Private adoptions worry department

Press, 19 April 1985, Page 29

Private adoptions worry department

PA Wellington Private adoptions, arranged without giving people an opportunity to explore the issues involved, are concerning the Social Welfare Department. The department had learnt from long experience that unless great care was taken, the adoption could lead to unhappiness, said Miss Ann Corcoran, assistant director of foster care and adoption. She said 401 adoptions were arranged last year through the Social Welfare Department compared with 373 adoptions through parents, friends, relatives, or foster parent placements. Miss Corcoran said that when adoptions were ar-

ranged through the Social Welfare Department, the natural mother and future parents had been through an extensive assessment process.

When the child was born the mother selected the final placement from about three families.

Private adoptions, arranged through family or doctors and lawyers, were being made without giving Sle the opportunity to )re very carefully whether adoption was in the best interests of themselves or the child, Miss Corcoran said.

The skills needed to “parent” a child by adoption were different to those needed to parent one’s own

child, she said.

Miss Corcoran said the Eroblem had been exacerated because so few children were available for adoption through the department.

There was some more pressure on young people to place their child with someone known to them. While the number of private adoptions had not been rising significantly, the number of placements through the Social Welfare Department had been dropping. A joint Social Welfare Department and Justice Department working party was examining the Adoption Act and a discussion paper would be released in two to three months, she said.