ABSTRACT
In 1922 the child psychoanalyst Hermine Hug-Hellmuth, a member of the Vienna Psychoanalytic Society, pointed out that one of the profound difficulties that an illegitimate child faced was the absence of a father. ‘These illegitimate boys and girls lack the early attachment to their fathers because it was destroyed by premature rejection.’ The absence of the father is further reflected in surveys on adoption that are described in terms of an adoption triangle that includes the birth mother, the child and the adopting parents. Adopted children do have birth fathers and in some cases they want to know who their fathers are; at the same time, some fathers of illegitimate children are also beginning to emerge and they are daring to express their feelings about their children’s adoption. They are asking to be recognised as having a part to play in the adoption process and they are challenging the popular assumption that they have no thoughts about their illegitimate child.
