Good mothers

Description: Using unconventional directional and editing devices, this production provides an insight into Denmark’s progressive laws and social structures that protect mothers and their children. Shows how married and unmarried mothers in Denmark are provided with assistance through the nation-wide system of ‘Mother’s Aid Institution’. Describes in dramatised form the story of an unmarried mother. Free assistance includes pre-natal attention and classes in the care of children. Following the birth of her child in hospital in Copenhagen the mother spends some time at a Mother’s Aid home, where she receives instruction in homecrafts and is trained to earn a living. Also reveals that since 1888, fathers have been required by Danish law to financially support their children until the age of 18. Commentary by Dinah Miller.