WOMAN CONVICTED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 18, 2 November 1935, Page 3

WOMAN CONVICTED

UNLICENSED FOSTER-PARENT.

WELLINGTON, November 1

Edith May Sinnnonds, a young woman, pleaded guilty in the Magistrate’s Court to being an unlicensed foster-parent, in that she had the custody of a child for more than seven consecutive days. On her behalf, it was stated that she did not know that keeping a child for another woman put of kindness was a contravention of the act.

She was convicted and ordered to come up if called upon, within six months. . A child welfare officer said the Department was anxious to eradicate unlicensed homes. , ~ “The view the Court takes ol it; said the Magistrate, “and the sooner it is widely known the better, is that it is in the interests of children themselves that this particular section ol the Act should be strictly enforced. Unfortunately, in tho history of the Dominion we have had several most serious cases, and it is with the object of. averting anything m the future like ‘ baby-farming ’ that the Education Department is taking action m this case. One has only to look at the penalty provided—a fine of £SO, or six months’ imprisonment—to see the attitude of the Legislature on the matter. They view it rightly as a very serious offence. “In this case there does not seem to have been any attempt at ‘ babyfarming ’—nothing more, indeed, than good-hearted consideration for the child and its mother, but still there is a breach of the law, and it must be clearly understood that the Department will not tolerate any such Breach in the future.”