Refused Permit To Adopt Thai Child

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30793, 3 July 1965, Page 1

Refused Permit To Adopt Thai Child

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, July 2.

A father of four, Mr Donald J. Hill, of Tokoroa, has arranged time off from his job as a paper-mill hand and is standing by ready to make a £3OO air trip to Thailand to fetch back a baby girl he wants to adopt.

But the Minister of Immigration (Mr Shand) has refused permission for the child to come to New Zealand.

The baby, Anna Maria Chaiyanit, who will be two next week, is in an orphanage at Übel, Thailand. Mr Hill and his wife “discovered” her when they offered to sponsor a child there and were sent her photograph. They approached the Thai Embassy in Wellington and eventually were told that the adoption had been approved. All that remained to be

done was for Mr Hill to go to Thailand to sign adoption papers along with the girl’s father who cannot keep her. Mr Hill arranged to take saved-up holidays, had the necessary injections and paid £6O deposit on his air ticket. But, in spite of several approaches, Mr Shand has said that he is “not prepared to approve" of the child coming here. Mr Shand said tonight: “Every case of this kind is considered on its merits. As a general rule, however, we do not encourage adoptions

of children of other races from overseas, especially if it is a race not already represented in the community. We are advised by child welfare authorities that it is a mistake to take them out of their environment and can cause serious difficulties as they grow up. "Approval might be given in cases where the parents have a strong personal association with the child or the part of the world from which it comes and might be more able to deal with problems as they arise."