INFANT LIFE PROTECTION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9116, 23 December 1907, Page 1

INFANT LIFE PROTECTION.

NEW REGULATIONS. [From Ovtl Corhespondent.] WELLINGTON, December 20. By the provisions of the Infant Life Protection Act, passed last session, all business connected with this branch of the State' 8 work will be conducted by the Education Department after December 31. The licenses now held by keepers of infant homes will remain in force for the present, and the ladies who have been appointed district agents will visit the homes at an early date. The new regulations under the Act will be issued as a supplementary " Gazette " to-night. They provide that in future every application for a license shall be addressed to the Secretary for Education and lodged with the district agent of the within which the applicant resides. When an infant iB taken into a foster home the foster parent shall forthwith supply the Secretary for Education with the name and. other particulars of 'the j.n-; f ant .on the- prescribect form. Except by special sanction of the Minister of Education, no person who is in receipt of charitable a ? id shall be licensed as a foster parent. " The foster parent shall keep a record book and shall enter the particulars therein, specified immediately after the occurrence of the incidents to be recorded. Every foster home and the infante maintained therein shall be visited regularly by an officer duly appointed under the Act. Such visits snail be made as frequently as the individual circumstances of each case require, but in no case shall an infant under one year of age be visited less often than once in two months, nor an infant over that age less than once in four months. Poster parents are required to promptly comply with any direction given by a district agent or other duly authorised person in ths execution of his duty, 'lhey must always allow all reasonable facilities to local visitors for ascertaining the condition of infants placed in foster homes, and they must treat infante with all the care and kindness suited to their tender age. If an infant becomes so ill as, in the judgment of the foster parent, to need medical attendance, the foster parent shall, by the most speedy means, call upon the father, mother orNother near relative of such infant to provide sucb medical attendance, but if it is not practicable to communicate promptly with a near relative of the' infant, or if for any reason there is delay in the arrival of medical aid, the foster parent shall, on her own responsibility, immediately obtain the attendance of a medical practitioner. ■ The foster parent, on the occurrence of such ill- , nees, must inform the district agent ' without any delay. If the license of a foster parent is revoked on the ground that any infant in her chaTge has been improperly treated, the revocation may include the forfeiture' of any moneys for the maintenance of such infant that would otherwise be due to her ; The clerk or registrar of the Court in wliicn any order of adoption under the > Adoption' of Children Act, 1595, is .made shall immediately upon the issue of the same forward a copy therof to the Secretary for Education, and also to the agent in the district wherein the adoptive parent or parents reside, together with a statement setting forth the terms of any agreement or arrangement under which the adoptive parent or parents receive i a premiu7n or other consideration in respect of such adoption.