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In Brecht's play, custody is awarded to the servant
woman because she has proved she has the child's best interests
at heart, not her own. Custody of the child's differs in the "Judgment
of Solomon". King Solomon orders that the child be cut in two. The
birth mother, weeping, gives up her claim rather than see the child
injured, and Solomon gives the child to her.
Brecht’s tale not only reveals history‘s pre-occupation
with the ownership of children but his own communist ideals: those
who water the valley should inherit it, those who are motherly,
should have custody. Still today, with parents fighting in court
over the custody of children — one current case involves the
Internet and the 'adoption ' of twin babies — the “rights
of the child” and the rights of two sets of parents are on
the push and pull in family planning.
Adoption was designed by society to respond to the needs of children
without parents and the needs of childless couples. It is shaped
by social and political forces and expresses the value sets of that
society. It is then a value-laden social arrangement which understandably
varies from one society to the next and changes shape along with
the surrounding, ever-mutating sociocultural contexts. 1
Among some groups in Polynesia, adoption does not exist because
children do not "belong" to their parents but to a whole social
grouping. Formal adoption is uncommon to some ethnic groups in the
United States where the extended family is well developed. Present
Canadian laws are based on the English common law where children
do indeed 'belong' to their parents. 2
(...) translated into adoption, this not only means that parents
may "give their children away" but may also deprive children of
the right to know their families of origin. (...) 3
Adoption originated as an open social arrangement, with both the
birth parents and the adoptee, knowing each other's identities and
having full contact if desired. The either/or dichotomy can be harmful
for all parties involved. Is it necessary to terminate all contact
with birthfamily in the courts? Should the child be able to decide
when they reach adulthood? These questions and more have been a
constant throughout the history of family planning and will continue
to be asked and answered as our social values shift.
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