68 AMAXD EOUTH, M.D., F.R.C.P., OX MOTHERHOOD. 



Medically, the good health of the child to be adopted and of 

 its parents has to be assuied, more particidarly if it is illegitimate, 

 and especially as regards transmissible diseases such as tuber- 

 culosis or venereal disease. 



Socially, the antecedents, character, rehabihty and financial 

 position of the persons who are wishing to adopt the child should 

 be carefully considered, including the question of other children 

 of their own, present or potential. 



Legally, the difficulties are great, and are ob\"ious by the fact 

 that, so far, societies advocating adojjtion have not agreed upon 

 the terms of a Bill to submit to Parhament, and legislators have 

 not yet seriously tackled the question. One of the difficulties 

 is to make the adoption a legal transfer, which should be per- 

 manent, and not able to be broken by the mother wishing to 

 regain possession of her child. The foster parents again should 

 be protected from imdue interference by the State in their manage- 

 ment of the child, and yet there ought to be an assurance that the 

 foster parents are properly nurturing, tending and educating 

 the child. How can this be done without inspection of some 

 sort ? If inspection should be necessary, it would spoil the 

 transaction in many ways, and would greatly add to administrative 

 expenses. Would the child have to be made a sort of ward 

 in Chancery if the foster parents failed in their duties to the 

 child ? 



I would like to see the child, if illegitimate, legitimatized by 

 its legal transfer to the foster parents, and, whether primarily 

 legitimate or not, made their legal heir except as regards real 

 estate so that the child is not turned adrift and penniless if 

 its foster parents die intestate, the estate then going to their 

 legal next-of-kin. 



The Endow^iext of Motherhood. 



This also is a very difficult subject. Some of the first questions 

 which must be faced are : — 



(a) Should the scheme be endowment of the mother or of 



her children, or of both ? 

 (6) Should it include unmarried motherhood, and, if so, 



should it be on the same footing as for married 



mothers, and for children bom in wedlock ? 

 (c) Should it be an endowment at a flat rate, or below a 



minimum income, or varying with the income ? 



