More Help Given To Unmarried Mothers

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30954, 10 January 1966, Page 2

More Help Given To Unmarried Mothers

Increasing opportunities are being given to unmarried women in Toronto to keep their children if they wish, said Mrs Madeleine Hamilton, a social worker of Toronto, in Christchurch.

“In general, unmarried mothers are meeting with more acceptance of their situation and less stigma,’’ she said.

“It is usual for them to put their babies hi a foster home until they make up their minds whether or not they want to keep them." But there was still a shortage of foster, or temporary, homes in Toronto probably because more of the women, who would be likely to take on the job were now going back to work. Agencies, which were now more cautious about placing a child for adoption, also used foster homes while the child was being given psychological and medical tests, she said.

Another service available to the unmarried mother was the licensed home, in which the mother could place her baby if she was boarding somewhere. The mother could visit the child until she was in a position to take full care of it. Mrs Hamilton said. “Quite a number of Toronto women do private day care to help working mothers. Then there are day nurseries—the equivalent of kindergartens in New Zealand—for children from two to five, who get a full day-care programme, a mid-day dinner and an afternoon rest,” she said. “An unmarried mother would qualify for these services also, as a sole-support parent.’’ These nurseries were under the aegis of the Department of Public Welfare. Two other agencies also gave social services, with a nursery school, to both mothers and children if the mothers had financial, social or personal problems. Mrs Ham-

ilton is on the staff of one of them, the Victoria Day Nursery. Some public primary schools give before and after-school care under supervision for pupils with sole-support parents.

“There are still not enough services for unmarried, or other sole-support mothers, whose children are between a few weeks and two years old?’ she said. The Social Planning Coun- ' cil of Metropolitan Toronto was now making an exploratory survey to establish this need so that it could be met. Sole-support parents were encouraged to share the responsibility of a child placed under care. “A lot of women can be good part-time mothers. Given a little supportive help they can hold their family together, whether they are unmarried, widows, or divorcees,” she said.

“The help given by a nursery school, for instance, eases the strain in a responsible way. It is not just a case of sending a child to a recreation centre while the mother works.” Because of the rigid divorce laws in Canada there were many common-law unions, she said. When a man left his common-law “wife” and the children, she was classed as an unmarried mother.

There were fewer forced marriages than in the past and a tremendous number of pregnant, unmarried girls went to live in the big cities of Canada to become anonymous. But a more realistic attitude was now taken towards them and their needs. “I think there is also much more acceptance of a child of mixed racial descent,” she said.

Mrs Hamilton, the former Miss Madeline Pyne, of Christchurch, was on the staff of the Child Welfare Department at Rotorua before going to live in Canada nine years ago. She completed a two-year course at the School of Social Work, University of Toronto. To spend the Christmas and New Year holidays with relatives in Christchurch, she joined a special tour organised by the Australia and New Zealand Club of Toronto. On the return flight, the tour will leave Sydney this week for Nandi, Tahiti, Los Angeles and Chicago. Mrs Hamilton, who left Christchurch on Saturday for Sydney, has been staying with her brother-in-law and sister, Mr and Mrs H. L. Stephenson, of Norah street In Sydney she is visiting a brother-in-law and sister, Mr and Mrs A. P. O'Callaghan, of Mosman.