[To THE EDITOR or THE " SPECTATOR."] SIR, —Your correspondent
"Inquirer " (in the Spectator of August 2nd) rightly conjectures that a considerable number of the cases dealt with by the National Adoption Society are those of illegitimate children; but "Inquirer " is mistaken in the assumption that " the main object of an Adoption Society is to enable mothers to get rid of unwanted children and to assist them in their desire to evade their natural duties." This Society does not attempt to minimize the evil of illegitimacy, and, on the contrary, is strongly opposed to the school of thought which tries to obliterate the distinction between the married and unmarried mother. But the aftermath of war must be faced and dealt with, and the Society endeavours to approach certain evils in such a way that the innocent shall not suffer for the guilty, nor an illegitimate child necessarily go through life blighted and blasted from the start. In many cases the mother is not so much "getting rid" of an unwanted child as parting with the child in order to give it a fair chance of a normal life in a good home, where it may be brought up
under conditions more wholesome than she could possibly provide.
Your correspondent is mistaken in thinking it an " exag- geration " on my part to assert that the war has left " thousands of babies homeless and parentless." Considering that although the National Adoption Society was comparatively little known at the outset close on two thousand cases were brought to our notice in the five months after we opened our London offices, it is obvious that these represent only a very small number of the cases requiring assistance; and perhaps " Inquirer" hardly realizes how vast has been the death-roll in this gigantic war, and that there are many particular in- stances in which State aid is necessarily inadequate. " In- quirer " expresses an opinion that " we in England can do our duty " by the children of our soldiers killed in action, instead of "shipping them to America to be cared for." I thought I had made it clear that the Society aims primarily at placing British babies in British homes, whether here or over- sea. America and Great Britain, however, have so many racial and personal links, as well as kindred ideals, that co-operation between British and American philanthropists is eminently desirable.
In reply to " Inquirer's " opinion that the public is entitled to "more detailed information on these points" before providing "a large fund" for the Society, we cordially invite your corre- spondent and all inquirers to come to our offices at 1 Baker Street, Portman Square, where we will be able to make them acquainted with the complex and various types of case which have already come within the sphere of our activities. The elaborate data are carefully classified and are open to
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