Case No. 6.
| Father: Subnormal. Was a watersider, so dirty in habits that watersiders complained. A sexual case. | Mother: Has always been addicted to periodic fits of insanity. Has been in mental hospital on several occasions. | |||||
| Female, born 1904. Subnormal. | Female, born 1909. Subnormal; also delinquent. | Female, born 1915. Subnormal. | Female, born 1916. Subnormal. | Unknown | Unknown | Unknown |
| These four children werecommitted to the care ofthe state in 1917. | Not yet brought underState control. | |||||
The approximate cost to the State of maintaining these four children will be £5,150, less what is recovered from the father. Up to the present the amount received from him is £176. Should the other three children be brought under State control, the additional cost may amount to approximately £5,000.
This is a glaring case of persons being allowed to marry who are totally unfit to marry. A relative stated that the mother's mentality was in a shocking state at the time of marriage. The father has always been subnormal. The woman is too insane at times to attend to ordinary household duties or matters of ordinary personal cleanliness. At the time the children were committed the home was in a shockingly filthy condition, and at that time was one of the worst brought under the notice of the Department in the district. The second girl (age fifteen) has had her hair cut for the sake of cleanliness by some kindly disposed well-wisher. The mother allowed the dirt to accumulate to such an extent that the whole of the girl's head was covered with a scab of dirt. She had to enter the Hospital to have this removed. This was a most objectionable case. After the State took charge of these children the mother and father were still allowed to cohabit, with the result that three more children have been born. Without doubt, these children will also be supported by the State. The father is a sexual case, and foster-parents of the children have objected to the father visiting them on account of the way he handles them.
Section 4.—Elements of the Problem.
Wallen, in his book "Problems of Subnormality," draws attention to three basic phases of the problem of the feeble-minded:—
"(1.) The obligation of society to identify and register as early as possible all feeble-minded children. All students of social problems will concede that feeble-mindedness is one of the fundamental causes of our numerous social ills. It is a prolific source of poverty, destitution, all kinds of crimes against property and person, social immorality, illegitimacy, and of prolific and degenerate progeny.
"There are few problems in present-day constructive social economics which are more important than the development of a State-wide and a nation-wide policy for the compulsory official identification and registration of feeble-minded children, particularly all those who come from homes where the conditions are not such as to guarantee continuous supervision and support.
"(2.) The proper educational care and training of feeble-minded children. The adequate discharge of this obligation involves segregating the feeble-minded in special classes as soon as they can be indubitably diagnosed and providing for them the type of training which will maximally develop those powers and aptitudes which they possess and which will maximally equip them for earning their livelihood.
"(3.) Provision for continuous oversight and supervision over the feeble-minded."