Children at an adoption home

A photograph of two children standing in the snow looking in at a group of children and nurses standing at a window, taken by Edward Malindine for the Daily Herald newspaper on 20 December, 1938.

A photograph of children and staff at the window of a children's home, with two children looking in, taken in December 1938 by Edward G Malindine for the Daily Herald.

This festive scene with snow and Christmas decorations was taken at the National Children Adoption Association's home in Sydenham Hill, south east London. Although adoption and fostering has taken place informally for centuries, adoption was legally recognised in Britain in the 1920s. By 1938, the Adoption Association was placing on average one child a day into a receiving family. Later in the century, however, the number of babies available for adoption fell rapidly. This was mainly the result of improved birth control and changing public attitudes towards illegitimacy and single parent families.