Nursery schools
Sir: That such a prominent headmaster should quote a sentence so out of context as to give the opposite slant to the case presented in the article from which it is taken is surely somewhat surprising. If Dr Rhodes Boyson (August 18, ' Education ') would do me the courtesy of reading what I said, he would see that on this issue, the importance of good parents is actually agreed!
My argument was spilt t out in such detail that there is really no excuse for misinterpretation. In the Bureau publication, The Parental Role, I was at pains to emphasise the extremely powerful influence of both " good " and "bad" parenting on children's development. I did indeed argue that the child's ties with its natural parents are over-rated but in the context of children abandoned to public care without their parents' bothering to visit or write for years on end; or in relation to those who are brutally assaulted and yet returned to their parents only to be further battered, maimed and sometimes killed by them. It is in such cases that, in my view, the forfeiture of parental rights should be advocated — in order to make it possible for society to provide adequate substitute parents for the child from the many excellent would-be adopters. The willingness to undertake the rtsponsibilities of parenthood clearly is neither dependent, nor necessarily consequent, upon biological parenthood. Yet .because of the almost mystical belief in the "blood tie" and because society's view of the parental role is too adult-centred, many children still remain pitiful victims without voices.
Instead, I plead that the long-term welfare of the children should become the first and paramount consideration, to ensure for them the best possible parental care in a loving family.
Mia Kellner Pringle Director, National Children's Bureau, Adam House, 1 Fitzroy Square, London WI
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