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Thursday, December 28, 1972
ENDING OF CHINESE CUSTOMARY ADOPTION
Legal Adoption Alone Permitted From January 1, 1973
車廟廟
The adoption of children in accordance with local Chinese customs
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and traditions will end on January 1, 1973, as a result of the implementation
of a bill to this effect passed earlier in the year by the Legislative
Council.
From that date, persons intending to adopt children can only do so
on the basis of the provisions of the Adoption Ordinance, under which the
Director of Social Welfare is required to advise the Supreme Court on the
suitability of the adoptive parents.
Mrs. Chen Liu Mu-lan, Senior Principal Social Welfare Officer and
head of the Family Services Division, explains that, to avoid misunderstanding,
Chinese customary adoptions registered with the Social Welfare Department
on, or before, December 31, 1972, will remain valid.
Adoption of children in accordance with local Chinese customs and
traditions meant that this could be done without recourse to a court order.
To avoid abuse, female children so adopted were placed automatically under
the guardianship of the Director of Social Welfare, and each adoption was
registered.
The number of these adoptions decreased from 11 in 1970-71 to one
during 1971-72. The registration of male children adopted in accordance with
local Chinese customs was not required, and one such adoption was registered
voluntarily during the last financial year.
There were