MORE CHILDREN ARE BEING ADOPTED IN N.Z.

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22439, 20 September 1947, Page 4

MORE CHILDREN ARE BEING ADOPTED IN N.Z.

One thousand three hundred and eighty-three children were adopted in New Zealand last year, which figure exceeds that for the previous year by 232 and makes a record for any one year. The majority of these applications were for girls; blondes were preferred —blonde girls with blue eyes. For years the list of people who want to adopt children lias been much greater than the list of children available at practically all the charitable institutions and the Child Welfare Department. The department m New Zealand supervised the welfare of 7525 children last year. None of these children is available for adoption and tliev are discharged from State care at the age of 21 years, at the latest. The authorities say that there are probably two reasons why girls are sought. I.t is generally the woman to whom tne choice of a‘child is left and she usually wants a girl to whose companionship she can look forward m later years. There were only 25 more girls than boys adopted in New Zealand last year, out if more girls had been available they would have been readily adopted, stated an officer of the department to the Gisborne Herald yesterday. Most couples came with a request for a baby girl, but if that was not possible they usually decided to have an adopted son in the family. Reopie usually preterred to adopt children with the same colouring as themselves and this certainly made the child more one of the family. The department was ready to comply with any reasonable request and did e/erything possible to protect .the child. More Requests Than Children In Gisborne there were many more requests for children than re children available. The annual report of the superintendent of the Child Welfare Department, which has just been presented to Parliament, stated that most of the applications for adoption were received from couples who had no children of their own, parents who wished to have a companion for their only child, and mothers of illegitimate children who wished to adopt their own children upon subsequent marriage. Of .the 1383 children adopted, 1131 (568 boys and 563 girls) were illegitimate. One of the legal requirements for adoption is that a single man or woman who wishes to adopt a child of the opposite sex must be 40 years older than tne child Married people who wish to adopt children are no.t required to have attained any certain age, it being left to .the discretion of the presiding magistrate. A welfare officer visits the intending parents to ensure the adoption :s in the child’s best interests. The department, however, prefers the couple to be of an age where the child can be taken into the family and can be regarded as their own child, and rhey prefer them to be on the youngish side. Babies Should be Six Months Some institutions which arrange adoption discourage i.t until babies are six months or older. Before that, they say, it is not always possible to be sure that the child is developing properly, mentally and physically. The Child Welfare Department does not mind the children being adopted at an age younger than six months, but prefers to leave the taking out of final papers until the child is at least six months old. Most people who adopt children prefer not to know whose the child is and the department prefers not to tell them. The majority of adopters are content with an assurance that the child comes from a healthy family, and many prefer to adopt children from other towns. An officer of the department told the Herald that many Gisborne people adopted children from other towns and the same happened in other places. Once the adoption has been approved by the court, everything is done to see that in every sense of the word the child becomes a member of the adopting family. The original birth registration is set aside and a new entry made as if the child were born of its new parents. It has all rights to the name and inheritance of its parents. Few people adopt more than one child nowadays, but many of those who adopt them already have children of their own.