Captain Grahamasked the Home Secretary whether he is aware of the grave disquiet created amongst parents in Wallasey and the Wirral generally owing to the legal adoption by strangers, to whose house he had been evacuated, of Kenneth Frederick Speakman, a minor orphaned in an air-raid; that this took place without previous information to his nearest relatives; that application had been made in spite of their subsequent protests; and whether, to avoid future injustices and scandals inherent in such possibilities of adoption, he will consider the immediate introduction of some amending legislation to the Adoption of Children Act, 1926?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonI inquired fully into this adoption when it was first brought to my notice a few months ago. The boy, who was nearly 15 years of age at the time of the adoption, was evacuated to Flint-shire on the outbreak of war with a party from Wallasey Grammar School. He had already lost his mother and had been living with his father and brother. The brother was killed in an air raid and the father died without having appointed a guardian. In June, 1941, a married couple with whom the boy had been billeted for over a year applied to the juvenile court for an adoption order. Before the application was determined, the guardianad litem forwarded to the court a letter from the boy's aunt objecting to the proposed adoption, but after satisfying themselves of the suitability of the couple to adopt the boy, the devotion of the boy to them, his happiness in his existing environment and his desire that the application should be granted, the court made the adoption order. I am not clear what amendment of the Adoption of Children Act, 1926, my hon. and gallant Friend has in mind. The Act already requires the consent of the parents or guardian of a child before lie can be adopted, and I do not think it would be desirable to extend the right to withhold consent to other relatives. It is the duty of the guardian ad litem to investigate fully the circumstances of the infant and all other 815W matters relevant to the proposed adoption, and in order to avoid any appearance of the wishes of the nearest surviving relatives being overlooked I have issued a circular to juvenile court justices calling attention to the desirability of offering a hearing to the nearest surviving relatives if they are found to be interested in an application for adoption. I hope this will allay any disquiet which has o arisen among parents of children who have been evacuated from Wallasey or elsewhere, but it is always open to them to safeguard their position yet further by appointing near relatives to be guardians of their children if they should become orphans.