Rules' for Adoption
Frankenburg writes about one hindrance to adoption ; I should like to draw attention to another. A friend and I. both unmarried and sharing a house, decided a short time ago, to try to adopt two little ...girls. We knew that, quite'rightly, no society would allow us to adopt babies, as we could not provide the normal family set-up, but, while knowing. that what we offered could only be second best, we thought that a country home, with what would approximate to two aunts, might be nicer for the children than life in an institution. Neither we nor any institution could give them parents, but we hoped that we might give them some of the other things inherent in home-life that an institution cannot give. We asked for children, preferably sisters, between the ages of about seven and ten, thinking that children unadopted by this age would have little chance of going into an ordinary family. Apparently we were wrong. Far from finding what we looked for, we have been virtually assured that children of this age needing homes do not exist!
If this is, in fact, the case, it is difficult to see why we should continuq to see and hear constant appeals for homes, holidays, Christmat presenti &c., for the thousands of children in institutions. if it is not so, it
ur
should surely be possible to find two little girls for whom a home might be welcome—or are we now reaching a stage in this topsy-turvy world where it is considered better for a child to be in an institution than to enjoy an approximation to normal home-life ? In-view of the situation that we are led to believe exists with regard to deprived children, it would have seemed to me a matter of urgency that every possible offer of a home should be considered and investigated.
For obvious reasons I enclose my card and sign myself,—Yours
Previous page
