UNMARRIED MOTHERS

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31521, 8 November 1967, Page 22

UNMARRIED MOTHERS

Acceptance T T 1 Urged A greater emphasis should ( be placed on maintaining the ; natural tie between the un i married mother and her! child, the Social Service com mittee said in its report to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church last ! night The welfare of the child I should come first, not the condemnation of the unmarried I mother. The report recognised that I there were situations where] a mother should not keep het I child, and in some of these] cases adoption may be the] best means of providing a] substitute family. “Nevertheless, much] greater efforts should be made to enable the mother who wants to keep her child to do so.” In Denmark, 92 per cent of I unmarried mothers kept their babies The illegitimate child was part of a family, and everything reasonably possible should be done to keep him in it, the report said. Such a change in the climate of social acceptance would require other develop ments, including economic provision to ensure stable and secure living conditions, particularly in the interest of the child. The committee also indicated the need for suitable accommodation, and sug gested a scheme taking the form of small groups of flat lets, under the care of a war den. An approach had been made to the Minister of Housing with such a proposal, the report said.