruth Riaberg: "Prediction of Recidivism i n Unmarried Mothers" (Jewish Board of Guardians, N.Y.), Smith College Studies of Soc i a l Work. 1943. . Ruth Rome: "A Method of Predicting the Probable D i s p o s i t i o n of the Children by Unmarried Mothers", Smith College Studies of S o c i a l Work. Vol. X, 1940. Frances H. Scherz: ""Taking Sides* i n the Unmarried Mother* s C o n f l i c t " , Journal of Soc i a l Case Workr Feb. 1947, p. 57. Mary F. Smith: "Changing Emphasis i n Case Work with Unmarried Mothers", The Family. Jan. 1934. Welfare Council of Metropolitan Los Angeles, Publication #3, "19.46, "Unmarried Parenthood - A Study of 1839 Unmarried Parenthood Cases i n 1944". Leontine R. Young: "Personality Patterns i n Unmarried Mothers The Family, D. 1945. "The Unmarried Mother's Decision About Her Baby", Journal of S o c i a l Case Work. Jan. 1947, p. 27.