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Adoption in England: past and present challenges
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- Published on: 8 August 2024
- Published on: 8 August 2024Adoption - words matter.
Dear Editor,
I read this with much interest, both as a (long) retired physician and family court magistrate - and an adoptee.
Please allow a bee to buzz in my bonnet: the adjective relinquished is used when referring to infants who process through adoption proceedings. It seems an unfortunate term: care may be relinquished (or, happier, transferred) from the birth mother to adoptive carer(s), but her child is never relinquished.
Likewise, can we do better than the term looked after (children)? I hope all children are looked after.Language matters - to all of us.
Yours faithfully,
Timothy Chambers
Conflict of Interest:
Adoptee.