WAITING LIST

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 67, 24 April 1945, Page 3

WAITING LIST

PERSONS WANTING TO ADOPT BABIES

WELLINGTON. I More people all over New Zealand, want to adopt babies than the number there are available for adoption. There is a lopg waiting list,. No baby with a satisfactory background of healthy parents need go homeless. When adoptions are arranged, the safeguards of the child Welfare Department and the law generally provide that the homes are good. * Unmarried mothers need have no fears or resort to illegal means to overcome their difficulties. If they communicate with the. department even at the earliest stage t they will be properly advised their care and confinement arranged for, and their wishes respecting the child carried They will also be assisted after the birth. All this is done quietly., without publicity. The number of adoptions arranged has been increasing for many years; the last eight years have seen new annual records. In 1943 854 * were adopted. The final figures for 1944 will probably be over 1000. Few premiums change hands today. Intending foster parents prefer baby girls. Many who want, to adopt children are in the position of being unable to have any of their own. Not all babies born out of wedlock are. available. Many mothers want to keep their own children, and the department assists them to do so. In some cases j the child Is boarded out in an. approved home till the mother is able to care for it or as sometimes happens the parents marry. The affection of unmarried mothers for their offspring is more often than not very strong. Early adoption is but the legal limit is 21 (raised from 15 in 1939). Unmarried persons may adopt children, provided they have suitable homes. A woman applying to adoiit a female child must be at least IS years older than the child, and a man at least 40 years older. With a male an applicant spinster must be at least 40 years old and a bachelor at least 18 years older. A period of probation is usually "advised a fairly short period with babies and longer with older children. The preference is to adopt as soon as. possible after birth. It frequently happens in cases where children are boarded out, that £he persons concerned grow so fond of them that they apply for adoption. In other instances couples have adopted children in the belief that it is not their fortune to have any of their own. The unexpected happens but the experience has been that'the adopted child does not theft become unwanted but its presence is welcome as a playmate for the newcomer.