THE DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE ON THE ADOPTION OF CHILDREN AND THE TUG OF WAR CASES
| Date | 01 May 1973 |
| Published date | 01 May 1973 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1973.tb01365.x |
| Author | Christine Davies |
THE DEPARTMENTAL COMMITTEE
ON
THE ADOPTION
OF
CHILDREN
AND THE
TUG
OF
WAR CASES
ONE
area of law with which the general public has expressed its
extreme dissatisfaction is the law relating to foster children. Not
many people were aware of the deficiencies rife in this field of
law until the summer of
1970
when the daily newspapers reported
a number
of
instances of children being forcibly re-united with
their parents. One particular case infuriated public opinion.
It
was the case of nine year old Jeanette Bartlett whose picture
appeared in many daily newspapers and on television as she was
forcibly taken from the foster mother who had cared for her for
all but six months of the child’s life. Jeanette was being returned
to her natural mother who, having re-married, was
“
collecting
”
her six children who had been placed in foster homes some years
before. The public were horrified at the “inhumanity
”
of the
law. The correspondence columns of
The
Times
were for a week
filled with indignant letters. Petitions and marches were organised.
The home of the natural mother was “besieged” and Russell
L.J., who, with Widgery and Cross
L.JJ.,
had upheld the
decision of Ungoed-Thomas
J.
and rejected, both on the law
and the facts, the foster parents’ contention that the child should
remain in their care and control, issued
a
statement to the effect
that the child was still a ward of court and
if
anyone was minded
to question
or
interview her it might involve
a
contempt of court.
Mr. Marcus Lipton, Labour
M.P.
for Brixton, tabled a question
asking the Home Secretary to introduce new legislation providing
that
if
a child has been in the care of foster parents for five years
or
more he
or
she cannot be returned
to
the natural parents
except with the consent of the foster parents and the child.
However, it was pointed out that a Departmental Committee had
been working on this very topic for a year and thus
it
would be
foolish for the Government to rush out with proposals before this
Committee had reported.
The Departmental Committee on the Adoption of Children, until
November
1971,
was presided over by Sir William Houghton,
Education Officer of the Inner London Education Authority. On
the death of Sir William Houghton Chairmanship of the Com-
mittee was taken over by
His
Honour Judge
F.
A.
Stockdale,
Oxford County Court Judge. The Committee was established after
initiative taken by an all-party group of
M.P.s
headed by
Mr.
Leo
Abse. Its terms of reference were to consider the law, policy and
procedure on the adoption of children and those terms they were
245
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