§ Mr. NieldI beg to move, in page 5, line 14, at the end, to insert:
Provided that where the infant is adopted by his mother, and the mother is a single woman, the order or agreement shall not cease to have effect by virtue of this subsection upon the making of the adoption order, but shall cease to have effect if she subsequently marries.The House will observe that in drafting this Measure I had in mind the desirability of making a clean break in the event of an adoption order, so that after its making, the child shall be as nearly as possible in a position similar to that of a natural child. With that in mind I inserted in Clause 10 the provision that, where there is in operation an affiliation order it shall cease to have effect on the making of an adoption order. One of the things I had in mind was that there should be no seeking of an order for gain in order to benefit from an existing affiliation order.696 I regret to say that I had overlooked the situation which would arise if a single woman adopted her own child, she at the time being in receipt of payments under an affiliation order. I think the House will have little hesitation in agreeing with my new proposal, that in that event, where the mother, a single woman, obtains an adoption order in respect of her own child, any financial benefit which she obtains from the father by way of an affiliation order should continue, so that she may benefit by it until she subsequently marries. That is the effect of this Amendment.
§ Mr. S. MarshallI beg to second the Amendment.
§ Amendment agreed to.