The Adoption of Children Act (Scotland) 1930

[doddie]

Hi,

As I understand it, the Adoption of Children Act (Scotland) 1930 was passed on the 1st of August 1930, but when did it actually take effect in Scotland? Usually there is a length of time between a parliamentary act being passed and that act going live, as it were, e.g. the Labour Party's National Minimum Wage Act was passed on the 31st of July 1998, but did not take effect until the 1st of April 1999. My second question is, after the Adoption act became effective was it still possible to arrange adoptions privately?

Regards

Doddie

[Falkyrn]

As you state there is often a gap between the passing of a Bill and its legal enactment (especially if financial concerns are involved) but a number of sources (Hansard etc) refer to the Act taking effect on 1st August 1930 - the day it received Royal Assent. (The Hansard entries appear to indicate a possible accelerated procedure - debated in the Commons 18th & 21st July 1930 forwarded to the Lords and passed before receiving the Royal Assent on 1st August)

Private adoptions were still possible although there was the added safeguard of a Court Order being required to finalise the adoption. Many Adoption Agencies and their operating practices then came under legal scrutiny (some possibly for the first time). However like any piece of legislation there were undoubtedly individuals who acted outwith the law and carried out clandestine arrangements.

If you check the childs Birth Record and it has an annotation of "adopted" (or similar) then it is likely that the procedure was fully legal

[doddie]

Thanks for your reply Falkyrn. I'm glad I've now been able to clarify the timing of the act. One thing still niggles me though. There is a specific restriction in the act that states the following, "(5) An adoption order shall not be made in favour of any applicant who is not resident and domiciled in Scotland or in respect of any child who is not a British subject and so resident". My interest in this issue in the first place relates to an adoption I am researching as part of a wider project. The three-month-old child concerned was adopted on the 12th of December 1930, just over 4 months after the act received Royal Assent. He was born in Glasgow and adopted by a couple living in Whitley Bay, Northumberland. This would presumably have been in direct contravention of the restriction quoted. I have seen a copy of the certificate of adoption. The actual adoption order was made on the 3rd of December 1930 and was sanctioned (if that is the correct term) by the 'Petty Sessional Division of East Castle Ward, County of Northumberland'. So, even though an over-the-border adoption should not have been allowed, it seems to received official approval. I could understand if the adoption had been handled privately and had gone under the radar but this one seems to have gone ahead openly, regardless of its illegality. I'm probably being over analytical, so would very much appreciate some other opinions.

Regards

Doddie

[Elwyn 1]

Doddie,

If the adoption order was issued by a court in Northumberland then that would surely be done under English legislation, and not the Scottish Act? So the Scottish restriction you refer to wouldn't apply.

[doddie]

Hi Elwyn 1,

Is the applicant the party adopting or the a party putting the child up for adoption. As I read the relevant restriction quoted, it means the person applying to adopt must be resident in Scotland. I'm under the impression that some jiggery-pokery may have gone on. I think the child may have been taken to the north of England for adoption because the biological parents knew that an adoption order would not be sanctioned in Scotland if it became known that the adopting family lived in England.

Regards

Doddie

[Elwyn 1]

Doddie,

It’s the adopting couple who make the application, not the natural parent(s) though their consent would normally be required.

Adopting couple lived in England, therefore they applied to what was presumably their local court in Northumberland, which evidently approved their application under English legislation (presumably the Adoption of Children Act 1926). The Scottish Adoption Act didn’t come into play because the child wasn’t being adopted in Scotland.

[Falkyrn]

As I've posted on Rootschat ...
In 1937 a reply by the then Home Secretary in Parliament to this situation was

I have just received the report of the Committee on Adoption Societies and Agencies and have given instructions for its presentation to Parliament. While the Adoption of Children Act, 1926, and the Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act, 1930, provide that an adoption order shall not be made in favour of any applicant who is not resident and domiciled in England or Wales, or Scotland, respectively, it is not necessary that the infant shall be so domiciled, and the question of legislation on this point, therefore, does not arise.