HC Deb 24 July 1969 vol 787 cc2111-4
12. Mr. St. John-Stevas

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will introduce legislation to reform the adoption laws.

49. Mr. R. C. Mitchell

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is now in a position to announce proposals for a review of the law relating to adoption and fostering.

50. Mr. Montgomery

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he is aware of the increasing public concern with the operation of the law relating to adoption and fostering; and what steps he proposes to take to protect children from conflicts between their natural parents and foster parents.

51. Mr. Archer

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he now expects to set up a review of the law relating to adoption; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Callaghan

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and I have decided to appoint a committee to consider the law, policy and procedure on the adoption of children and what changes are desirable. The chairman of the committee will be Sir William Houghton. I will, with permission, circulate a list of the members in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

It is our intention that the review should include such issues as whether relatives should be able to apply for guardianship instead of adoption, the relation between adoption law and that part of guardianship law which gives the natural father of an illegitimate child the right to apply for custody, and, in particular, the position of long-term foster parents who wish to keep a child permanently, by adoption or otherwise, against the wishes of the natural parents.

Mr. St. John-Stevas

May I say on behalf of hon. Members on both sides how much we welcome the prospect of the appointment of an impartial inquiry to investigate the extremely complex social, legal and emotional problems involved in the adoption laws? Would the right hon. Gentleman, at this stage, commit himself so far in advance as to say that he agrees that in these cases the golden rule to be applied is that the interests of the child should always be paramount?

Mr. Callaghan

Yes, Sir. I would accept that view, although I obviously do not wish to commit the committee if it wishes to come to a different conclusion. That has certainly guided me up to the moment.

Mr. Mitchell

Will my right hon. Friend give some indication of the committee's method of working? Will it sit in public, take evidence in public, or what?

Mr. Callaghan

The Home Office has been collecting information for the last two years through a research body. That information will be made available to the committee. It will be for the committee to decide whether or not it sits in public. It will certainly wish to take evidence of a written character, and it will be for the committee itself to decide whether to take oral evidence.

Mr. Montgomery

Can the Home Secretary say when the committee will start its deliberations? Has he any idea when it will report?

Mr. Callaghan

I hope that it will start quickly, and as the research team at the Home Office can, as a result of the work that is done, put a lot of information before the committee, I would hope that the committee would not be unduly long in reporting.

Mr. Archer

I welcome my right hon. Friend's announcement, but will he consider the advisability of making any change in the law retrospective so that some of the existing tragic instances may be reviewed?

Mr. Callaghan

I will draw that point to the committee's attention. It will then be for the committee to consider whether or not it wishes to say anything on it.

Following is the list:

Chairman

Sir William Houghton, Education Officer of the Inner London Education Authority.

Members

Mr. Leo Abse, M.P.

Mr. W. K. Angus, Clerk to the Reading Justices.

Mrs. M. E. Bramall, J.P., Director of the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child.

Sheriff Substitute W. J. Bryden, Sheriff Court of Lanarkshire.

Dr. Christine Cooper, O.B.E., Consultant Paediatrician, Member of the Medical Group of the Standing Conference of Societies Registered for Adoption.

Mrs. I. Goodacre, Assistant Children's Officer, Oxfordshire, and author of "Adoption Policy and Practice".

Mrs. H. Halpin, J.P., General Secretary of the National Children Adoption Association.

The Very Reverend Canon P. Harvey, Administrator of the Crusade of Rescue and Chairman of the Standing Conference of Societies Registered for Adoption.

Mr. P. Hughes, D.S.C., Children's Officer, Greenwich.

Miss J. T. Lusk, Director of The Guild of Service, Edinburgh.

Miss E. M. Magness, Secretary, Church of England Committee for Diocesan Moral and Social Welfare Councils.

Councillor Mrs. D. K. Mitchell, Glamorgan County Council.

Miss J. Rowe, Tutor to the Standing Conference of Societies Registered for Adoption and author of "Parents, Children and Adoption".

His Honour Judge F. A. Stockdale, Ilford County Court.

Dr. F. H. Stone, Consultant Child Psychiatrist, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Glasgow.

Dame Joan Vickers, D.B.E., M.P.

Mr. D. T. White, Deputy Children's Officer, Lancashire.

Assessors

Home Office:

Mr. D. H. Morrell (with Mr. A. D. Gordon-Brown as alternate).

Miss J. D. Cooper.

Social Work Services Group, Scotland:

Miss P. A. Cox (with Mr. A. W. M. Heggie as alternate).

Miss M. M. McInnes.

Joint Secretaries

Home Office:

Miss M. M. Peck.

Mrs. P. Roberts.