Miss Wardasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he is aware of the distress caused to people legally adopting children by the issue of the present form of birth certificate; and will he consider issuing normal certificates, which make no mention of adoption.
§ Mr. PeakeThe Adoption of Children Act, 1926, which provided for the first time a means of legal adoption, also provided for the separate registration of adopted children so that the certificate of birth in such cases would give the names of the adopting parents instead of the names of the natural parents. It would be impossible to contemplate a system of registration which failed to distinguish between adopted and natural born children. If my hon. Friend has in mind a birth certificate which would disclose age without any mention of parents, whether adoptive or natural, I would refer to the answers given by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Health to my hon. Friend the Member for South Kensington (Sir W. Davison) on 27th January and 20th April.