PEOPLE WANTING TO ADOPT CHILDREN

Wanganui Chronicle, 15 January 1948, Page 6

PEOPLE WANTING TO ADOPT CHILDREN

NOT ENOUGH BABIES TO GO ROUND

(P.A.) Wellington, Jan. 14 There are not enough babies to go round in New Zealand. There is a waiting list of people wishing to adopt infants in every city. Adoptions for 1947, the figures for which are not yet complete, will be close to the previous year’s record of 1383. The progressive popularity of adoptions is shown by the figures for the previous nine years, namely 406, 516, 518, 604, 605, 685, 854, 1065 and 1151. Still there are more people desiring to adopt babies than there are babies available for adoption. Adoptions of babies fell under the Infants’ Act, but almost invariably magistrates referred to the Child Welfare Department for reports in such matters, said the superintendent of the department (Mr. C. E. Peck). Most adoptions, he continued, were due to married people having no children, or to wishing for a companion for their only child. Baby girls were a first choice in the majority of cases, but when they were not available baby boys seemed just as popular, especially when the couple had had to wait their turn for a baby and had then taken a baby boy on trial. Senior women officers of the department paid close attention'to the suitability of the people to become foster parents, and their' reports, after a probationary period, werfc available for magistrates before an order for adoption was made.