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as fas as I can ascertain respite in hospitals for disabled (learning difficulties) children and adults first emerged in the very early 1950s, as a way of enabling parents (mothers) to cope with illness, impending pregnancies etc. It was adminsitered under the Local Authority Health Committees as part of their roles under the Mental Deficiency Acts. The examples I turned up (only a handful) were in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It was not called respite at that date. I should look to Victoria Shennan's 1980 History of Mencap for any information on when Mencap began to demand, and supply, respite. Certainly in Bedfordshire tthey began to take children on hoilday to a chalet on the east cost in the late 1950s, giving parents time off, and the children a good time. A source for this sort of information, other than Mencap older members, is the Yearbooks and Annual Reports produced by local societies. But there is no central repository for these Jan > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Wood [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: 03 July 2000 08:42 > To: Alison Cocks > Cc: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Respite care - Disabled children > > Alison, > I do not have specific knowledge of a history of respite - > however (if my memory serves me well enough) there was a > lot of material around the ideas and developments coming > out of what was happening in the latre seventies and early > eighties which was in Journals and information from > organisations like BILD, BRIDGES (formerly APMH and now > defunct)and VIA (then CMH). So there may be no alternative > to a slog through the archives and dusty shelves I am > afraid (but check the index to theses). > Jim > On Tue, 27 Jun 2000 15:31:19 +0100 Alison Cocks > <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > > > > > Hello all > > > > I wonder if anyone might be able to help me. I'm trying to piece > together > > a history of the development of respite (as opposed to full residential) > > care and provision for disbled children particulary in the UK. Lots of > > people can tell me about the thinking behind respite and the change from > > residential - but i'm struggling to find any written info. can anyone > > help me??? > > > > Also for all you lucky folk going to the SDS conference in Chicago - > Have a > > great time!!! > > > > Alison Cocks > > Alison Cocks > > PhD Student > > Sociology Department > > University of Surrey > > Guildford > > GU2 7XH > > > > 01483 873961 > > ---------------------- > Jim Wood > University of Exeter %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%