A Catholic mother who attempted this week-end to return her four-month-old-son to a Jewish couple here who reared him from birth was prevented from doing so by a new Massachusetts law which forbids the adoption of a child by foster parents of a different religion from the child’s real parents.
The Jewish couple, Mr. and Mrs. Alan M. Lipsky, were given the child by its mother, Mrs. Elsie Flanagan, a widow with two other children. However, under apparent pressure from the Catholic Charitable Bureau of Boston, Mrs. Flanagan opened a court battle to regain her child. Still later, after winning the legal battle and staying with the child in the Lipsky home for a day, Mrs. Flanagan again attempted to give the child to the Jewish couple, but was stopped this time by the law.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.