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Adoption of children.
Under the Poor Law Act, 1930, the Council maintains about 8,500 London
children ; in respect of about 3,000 of these the rights and powers of parents are,
under section 52 (1), vested in the Council. The Adoption of Children Act, 1926,
made it possible for a natural parent to divest himself absolutely of his rights and
liabilities in respect of his child, and secured the adopter against any possible interference
at any future time by the natural parent. Further it conferred upon the
adopted child practical equality with legitimate children and substituted for the
birth certificate an adoption certificate. Application for adoption must be made
to a court, who may grant an adoption order which cannot be revoked, except by the
granting of another order. The court may make the granting of an order conditional
upon the observance of specified provisions.
The Council, in July, 1932, decided to grant consent to the adoption, by private
persons, of children maintained under the Poor Law Act, 1930; officers were
approved to interview the prospective adopters, and to make such other enquiries as
were considered necessary. No payments are either required from the adopters or
made to the Council, and as a rule arrangements are made for the child chosen to
stay on trial with the prospective adopters for a few months before legal adoption is
agreed to by the Council.
One of the conditions of the scheme is that the physical and mental condition
of the children concerned shall be ascertained, as far as practicable, before consent
is given to their being entrusted on probation to private persons. For such purposes
the completion of a full medical questionnaire is required. This, in so far as the
children in the residential schools and homes under the control of the Education
Committee are concerned, is filled in by the medical officers of the appropriate
school and home. Arrangements are made for carrying out a Wassermann test on
the blood of each child for whom a definite application has been made by a prospective
adopter. The arrangements for adoption are also applicable to the nurseries
under the control of the Central Public Health and Public Assistance Committees.
The number of children selected for adoption from the residential schools and
homes under the control of the Education Committee since the inception of the
scheme is (in March, 1933) 48, and several further applications have been received.
Chronic invalidity.
The school attendance department reports each month the names of children
who have been absent from school for three months on account of illness. Each year
the cases on the list for the month of November are analysed, and the result gives the
only index available of the causes of chronic invalidity in childhood.
The subjoined table shows the number of children reported to have been out of
school for more than three months in November, 1932, and comparative figures for
the four preceding years.
The number of children absent on account of rheumatism, chorea and heart
disease still forms a very high proportion of the total and proves how largely this
group of diseases is responsible for ill-health in childhood, especially among girls,
who account for nearly twice as many cases as boys. Nervous disorders (including
31 cases of epilepsy and 13 cases of encephalitis lethargica) show a satisfactory drop.
Ringworm, formerly a chief cause of prolonged absence from school, accounts for
only 5 cases, compared with 129 in 1919. Since the introduction of X-ray treatment
for ringworm, the average length of absence has steadily declined and consequent
upon the shorter period of infectivity the danger of the spread of the disease has likewise
diminished.
Among other ailments, respiratory diseases, other than tuberculosis, accounted
for 130 cases, and ear disease for 46.