Strict Limitation of Child Adoption Urged in Britain

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 31, 30 October 1937, Page 18

Strict Limitation of Child Adoption Urged in Britain

LONDON. — Restrictions io stiffen the rules which ' now' govern methods j of child adoption in Great Britain have 1 been ' recommended . by a' departmental . committee on adoption societies and i agencies. ' 1 The committee, which has sat under. the chairmanship of Miss Florence Horsburgh, M.P., "makes no suggestio'n that "baby fa^ning" is prevalent ' in : Great Britain, or that extensive traffic ] in children is carried on. ,N,evertheless, eonditions in Tegard to adoption are, it i says, undoubtedly slack, and should be remedied. There are, for instance, certain cases in which nursing homes or private per-. sons have acted. as adoption intermediaries. . Inasome instances adoption societies are said to have made transactions difficult by deliberately keeping mothers and adopters apart. Cases'' have bpen cited in which children, usually illegitimate, have, been sent to foreign countries where, even when they grown iip, ;theyi remain alicns. Slackness Charged. On the whoie, there are too few-ade-quate inquiries made by adoption j -societies, the committee states; too much slackness in 'regard to institutes ; run by them; too prevalent a tendencyj to allow unqualified persons to officiate in transactions which require all the skill, integrity and insight that can -be brought to bear.uppn them. Staffsiof many adoption societies are declared to be unfitted for their work., The committee makes a number of suggestions. Pirst ■ and f oremost, ■ it should "be an offense, it says, for an adoption society, ,or any other body^or person to arrange ' for a British child to be taken ont of the country for^ adoption either by foreign ^ationals ;or by British sulSjects without a license from a court. In regard to adoption in Great Britain itself,, fhorough ; investigation should be mad'e by qualified persons in relation to both adopters and child before any transaction takes place and even then, period of probation should be arranged'which should over three months. At the end of this period the committee recommends application fof an adoption order should be made immediately to the court. Charges .to parents should be regulated in regard to their ability to pay. It should be an offense for any private person to receive payment for negotiating an adoption without permisson of the court. Extenson tTrged. The age limit under the Infant Life Protection Act should, for privately arranged adoptions, be extended, the committee says, from nine to 16 years lest,

by the adoption .of adolescent children, persons should attempt_to obtain cheap iabour. Private advertising in regard £o adoption should be probibited. Thero should be a prohibition, too, on the running'of an adoption agency not licensed by the -local council. . t The committee further recommends that child' life protection provisions of the Public Health Act, 1936, should be extended, with appropriate modificatioris, to adoptions arrange'd by p-:-ate persons, iiicluding tho mothcr or other rclativc of the child. Hvery adoption society, it says, should bo in possessiori of a well-rua and adequately staTed , hostcl. "