The Boarding-out Order, 1905. CIRCULAR. Sir, Local Government Board, I am directed by the Local Government Board to state that they have had under consideration the subject of the existing regulations relating to the boarding-out by a board of guardians of specified classes of pauper children, under the superintendence of boarding-out committees, in homes beyond the limits of the union. Those regulations are contained in the Boarding-out Order, 1889. In a memorandum issued in June, 1900, the Board explained fully the views held by them with regard to the boarding-out system generally. Since then further experience has been acquired of the working of the system, and during the intervening period representations have been made to the Board from time to time by persons interested in the subject, and by their own inspectors, in favour of some amendment of the regulations. It appears to the Board desirable that effect should be given to a number of the suggestions which have been received, and they have decided to rescind the existing regulations and to issue a fresh Order dealing with the matter. Order is named "The Boarding-out Order, 1905." The new Copies of the Order, and of a Circular Letter which the Board have addressed to the secretary of each boarding-out committee, are enclosed. The Board direct me to refer briefly to the principal points in which the provisions of the new Order differ from those contained in the Boarding-out Order, 1889. 1. Hitherto the application of the Boarding-out Order has been limited to pauper children who are " orphan or deserted" as defined by the Order. That definition, however, does not include a class of children who, though not actually orphan or deserted, are under the control of the guardians as the result of the failure of parental care, namely, those children in respect of whom the powers and rights of a parent or parents are, in pursuance of Section 1 of the Poor Law Act, 1889, or of the Poor Law Act, 1899, vested in the guardians. The new Order is framed so as to enable these children to be boarded-out under it. 2. The weekly sum payable in respect of each child to the foster-parent for maintenance (apart from the allowance for clothing and extras) has up to the present time been limited to four shillings. It has been represented, however, that, in some localities and in certain circumstances, this sum is not always sufficient to secure an adequate supply of suitable homes for the number of children on whose behalf applications are made. To prevent difficulty from arising in cases of this kind, the Board have decided to raise the existing limit on the weekly sum for maintenance. The maximum is now fixed at five shillings a week (Art. VI., No. 11). It will, of course, be understood that this alteration does not preclude any board of guardians from making such arrangements as may be practicable for securing the reception of boarded-out children in homes at a charge lower than the new maximum allowed. The difference in the cost of living in various parts of the country should be taken into account by boards of guardians; and, apart from this, the sums agreed to be paid to a foster-parent may properly differ according to the ages of the children. The guardians, before adopting the higher scale in any case, would no doubt consider whether there is reason to believe that the additional expenditure is requisite in the interests of the children to be boarded-out. 3. Some alterations are made by the new Order in the details of the arrangements respecting boarding-out committees. Circular, oth Dec., 1905 Circular, 9th Dec., 1905 Usually it has been found desirable that there should be one or more lady members of such a committee, but no express regulation on the point has yet existed. It is now required, by Art. II. (ii), that one, at least, of the members of a committee shall be a woman. The local limitation on the operations of the boarding-out committee is now better defined by the requirement that the parishes making up the area for which the committee are to act shall be specified in the engagement entered into by the members of the committee, and in the authority given by the Board to the committee. (Art. II. (i)). The Order also contains provisions as to the appointment of a presiding chairman by the boarding-out committee (Art. III. (1)), and as to the need for signature to a form of engagement by any person who becomes a member of the committee after its first formation (Art. II. (iv)). 4. As regards the foster-parents and homes of boarded-out children, the Order contains, in the form of definite regulations, some fresh requirements which experience has shown to be requisite, or which appear to be desirable, for the better working of the boarding-out system. Thus, there is a prohibition on the boarding-out of children in premises licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors, or with any person convicted of an offence which renders him unfit to be a foster-parent. (Art. VI, Nos. 6 and 7.) The insurance of the payment of money to a foster-parent upon the illness or death of a child is forbidden. (Art. VI., No. 12.) If there are five children in a home, including a child boarded-out by a board of guardians, and an additional child is boarded-out in that home by persons other than the guardians, the child boarded-out by the guardians is to be withdrawn. (Art. VI., No. (3) iv.) This supplements the existing regulation which has prevented a child from being placed, when first boarded-out, in a home in which more than five children are received. One of the existing regulations prevented any child from being boarded-out by the guardians in a home where two or more children were boarded-out by other persons; and also limited the number boarded-out by the guardians to one, if there was any child in the home boarded-out by other persons. It was not clear, however, that the temporary introduction of a child into the home by persons other than the guardians was a case which had to be taken into account under this regulation. Doubt on the point has now been removed, as the regulation has been made to apply, whether the boarding-out of children by other persons takes place "permanently or temporarily." (Art. VI., No. (3) ii.) The distance at which a home may be situated from the residence of some member of the boarding-out committee is reduced from five to three miles, so as to secure regularity of visitation; but an exception to the new rule as to distance may be made, with the Board's consent, when the circumstances justify it. (Art. VI., No. 14.) In connexion with the question of visitation by members of the boarding out committee, it has been urged that it is not always practicable for the visitor to sec the child at its home (e.g., if the child is at school for the greater part of the day), but that, although the child may well be visited always from its home, the home itself should also be visited and inspected at suitable intervals. It is therefore now provided (Art. VII. (1)) that every child and its home shall be visited not less often than once in every six weeks by a member of the boarding-out committee. 