Letter: Backward steps on adoption

Sir: I am disturbed by the decision of the Family Division in the case of Edita Keranovic, reported by Jojo Moyes. Surely the interests of the child would be better served by returning her to her natural family.

During the Nazi occupation of Europe, many Jewish children were hidden with Gentile families. At the war's end there were real problems when it came to returning these children to those of their natural families that had survived the Holocaust. Indeed there are cases of children who refused to return or of Gentiles who refused to give up their charges.

In 1945 European Jews were desperate to find their missing relatives, to know who had survived. Their anguish can only be imagined when, having located their children, they found that their precious offspring had been alienated from them, with devastating consequences for the future.

ERIC RENDEL

Edgware, Middlesex