The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-01-03
LABOR BUREAU ON
STATUS OF CHILD.
Discussion Of Laws Governing Illeaiti
mate Children 10 Found in
Reports Of This
Body.
URGE UNIFORM ACTION
states Have TOO Low Bonus for Care
Of Such Infants, Report OF
Government
Shows.
URGE UNIFORM ACTION

| WnaL IlEntS 10 tHc ldWC VI eAAAS
country give to the child born out
of wedlock? What responsibility has
the state toward him? What method
exists of placing a part OF the burden
of his support and education upon
the father? Can the child inherit
property from either his father OF MS
mother? Has he right to his father
name? Does the subsequent marriage
of his parents make him legitimate IN
the eyes of the law? These and many
other questions about the legal opll-
cations Of parents and OF the state 10
children born out of wedlock are
answered in bulletin entitled "Iliegi-
timacy Laws of the United States and
Certain Foreign Countries issued by
the children's bureau of the United
States department OF labor.
The English common law, In some
respects still unaltered in England
and in parts of the United States, re-
CARDS the child born out of wedlock
as the "child of no one" He bears
mo legal relationship even to his
mother, and the subsequent marriage
of his parents can not legitimate him.
Many of our states have altered the
common law by statutes more favor
able to the child. One of the most
radical departures is found in the
North Dakota law of 1917, which de-
| clares every child the legitimate child
! of his natural parents, but which
weakens this broad provision by the
failure to provide adequate admins
trative machinery. Minnesota in 1917
passed law which aims to secure
| for children born out of wedlock the
nearest approximation to the care,
support, and education that they
would be entitled to receive if born
4 of lawful marriage" The state board
1 of control is made the child's official
1 guardian; this board may bring COM
plant in illegiitmacy proceedings and
| must see that the child's interests are
| safeguarded.
| Provisions were adopted in Vir-
| ginia as early as 1885, whereby the
! issue Of certain annulled marriages
could be made legitimate, and where
by subsequent marriage could legitf
| mate issue. and the child could In
! herit from the mother. These provi-
/ sions are not even yet universal in
this country. Four states have no pro
visions for legitimation by subsequent
marriage, and many limitations are
placed upon the right of children Of
annulIed or void marriages to be con-
sidered legitimate.
Attention is called in this report
to the fact that our legal provisions
for the support of the child born out
jof wedlock are inadequate-the pay
ments prescribed are often too low,
and in most of the states the period
of support is too brief, sometimes
reaching only to the child's 10th or
18th year. In one state only a single
payment of $50 is required; in another
$50 distributed over three years is re-
Quired. The two most liberal states
have allowances that total. in one
case, S2,750 for the first 18 years of
the child's life; and in the other.
$1,75O for the first eleven years of the
child's life.
The report suggests that illegit.
imacy legislation in the United States
might be improved by uniform provi-
sion for the establishment of legit-
imacy; the legitimation of children of
null OF subsequent marriages: posi-
bility of adoption by the father; and
declaration that the relation of mother
and child is the same whether the
child is legitimate or not.
In addition to a critical analysis of
legislation in this coun-
try, the report contains an analysis
of certain phases of the various state
laws in tabular form, the complete
text Of all the state laws, the illsgit-
imacy provisions of the codes of
France, Germany and Switzerland,
and reference index to the U. S. lille
gitimacy laws.