MOST OF THE FUSS over the Legitimacy Bill centred on
the case of a man and woman who, having lived together for years and produced children, split up and need judicial action such as is offered to more conventionally-aligned couples by the divorce courts. But far commoner is the simple case of the girl 'in trouble.' Up till now she has at least been able to claim financial support from the child's father without fear of a come-back. True, the victim of a paternity order had to pay up with- out any compensating power of access; but it is ludicrous to suggest that payments of a few shil- lings a week should put a man on equal footing with a girl who has had to face scandal, any amount of hard work and a complete disruption of her life. Now that a court can make an order about the custody of the child on the father's application, there is a risk that some men will use
183 this as a threat to avoid being brought to court for support of the child. In the event, a court would be unlikely to separate a mother and her child; but as anyone who has worked with this sort Of trouble knows, what a man can threaten is often as important as what he can actually do. There is a risk, I fear, that the Act may mean that many girls will refuse to name the fathers of their children, forgoing the money they are entitled to rather than risk having their babies taken away.
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