VPRS 16684 Maternal and Child Health Services (Infant Welfare) Publications and Resources

Full description

Background

The Maternal and Child Health Service (Infant Welfare) began in Victoria in 1917 when, in response to high levels of infant morbidity and mortality, the first voluntary infant welfare centres began to emerge. The first centres were established in Richmond and Carlton and received a Council subsidy.

Other volunteer centres soon followed and in 1918 the Victorian Baby Health Centres Association was formed. The Minister of Health approved an annual Government subsidy on the condition that the local council matched the amount. The centres provided advice on the management of the well baby, including nutrition and food preparation. The sisters conducted home visits and expectant mothers were also welcomed at the centres. The Association set up a training school with a program for double-certificated nurses. Successful candidates were entitled to take charge of an infant welfare centre. By 1925 the voluntary Infant Welfare Association had established 71 centres in Local Governments with 52 nurses employed.

In 1925 the Government appointed a Royal Commission to enquire into the welfare of women and children in Victoria, with Dr. Vera Scantlebury and Dr. Henrietta Main appointed to create a survey and report their findings and recommendations. As a result the Government created the Infant Welfare Section in the Department of Public Health (VA 2904) in 1926. The Infant Welfare section was responsible for implementing government policy in relation to infant welfare and in partnership with Local Government funded and monitored the Infant Welfare Centres across Victoria. It operated in within a legislative framework that included the requirements of the Births Notification Act 1930 (No. 3888).

Recommendations of the Commission included the appointment of a Medical Director of Infant Welfare, the mandatory notification of all births to local Municipal Officers within 48 hours and recommendations that a specific training course for nurses wishing to undertake infant welfare work be instituted. The first proposed link with medical education was that medical students should attend mothercraft training centres for instruction during their undergraduate training. All of the above recommendations were implemented and Dr. Vera Scantlebury was appointed as the first Director of Infant Welfare.

In 1934 the Victorian Baby Health Centres Association established a Mobile Infant Welfare Service for country mothers. In the early 1940s the Department of Health (VA 695) began its Mobile Service. Vans were used as mobile centres as well as providing accommodation for the nurses on the circuit. By the early 1950s the Department of Health had set up Mobile services in seven areas of the State, four of which were still operating in 1976.

The Maternal and Child Health Service continues as a free service for families with children aged from birth to six years of age, with a focus on the health, development and wellbeing of children and their families. After many machinery of Government changes over the years the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is currently responsible for the Statewide Maternal and Child Health Service.

The Service currently has three major components; centre-based services, outreach/home visiting services (Enhanced Maternal and Child Health Service) and a 24 hour telephone advisory service (Maternal and Child Health Line). The service continues to be provided by registered nurses with midwifery and maternal and child health qualifications.

P1 - Printed Parent Information

This consignment consists of leaflets, pamphlets and booklets on a range of subjects related to health and development, nutrition, parenting education and pregnancy. The dates of publication range from 1936 to 2001. The 'Jublilee Conference on Maternal and Child Health' paper located in the P2 consignment of this series refers to leaflets on 'general management' being sent out monthly as part of the Infant Welfare section's Correspondence Service. Content from this consignment could be copies of some of this material.

Some of the leaflets contain a Government printer's number such as 4907/49. The second number refers to the year of printing - some leaflets were revised and printed at later dates.


P2 - Various Publications

This consignment includes a range of publications and resource material such as a text book/guide, a copy of a 50th Jubilee conference paper, Maternal and Child Health program standards, standards of professional practice and examples of 'Your Child's Personal Health Record' dating from 1979 to the late 1990s. The Personal Health Records were distributed to parents on enrolment in the Maternal and Child Health (Infant Welfare) Service. From the late 1990's a new comprehensive Child Health Record was introduced with more information, particularly about child development. They were distributed on discharge from hospital and there are samples from 2001-2008. The 2008 edition was published by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development as part of a machinery of Government Change.


P3 - Framed Posters

This consignment consists of four large framed posters designed for display in infant welfare centres. The posters provided advice for parents on subjects such as vision and care of the eyes, sleeping and the benefits of night air, and preparing for school. It's possible that they were developed in the 1940s for the newly created school nursing service, when vision and hearing screening of children was introduced (school nurses worked in schools from 1913 to the 1940s as part of the school medical service).