Illegitimate births and a consequent increase in babies needing adoption had caused an accommodation problem at Canberra Hospital, reported The Canberra Times, 51 years ago.
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According to the Statistic Bureau the number of illegitimate births registered in the ACT had doubled from 43 in 1964 to 86 in 1968.
Although the figure of 3.25 per cent was low compared with the Australian figure of 7.96 per cent, it was believed that many unmarried mothers went to Sydney, Melbourne or other cities to have their babies.
Dr Elvin said the babies waiting to be adopted posed an accommodation problem because they were kept for an average of 45 days, whereas babies going home with their mothers would be in hospital for only about a fortnight.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Interior, which was responsible for the adoption of the babies, said that the Department was not aware of any problem affecting it because of the rising illegitimate rate.
There were always enough parents in the ACT wanting to adopt babies. At the time of the article, there were 150 couples on the waiting list.
