92. 18.06.68 Case History of Philip. D.O.B.  1957.

Admitted 06.05.65

Harpenden Branch 06.05.65 to 17.02.68

Returned to his mother 17.02.68

Philip is the illegitimate son of Dorothy Moira Howard and Mr Linton Jansen, a Singhalese, who was a trainee in hotel management at the time of their brief acquaintance. The mother lost all contact with him and his present whereabouts are not known.

The mother lived on the Isle of Wight where she was employed as a housekeeper. In February 1965 she had to give up her job to come to London in order to look after her ageing and invalided parents. One of the mother’s brothers also lived with them, and there was neither room for Philip nor time to look after him adequately. His admission into care was therefore applied for. The mother had from the beginning intended this as a temporary measure, until she would no longer be needed by her parents.

The mother is an extremely conscientious person and has always been keenly aware of her responsibility towards her old parents, as well as her role in Philip’s life. But although her three other married brothers and sisters all live in close proximity to London at Harpenden, none of them were helpful in sharing with her in the care for their parents, nor did any of them take an interest in Philip. It appeared that they were a little ashamed of him and were not willing to accept him.

After the death of the mother’s father in May 1967, the threat of being evicted by the landlord continuously hung over her. Plans for the setting up a joint household with her sister and brother-in-law were slow to take shape and were not finalised until April 1968. In May her Sister and brother-in-law bought a house and shop near Swindon and the mother together with Philip and her mother, who is seriously ill with heart trouble, have now joined them.

Progress while in our care: -

Philip was admitted to Harpenden, as this was the most convenient Branch to enable his mother to visit him.

He was a highly-strung child, inclined to talk in a disjointed manner, but he was not lacking in confidence. He showed aggressiveness towards other children. There were some bedwetting incidents until he became settled in the routine of Highfield.

Prior to coming into care he had attended a Primary school on the Isle of Wight, and the head teacher’s report when he left this school observed that he was obviously in need of a stable background and missed the interest and concern of a father. Although his school work was below standard, it was felt that, given stability, he was capable of making good progress, academically as well as emotionally.

Philip settled well at Harpenden. His mother being very tied down at home by her parents’ needs was able to visit him only once every three weeks. She had Philip home for all the holidays, but she had to leave him to fend for himself. Although Philip always enjoyed these holidays, he never resented having to return to Harpenden. His other relatives, in spite of living near to the Branch visited him only occasionally, nor did they offer to have him for a holiday.

Philip’s progress at school remained unsatisfactory. He showed no improvement in his powers of concentration and his writing ability was particularly poor. In part this lack of progress was thought to be the result of double vision from which he had been suffering, and which was being corrected. In other respects, however Philip showed equal lack of improvement.

He remained excitable, had temper tantrums, was inclined to be jealous and aggressive, bullied other children, and was desperate for adult attention.

After the death of his grandfather, Philip seemed affected by the uncertainty of the family’s future plans.

In October 1967 Philip was given a test in London. The report indicated that Philip was of good average intellectual ability (IQ 113), but that he suffered from a degree of hyper-tension, was fundamentally an unhappy child and socially ill-adjusted. He was undoubtedly concerned both about his colour and about his father, about whom he should be given some information. Concern was expressed about the mother’s ability to see Philip through his difficulties, if he were to return to her. Philip would need more than average help and more than average adult supervision, and therapy sessions at the Child Guidance Clinic were recommended.

The mother was most willing to co-operate, but it was not thought advisable to commence treatment at the St. Albans clinic at this stage, in view of the family’s plans to move to Wiltshire in the near future. Treatment was therefore postponed until the move to Wiltshire had taken place.

After the Christmas holidays it became apparent that Philip had not felt happy at Harpenden and was unwilling to go back. The mother was now determined to have Philip home as soon as possible, and Philip left Harpenden on 17.02.68.

Supervision under Family Aid was now carried on. Philip settled very happily at home, but did not like his new temporary school. The mother although working extremely hard, was obviously pleased to have Philip home.  

93. 31.08.68 Report of Child Care Officer.

Both Philip and his mother seemed pleased to see me and they gave me a warm welcome. They are slowly settling down to country life, the mother is trying to make the best of things and Philip longs for London.

We talked about Philip’s school and he is looking forward to going to the Senior School next term. This is three miles away but children are taken by coach.

Philip’s bedroom is up in the attic and he was most anxious that I should go up the narrow staircase and also see the low beams. It is a pleasant room and he has all his own things about.

The living rooms are shared with the rest of the family, whom I did not meet, except for the grandmother who has her bedroom downstairs. I had a chat with her, she seemed really quite well and her speech was very good; the country life seems to agree with her.

I was able to have a talk with the mother on her own; she said that Philip is still very aggressive at times and she thinks that this is probably why he does not seem to keep the same friends for very long. He still has a few bedwetting accidents at night, but the mother thinks he might get over this when he is settled into his new school.

She has not yet sought advice from a psychiatrist for Philip and this I urged her to do as soon as Philip gets to the Secondary School; I suggested she sees the Headmaster and makes a request for Philip to see either the educational psychologist or a psychiatrist, and that she should do this as soon as possible. I will call again towards the end of the holiday to ensure that Philip has all he needs for school.  

MY ANSWER. The move to the country had certainly been different. I was now in an isolated village, although quite near to a town, and only a few buses ran at reasonable times. Most of the boys of my age had lived in the area all of their lives; it was a bit like at the Home, no one really knew of life outside the village. Unlike London I did not really have as much freedom indoors as I would have liked, as the shop and the location of excess stock came first; however my attic bedroom was my escape.

My odd few wet beds are down to the fear that I might be returned to the Home. I'm not too sure that everything here is settled. In September I was told by mother that everything seemed to be fine and I could stay, my night problems come to an end.  

94. 02.10.68 Report by Child Care Officer.

The mother seemed to have settled into her new village although she said that life sometimes became rather boring as she only got out on Saturday afternoons. She seemed quite relaxed and was prepared to settle as Philip was happy in his new Senior School and he seemed much better.

Philip is in the ‘A’ stream at school and he appears to be coping quite adequately: he gets a little homework, which does not worry him. He is now learning French and he was pleased to be doing some pottery: he also enjoys P.E.

I thought Philip’s movements still seemed rather jerky but his mother said that she had not noticed this. She is delighted that he is so happy at school and there is no trouble going off in the mornings.

There is a good library in the school and Philip also has a ticket for the Swindon Library so he is able to get plenty of interesting books. He appears now to be a great reader. Philip told me that he had ‘economised’ in the buying of his comics and that he was saving his pocket money to buy a film projector.

The mother has not yet been to see the Headmaster: I said that I would be going to see him within the next few weeks.

It was encouraging to see that Philip and his mother both seemed settled and happy in their new surroundings.  

MY ANSWER. The first year of senior school was in a way a welcome change from the small village school. Life at the start of the new school year was a bit frightening as all new boys had to go through an initiation ceremony given by the older boys, and for most of the time there was continual teasing over the colour of my skin. It seems odd but none of them have actually met a dark skinned child; my light tanned complexion is the darkest they have ever seen.

The way the school runs with the need to change rooms for each lesson is something that I was already used to: for those from the village, that you do not spend your day in the same room seemed strange. Having spent only a short while at the village school, on arrival at the secondary modern there were no records of any previous schoolwork. After a short oral test, I was placed in the ‘A’ stream.

Continued

Please click on link

http://www.philipastrangechild.com/page_1170550451968.html

.