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The 1950 Children and Young Persons Act therefore had nothing
specific to offer disabled children.
The report by the Northern Ireland Child Welfare Council, ' The
Operation of Social Services in relation to Child Welfare ' (HMSO,
1960), considered children in the care of welfare authorities and
voluntary homes in 1957. This report served to endorse and
perpetuate the view that institutional accommodation was the only
option for the disabled child who could not be cared for at home and
that the emotional needs of such children somehow assumed
secondary importance in the light of the issues raised by the fact that
they were 'handicapped.'
" ... the welfare authorities quite rightly take the view that
residential care should not be regarded as the solution for
every child in care, and that no deprived child should be
placed in long-stay residential accommodation until other
methods of dealing with the case have been considered.
Adoption or a foster home is probably best for the
illegitimate baby, the toddler, the orphan and the child in
need of care by reasons completely outside himself. On the
other hand, the child who, because of some behavioural
maladjustment, or physical or mental handicap, finds
himself in the care of a welfare authority, would in many
cases be more suitable for group treatment."
Caul and Herron (1992) recount that welfare services for the disabled
from 1950 onwards were patchy. Apart from the history of
institutional care, it is almost impossible to tell what the state of
welfare services to disabled children living at home were at that time.
Some services, notably those for the deaf and blind were better
developed due to the good services of voluntary organisations. Most
welfare authorities had by the mid 1950s established home teachers
for the deaf and blind. Belfast Welfare Authority was the first
authority to appoint professionally qualified social workers in the
1970s who had undertaken additional specialist courses in working
with the deaf and blind. Other authorities established similar posts
shortly after this. These specialist workers catered for both adults and
children and served to draw attention to issues such as the difficulties
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