E.—4

24

Table 13.—Particulars of Children admitted to and removed from Licensed Foster-homes during 1926.

Table 14.—Rates of Payments by Parents or Guardians. A statement of the rates paid is given in the following table : — £ s. d. £ s. d. 4at the rate of 0 5 0 per week. sat the rate of 016 0 per week. 39 „ 0 10 0 „ 1 „ 0 16 6 1 „ 0 11 0 „ 61 „ 0 17 6 9 „ 0 12 0 „ 1 „ 0 18 0 73 „ 0 12 6 „ 185 „ 1 0 0 5„0130„ 2 „ 1 1 0 1 „ 0 13 6 „ 6 „ 1 2 6 2 0 14 0 „ 1 „ 13 0,, 415 „ 0 15 0 „ 12 „ 15 0,, 3 0 15 6 „ 2 „ 1 10 0 1 child adopted with premium disbursed at the rate of 10s. per week. 20 children adopted with premium disbursed at the rate of 15s. per week. 29 children for whom no payment is being made. The following is a comparison of the rates paid during the last six years : — 1921. 1922. 1923. 1924. 1925. 1926. Under 7s. per week .. 2 4 3 2 1 4 7s. and under 10s. per week .. ..11 5 1 7 9 Nil. 10s. per week .. .. .. 133 105 65 48 48 39 Over 10s. per week .. .. 508 597 580 615 699 785 Foster-homes. The 878 children in foster-homes at the end of the year were distributed as follows In 564 homes each having one child .. .. .. .. .. 564 In 108 homes each having two children .. .. .. .. 216 In 27 homes each having three children.. .. .. . . 81 In 3 homes each having four children .. .. .. 12 In 1 home having five children . . .. . . .. . . 5 703 878 Seven of the homes were those in which children were boarded out by Charitable Aid -Boards. The total number of licensed homes was 1,073, so that at the end of the year there were 370 homes in which for the time being no infants were boarded.

£ S3 to a » S3 0 fl <u fl © ° | 15 Sj f *" "* "3 ** 2 bC S O ,_,«* (N«W COq-; >0<H © . < ° ° ® & *S d® pi 2 PI 5® P*«2 Pi 2 P < n ®s "s ®g «® Sg a ■§ f rt j£ ||S liS |£ _g£ s I S ml m M m-* w" 5 m® o h On the books at 31st December, 1925 .. .. 81 93 176 125 97 77 i 85 37 771 Placed in licensed homes or transferred from other 221 98 128 79 55 34 34 3 652 districts during 1926 Totals .. .. .. ..302 191 304 204 152 111 119 40 1,423 Withdrawn from homes— Removed by parents or guardians .. 29 50 96 87 50 30 32 9 383 Deaths .. .. .. .. I I Adoptions without premium .. .. 2 5 12 10 4 3 2 3 41 In homes to which exemption was granted during 1926 1 3 1 4 .. .. .. .. 9 Brought under operation of Child Welfare Act 2 5 9 3 4 5 4 1 33 Written off the books for various causes (including .. 3 10 3 3 6 .. 53 78 those who attained the age of 6 years) Total withdrawals .. .. .. 34 66 128 107 62 44 38 66 545 On the books at 31st December, 1926 .. . . 109 109 182 153 121 84 68 52 878