PEDIATRICS Vol. 11 No. 6 June 1953, pp. 652-654
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PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

MYRON E. WEGMAN M.D.

PREVIOUS discussions in this column have dealt with the problems surrounding adoption and the precautions and safeguards which should be used by all practicing physicians. The strong desirability of agency placement, to assure the kind of skilled social service necessary in adoptions, was emphasized. On the other hand, many physicians have not become reconciled to the long waiting periods and some of the other difficulties involved in working through agencies even though they are considered essential for full protection of the child, the natural parents, and the adoptive parents.

The Children's Bureau has recently released data indicating the extent to which, in 1951, the various methods were used in carrying out adoptions. Nearly half of the children adopted by persons not related to them were placed in adoptive homes independently of a social agency. Many of the children were very young and many of them born out of wedlock. This is the group particularly vulnerable to black or gray market practices. Even though there is no doubt but that some of these adoptions were successful, others were accompanied by difficulties and unhappiness for all concerned, difficulties which could easily have been avoided with proper planning.

The Children's Bureau report was prepared from data furnished by State Public Welfare are Agencies, 25 of which furnished substantially complete information for 1951.