Want a baby for Christmas? It would make for one hell of a present, wouldn’t it? Only in New Jersey would people conceive of giving away babies to childless couples for Christmas. Here is the 1922 newspaper article:
Babies As Xmas Gifts Is A New Jersey Idea
Board of Guardians Will Make Childless Couples Happy.
The New Jersey State Board of Guardians will make Christmas presents of babies. Three childless New Jersey couples have already applied to Miss Francis Day, Superintendent of the board, for babies, and pleaded they be delivered to their homes by Christmas.
Last year six couples sought babies and were accommodated by the board. The foster parents were more than pleased with their adopted children and the board has recommended they be allowed to file application for adoption in the various courts in the State.
A rule of the board is that the baby must remain for at least a year with a couple before it will give its consent to adoption, the theory being that the couple by this time will have determined whether or not they will care to retain the child for the rest of their lives.
The board has many applications for adoption and boarding out and expect to be able to fill each order by the Yuletide season.
Source: The Evening World newspaper. December 13, 1922. New York, N.Y.
