Overview

Abstract

It is very clear from a study of the circumstances of each parental situation that illegitimate children are not a homogeneous group. Among them there are differences according to whether the children were living at the age of 11 with both their own parents, with one natural parent (usually their mother) and one step-parent or adoptive parent, with a lone parent, or with a variety of caretakers (including being in care) in ‘other situations’. When the circumstances of the legitimate children in similar parental situations are compared with those of the illegitimate, there are, in some cases, few if any differences according to legitimacy status.