The story highlights a number of issues about the selection of who is fit to be a parent:'What a cheek. We have brought up three children of our own as well as fostering twelve others. Now I am told that I am not fit enough to be a father. Not only is it ridiculous, it is also insulting and hurtful'. The Barnardo's spokesperson involved explained the agency's position thus: 'This is certainly not a reflection of his ability to cope as a parent. It is just that in putting a child in long term care we seek parents likely to be of good health for the next 15 years-and his weight could be a risk to the welfare of a child who may have already suffered loss. That is a risk we cannot take. The interests of the child are foremost.'
(Clive Crickmer, Daily Mirror 18/5/89)
| • There often appears to be a conflict of interests: those of the children versus those of would-be parents. |
| • There is a gap in understanding between those selecting and those offering themselves for selection as to what the selection criteria should be. |
| • When selection is being carried out, demands can be made of would-be parents that would not be made of other parents. |
In a similar story reported by the Independent, an Australian couple who had also been told to lose weight if they wanted to adopt protested: 'They' re saying that being overweight might affect our health in the future. But how can anyone guarantee they'll be healthy for the next 15 or 20 years?' (Reuters Report 4/12/86).
One thing is clear: whereas assessment of parents in child protection work is governed by whether minimum standards of parenting are in operation, selection of parents for adoption is concerned with finding the maximum. Thus adoptive parents need to be not just ordinary parents but extra-ordinary parents-with an emphasis on the 'extra'. Many studies have shown that adoptive parents give
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