View report page

11
Several Acts of Parliament have been passed with a view to
protect the lives of infants from baby farmers, and the most recent
Act (that of 1897) was certainly an improvement upon its predecessor.
The Legislature has recognised the necessity of securing
the registration by the local authority of those who undertake
the care of infants by hire, so that their action may
be to some extent supervised. The Act of 1897 only requires such
registration when more than one infant under the age of five years
is received, but it also provides that notice shall be given within
48 hours to the local authority by any person retaining or receiving
an infant under the age of two years on the consideration of a
sum of money not exceeding £20.
Evidence as to the necessity of fresh and more drastic
legislation for the protection of those children placed out to nurse
has been afforded by several cases which have been dealt with at
the Central Criminal Court during the last year. The fact that
about 100 children's dead bodies are found in London alone by the
police every year proves that infanticide is a far more common
occurrence than a conviction for the crime. Many such deaths would
doubtless be prevented if legislation dealt with all cases of children
placed out to nurse, and not only with those in which two or more
children are taken. The difference made by the law between the
baby farmer, who takes several children at a time, and those who
take one only, is not justified by any comparative safety of the single
child, and the child adopted in consideration of a larger sum than
£20 requires the same protection as that accorded to the infant
for whom less is paid. It is most desirable, moreover, that all
so-called Nursing Institutions should be brought under the inspection
of the local authority. No institution should be allowed to receive
women to be confined for gain without being duly licensed, and
proper notice of every child who is brought into such establishments
and of every child who leaves such establishments should be sent
to the authority within 48 hours of the event. In these so-called
Maternity Homes and Private Establishments the services of medical
men are frequently dispensed with at the birth of a child, so that