A Marriage Welfare Service
| Author | David R. Mace |
| Date | 01 March 1947 |
| Published date | 01 March 1947 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026455054700500806 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
104
A
MARRIAGE
WELFARE
SERVICE
By
Dr.
DAVID
R.
MACE,
Secretary
of
The
Marriage
Guidance
Council
At
the
time
when
I
wrote
my
former
article
for
this
journal,
we
were
still
awaiting
the
publication
of
the
Final
Report
of
the
Denning
Committee
on
Divorce.
This
has
now
appeared,
and
has
been
warmly
welcomed
by
most
responsible
people.
Personally,
I
regard
it
as
a
very
significant
milestone
in
the
history
of
our
present
struggle
against
the
broken
home
and
all
the
tragedies
which
follow
in
its
train.
I
undertook
in
this
article
to
discuss
the
Denning
Report
in
particular
relation
to
marriage
guidance
and
the
Probation
Service.
This
I
now
propose
to
do.
I
shall
leave
out
of
consideration
entirely
those
sections
of
the
Report
which
deal
with
changes
in
divorce
pro-
cedure
or
projected
changes
in
the
law
itself.
The
programme
off.
reconciliation
falls
naturally
into
two
parts-what
can
be
done
in
a
preventive
sense
before
the
couple
make
any
approach
to
the
court
at
all,
and
what
can
be
done
after
they
have
approached
the
court
for
its
judgment.
At
the
first
stage,
the
Committee
wisely
lays
down
the
principle
that
the
earlier
marital
disharmony
is
dealt
with,
the
better
will
be
the
chance
of
successfully
healing
the
breach
in
the
relationship.
Indeed,
it
goes
further,
and
recommends
education
and
preparation
for
marriage
as
being
best
of
all.
To
carry
out
this
programme
it
suggests
the
organisation
of
a
service
very
much
on
the
lines
of
that
which
the
Marriage
Guidance
Council
and
the
Catholic
Marriage
Advisory
Council
are
now
offering.
The
proposal
is
that
these
voluntary
organisations,
together
with
a
few
others
which
have
some
contribution
to
make
in
this
field,
should
work
out
a
plan
which
can
offer
to
the
civilian
population
the
kind
of
welfare
ser-
vice
which
was
made
available
to
men
and
women
in
the
Forces,
through
their
internal
welfare
agencies
and
such
co-operating
organisations
as
S.S.A.F.A.
What
this
would
mean
in
effect
would
be
that
the
existing
Marriage
Guidance
Councils
throughout
the
country
would
be
given
the
encouragement
and
financial
support
of
the
State,
so
that,
in
co-operation
with
other
existing
agencies,
they
could
provide
a
really
adequate
marriage
guidance
service
in
every
large
centre
of
the
community.
All
our
experience
has
proved
that
this
is
best
done
through
the
Marriage
Guidance
Centre,
the
work
of
which
I
described
briefly
in
my
earlier
article.
We
could
quite
easily
put
such
a
service
into
operation,
if
the
public
money
were
available.
We
have
gained
all
the
experience
necessary
to
work
out
a
sound
pattern,
and
we
have
already
the
framework
of
the
necessary
organisation
in
being.
The
considerable
expansion
of
this
service
is
held
up
only
by
the
lack
of
money,
which
prevents
us
from
employing
carefully
selected
and
fully
trained
workers,
and
providing
them
with
premises
in
which
to
work.
I
am
confident
that,
if
the
resources
were
made
available,
we
could
put
an
efficient
service
into
operation
throughout
the
country
in
the
space
of
about
a
year.
It
would
mean
hard
work,
but
it
could
be
done.
This
ought
in
time
to
diminish
the
flow
of
broken
marriages
to
the
courts.
Even
so,
there
would
still
be
plenty
of
applicants
for
them
to
deal
with.
The
Denning
Report
pays
a
high,
though
not
too
high,
tribute
to
the
magnificent
work
which
members
of
the
Probation
Service
have
done
in
the
magistrates’
courts,
in
dealing
with
matrimonial
cases.
What
is
suggested
is
that
this
service
should
now
be
provided
also
in
the
divorce
court.
I
am
sure
the
Committee
is
wise
in
recommending
that
the
foundations
of
this
new
service
should
be
laid
by
a
selected
group
of
probation
officers.
These
court
welfare
officers,
attached
to
the
divorce
courts,
would
have
the
double
function
of
undertaking
any
reconciliation
work
which
lay
in
their
power,
and
also
of
safeguarding
the
interests
of
the
children
of
those
marriages
which
were
inevitably
doomed
to
end
in
divorce.
If
these
recommendations
are
put
into
effect,
it
means
that,
in
the
main,
the
task
of
cutting
down
the
number
of
broken
marriages
will
fall
jointly
to
the
Marriage
Guidance
Council
(together
with
its
Roman
Catholic
equivalent)
and
the
Probation
Service.
I
for
one
could
wish
for
nothing
better
than
this
kind
of
co-operation
and
comradeship
in
the
common
task
of
working
for
a
better
standard
of
family
life.
I
am
sure
there
need
not
be
any
overlapping
or
clashing
of
interests
in
such
a
scheme.
There
is
enough
work
for
all
of
us
to
do,
and
no
room
whatever
for
mutual
suspicion
or
competition.
On
the
one
hand
the
Marriage
Guidance
Centre
would
be
at
the
disposal
of
the
probation
officer
or
court
welfare
officer,
to
deal
with
cases
which
he
wished
to
pass
on
for
more
extensive
or
more
specialised
help
and
direction.
On
the
other
hand,
the
Centre
would
be
glad
to
use
the
specialist
help
of
the
probation
officer
in
legal
or
social
difficulties
which
arose
in
marriages
which
were
being
dealt
with
at
the
earlier
stage.
We
have
always
welcomed
the
service
of
probation
officers,
as
committee
members,
as
lecturers,
and
as
counsellors
serving
our
Marriage
Guidance
Councils.
We
know
that
we
have
very
much
to
learn
from
social
workers
who
for
years
have
seen
the
tragedy
of
the
broken
marriage
at
close
quarters,
and
in
its
final
stages.
We
are
anxious
both
to
learn
from
them,
and
to
help
them
as
far
as
lies
in
our
power.
My
personal
hope
is
that
this
fellowship
in
service will
be
cemented
by
the
acceptance
of
a
common
syllabus
of
training,
both
for
marriage
counsellors
who
serve
marriage
guidance
centres,
and
for
probation
officers
and
court
welfare
officers
who
intend
to
specialise
in
matrimonial
work.
We
have
already
laid
down
the
basis
of
such
training,
and
the
first
course
will
have
been
completed
by
the
time
this
article
appears
in
print.
A
syllabus
of
the
course
has
been
submitted
to
the
Proba-
tion
Training
Board,
and
the
hope
expressed
that
it
might
be
mutually
accepted
as
defining
a
standard
of
competence
which
it
would
be
our
common
aim
to
achieve.
(Continuect
on
page
105)
To continue reading
Request your trial