Hmm ... up until ... maybe the 1970s?? ... unmarried mothers were stigmatised here in the UK. Sadly, I've known a fair number of young lassies who wound up pregnant in their teens - and dearly wanted to keep their newborn infants - but were forced to give them up for adoption ... lest they besmirched family reputations on account of the misguided notions of an inhibited and unenlightened Society, which - prior to that time - was less than tolerant of so-called "immoral conduct".

Attitudes of this type were particularly prevalent in rural communities - such as the village where I spent the greater part of my childhood and adolescence - where it was relatively commonplace for these girls to be sent off, suddenly, to some fictitious "aunts and uncles" who conveniently happened to live by the seaside. At least, that was what (in our "innocence" ) we'd been led to believe.

Nowadays, of course, nobody gives a tuppeny damn "WHAT the neighbours think" in this respect, and many kids grow-up in one-parent families ... often being partially cared for by (once-upon a-time disapproving) grannies, to allow the young mums to work. 'Latch-key kids' they're often called.

But I'm conscious of the fact that it's quite a different "ball game" in the Phils. And whilst - as a father - I'm appalled to learn of practices such as "baby bartering", I'd be naive to deny its existence. Likewise, I am convinced that much of the blame rests with the doctrine of the Catholic Church in its stubborn refusal to accept the pressing need for Family Planning.

Happily things have worked out for one little boy, God Bless him and his adoptive family. However, it has always seemed ironic to me, that couples who desperately want children - and would make good parents - turn out to be those who, for reasons beyond their control, are unable to conceive ... while [usually] young, single women who couldn't care *less [*literally!] about bearing a child, appear to breed like rabbits.

It's a world!