5. The powers of the guardians in certain matters of detail have been enlarged by the Order. Where the guardians decide to withdraw a child from a home, they may, if the case is one of urgent necessity, withdraw him without giving the week's notice hitherto required in all cases. (Art. V. (1).) The amount which the guardians might advance to a boarding-out committee has previously been limited to three-fourths of the sum which, under the agreed arrangements, might be expected to be incurred by the committee during the Circular, ensuing quarter. The limitation to three-fourths of such sum has been removed. 9th Dec., 1905 (Art. XII.) In order to bring about a more satisfactory system of accounting, as between a boarding-out committee and the guardians, power is given to the guardians, if they think fit, to include in their agreement with the committee conditions as to the production to the guardians of vouchers for all disbursements by the committee. 6. Modifications have been made by the Order in certain of the forms hitherto prescribed, namely, in the form of engagement of the members of a newly-constituted boarding-out committee, the undertaking to be given by a foster-parent, and the schoolmaster's quarterly report. For various purposes of the Boarding-out Order, 1889, certain forms have been in use in recent years, though not definitely prescribed by the Order. In the new Order forms are prescribed and scheduled as to the engagement to be given by additional or substituted members of a committee, the agreement to be made between a board of guardians and a committee (which now includes provision for payment of reasonable fees for dentistry), the half-yearly report of the names and addresses of members of a committee, and the report of a member of the committee after visiting a boarded-out child and its home. Some further reference to the details of these alterations and additions will be found in the circular letter addressed to the boarding-out committees. The Order contains provisions (Arts. XIV. and XV.) continuing in force existing arrangements made with boarding-out committees, and undertakings given by foster-parents in relation to children at present boarded-out under the Order of 1889. It will no doubt be desirable that boards of guardians should take an opportunity of reviewing the contents of existing agreements and undertakings, for the purpose of deciding whether any alteration in them is required, either generally or in particular cases, having regard to the provisions and requirements of the new Order. The Order will be placed on sale, and copies of it can then be purchased either directly or through any bookseller from Wyman & Sons (Limited), 109, Fetter Lane, Fleet Street, E. Č. I am, Sir, Your obedient Servant, S. B. PROVIS, Delegation of certain powers of the Secretary of CIRCULAR. SIR, Local Government Board. Whitehall, S.W., 12th June, 1906. I am directed by the Local Government Board to bring under the notice of the guardians the following communications, which the Board have received from the Admiralty and the Army Council, relative to the maintenance of persons who have become disabled by reason of service in the navy and the marines and in the army, and also to the delegation by the Secretary of State for War of his powers under sections 91, 138 and 145 of the Army Act, 1881. Maintenance of Discharged Sailors and Soldiers. Representations have been made to the Board by a number of boards of guardians in England and Wales in favour of the Admiralty and the War Office respectively bearing the cost of maintaining discharged sailors and soldiers who have become disabled as the result of their naval and military service, and the Board have communicated to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty and to the Army Council the effect of these representations. The reply which the Board have received from the Admiralty states that the regulations governing the award of naval pensions provide for the grant of a pension varying from 6d. to 2s. a day, with additional allowances in respect of time served as petty officer and good conduct badges, &c., in every case in which a man's permanent incapacity can be regarded as directly attributable to the service. Men who are invalided from ordinary causes not attributable to, though contracted in, the service are awarded pensions for life or for a limited period according to the length, nature and character of their service. Special pensions are also awarded in certain cases from the Charitable Funds of Greenwich Hospital to seamen and marines of good character who have been discharged from His Majesty's service and are permanently or temporarily unable to maintain themselves, but under the regulations governing the Charity from which these pensions are awarded, payment cannot be made for any period during which the recipient is an inmate of a workhouse or asylum or is otherwise chargeable to the rates. The Lords of the Admiralty observe that they are unable to accept responsibility for the permanent maintenance of men who are invalided from the Navy for any constitutional disease or any disability which there is reason to believe would have developed had the man been serving in another capacity under more or less similar conditions. The responsibility of the Admiralty in the case of pensioners extends only to the amount of their pensions. The Army Council inform the Board that the regulations administered by the Commissioners of Chelsea Hospital (who are the authority charged with the award of army pensions) provide that every soldier discharged for a disability due to his military service shall be granted a pension at rates varying according to the degree of his disablement, character and service being also taken into consideration. Moreover, in the case of men discharged for wounds, or injuries, or disease due to war service, higher rates of pension can be awarded irrespective of length of service or character, and in the case of men whose service amounts to at least 14 years, pensions may be awarded, notwithstanding that their military service may have been in no way responsible for the disability necessitating their discharge from the army. It is admitted that men of less than 14 years' service, although discharged in consequence of disability due to military service are granted temporary pensions only in the first instance, but the Army Council state that in the event of permanent incapacity to earn a livelihood from the same cause, these pensions may be made permanent, and that in all cases, therefore, in which a soldier has established a reasonable claim to be compensated by the State for disablement resulting from army service, provision exists for awarding him a pension. The Army Council also point out that while cases are not uncommon in which men have beer discharged after a very short service in consequence of disabilities arising from constitutional causes, it is obvious that service in the army for a short period cannot in itself confer a right to pension irrespective of the origin of the disability leading to discharge. In conclusion, the Army Council intimate that should there be any discharged soldiers in workhouses who are without pensions, or with small pensions, and who can be shewn to be suffering from disabilities directly due to military service, their cases will always receive careful investigation on being brought to the notice of the Secretary, Royal Hospital, Chelsea, S.W. Delegation of certain powers of the Secretary of State for War. In a circular letter which the Board addressed to the guardians on Circular, 12th June, 1906. Y |