Report of the departmental committee on the adoption of children.
- Great Britain. Home Office. Committee on the adoption of children.
- Date:
- 1954
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Report of the departmental committee on the adoption of children. Source: Wellcome Collection.
70/96 (page 64)
![DUTIES OF THE GUARDIAN AD LITEM 253. It has been suggested to us that the duties of the guardian ad litem specified in the Second Schedule to the Rules are concerned too much with material aspects and not enough with the more important emotional side. It may be that these witnesses have overlooked that the Second Schedule is headed “ Additional matters subject to investigation and report by the guardian ad litem”. There should be no doubt that the attitude of the adopters and the child to each other, and other emotional factors, should be inquired into under the Rule which runs: “It shall be the duty of the guardian ad litem to investigate as fully as possible all circumstances bd] relevant ...”. 254. We were told of cases in which adoption orders had been granted to persons wholly dependent on national assistance, and the circumstances were such that it is difficult to believe that the courts making the orders were aware of the fact. The Rules require the means of the applicants to be enquired into, but we recommend that, in order to avoid the unfortunate situation which may arise when persons who are unable to support them- selves apply to adopt a child, the Schedule should be amended so as to ensure that the source as well as the amount of the applicants’ income is made known to the court. 255. Evidence was received that local authority health departments are not always consulted either by the department of the authority carrying out supervision duties or by the guardian ad litem (see paragraph 65). Similarly. we were told by a number of adoption societies that guardians ad litem do not always seek reports from the society which has placed the child. We should have thought that where young children are concerned the views of the health department are so obviously of value that they should invariably be laid before the court, as should the views of the adoption society which has placed any child, whatever his age. We understand that not all local authorities submit to the court a separate report as supervising authority ; in those cases where the work of the guardian ad litem is carried out by a member of the children’s department, which also supervises the child, the information gained and the views formed are incorporated in one report. Some local authorities do not appear to realise that, whether or not they are acting as guardian ad litem, they are entitled to submit a report as supervising authority ; we do not, however, think it is necessary to require that the report from the supervising department on the results of its super- vision should necessarily be contained in a separate report, except where the duties of guardian ad litem are undertaken by someone outside the children’s department of the local authority (see paragraph 64). We recommend that the Rules should state that one of the guardian’s duties is to obtain and place before the court a report from the health department or, if the child is of school age, from the education department, if the department con- cerned has any information about the child already in its possession. (A special enquiry at the school is undesirable, as being likely to cause em- barrassment.) ‘We recommend also that where the child has been placed by an adoption society it should be the duty of the guardian ad litem to submit to the court a written report from that society. It would then be unnecessary to require the guardian to interview the society in every case. 256. We hope that it is unnecessary to emphasise the importance of the present requirement to interview parents and referees. If this is neglected, such elementary duties as verifying their signatures cannot be carried out. 257. As a consequence of our recommendation that a third party who has taken any part in arranging an adoption should be made a respondent,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b32172904_0070.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
