41.-(1) A person who undertakes for reward the nursing and maintenance of a child under the age of sixteen years apart from his parents or having no parents shall give notice thereof to the Director not less than seven days before he receives the child, or if the child was received in an emergency, within forty-eight hours of receiving the child.
For the purpose of this subsection an undertaking shall be deemed to be an undertaking for reward if there is any payment or gift of money or money’s worth or any promise to pay or give money or money’s worth irrespective of whether there is any intention of making profit.
(2) The notice required by subsection (1) shall state the name and sex of the child, the date and place of his birth, the name of the person undertaking his nursing and maintenance, any premises in which he is to be or is being kept whether in the day time or at night and the name of the person from whom he is to be or was received.
(3) In the following provisions of this Part a child under the age of sixteen years in respect of whom a notice has been or ought to have been given under this section is referred to as a “foster child”.
42.-(1) If a person who is maintaining a foster child changes his residence he shall at least seven days before doing so give notice to the Director:
Provided that where an immediate change of residence is necessitated by any emergency, a notice under this subsection may be given at any time within forty-eight hours after the change of residence.
(2) If a foster child dies or is removed (or removes himself) from the care of the person who has undertaken his nursing and maintenance that person shall within twenty-four hours thereof give to the Director, and to the person from whom the child was received notice in writing of the death or removal and in a case of removal the notice shall also state the name and address of the person (if any) to whose care the child has been transferred.
43.-(1) If any person required to give a notice under either section 41 or section 42 fails to give the notice before the latest time specified for giving the notice he shall be guilty of an offence and any consideration for the nursing or maintenance of the child in respect of whom notice ought to have been given shall, in addition to any other penalty under this Part, be liable to forfeit or such less sum as the Court, having cognizance of the case, may deem just and the sum forfeited shall be applied for the benefit of the child in such manner as the Court may direct.
(2) Where under this section any such sum as aforesaid is ordered to be forfeited, the order may be enforced as if it were an order for the payment of a civil debt.
(3) Any person guilty of an offence under the foregoing provisions of this Part shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine and the Court may order any child in respect of which the offence was committed to be removed to a place of safety.
44.-(1) It shall be the duty of the Director to detail welfare officers to visit from time to time any foster children and the premises in which they are being kept in order to satisfy themselves as to the health and welfare of the children and to give any necessary advice or directions as to the care of their health and maintenance.
(2) If a person who undertakes the nursing and maintenance of a foster child refuses to allow any such visitor or other duly authorised person to visit or examine the child or the premises in which the child is kept he shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
(3) If any welfare officer or other person authorized to visit foster children by the Director is refused admission to any premises in contravention of this Part or has reason to believe that a child under the age of sixteen is being kept in any premises in contravention of this Part he may apply to the Court of the District where the foster child is and the Court, if satisfied, on sworn information, in writing, that admission has been so refused, or that there is reasonable ground for believing that an offence under this Part has been committed, may grant a warrant authorizing the welfare officer or other person to enter the premises for the purpose of ascertaining whether any such offence as aforesaid has been committed and if any person obstructs any welfare officer or other person acting in pursuance of such warrant he shall be liable to six months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
45. A foster child shall not, without the consent of the Director, be received or kept-
(a) by any person from whose care any child has been removed under this Part or under section 64 of this Law or under section 14 of the Juvenile Offenders Law;
(b) in any premises from which any child has been removed under this Part by reason of the premises being dangerous or insanitary or by reason of the premises being so unfit as to endanger the health of the child,
and any person keeping a foster child contrary to this section, or causing a foster child to be so kept, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450, or to both such imprisonment and fine, and the Court may order any child in respect of which the offence was committed to be removed to a place of safety.
46.-(1) The Director may fix the maximum number of children under the age of eighteen years who may be kept in any premises in which a foster child is kept and may also impose conditions to be complied with so long as the children kept in the premises exceed a specified number.
(2) If the maximum number so fixed is exceeded, or if any condition so imposed is not complied with, a person who keeps a foster child in those premises shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
47.-(1) If a foster child is about to be received or is being kept-
(a) in any premises which are insanitary, overcrowded or dangerous; or,
(b) by any person who by reason of old age, infirmity, ill health, ignorance, negligence, inebriety, immorality or criminal conduct or for any other reason is unfit to have the care of the child; or
(c) in any premises or by any person in contravention of the provisions of this Part; or
(d) in an environment which is detrimental to the child,
the Court may, on the application of the Director, make an order for the removal of the child to a fit person or place of safety until he can be restored to his relatives or until other arrangements can be made with respect to him.
(2) An order made under subsection (1) may be enforced by a welfare officer or other person authorized for the purpose by the Director; and any person who refuses to comply with such an order upon its being produced or who obstructs any such welfare officer or person as aforesaid in the enforcement of the order shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
48.-(1) In the case of the death of a foster child, the person who had the care of the child shall, within twenty-four hours of the death, give notice in writing thereof to the coroner of the district within which the body of the child lies and the coroner shall hold an inquest thereon unless there is produced to him a certificate of a registered medical practitioner certifying that the practitioner has personally attended the child during his last illness and certifying also the cause of death and the coroner is satisfied that there is no ground for holding an inquest.
(2) If the person required to give notice under this section fails to give notice within the time specified he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
49.-(1) No advertisement indicating that a person or society will undertake or will arrange for the nursing or maintenance of a child shall be published unless that person’s name and residence or, as the case may be, the society’s name and office address are truly stated in the advertisement.
(2) Any person who causes to be published or knowingly publishes an advertisement in contravention of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
50. If any person required to give any notice under the foregoing provisions of this Part relating to child protection, knowingly makes or causes or procures any other person to make any false or misleading statement in any such notice he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable to imprisonment not exceeding six months or to a fine not exceeding .450 or to both such imprisonment and fine.
51.-(1) The foregoing provisions of this Part relating to child protection shall not extend to any relative or legal guardian of a child who undertakes the nursing and maintenance of a child or to any person who undertakes the nursing and maintenance of a child as a requirement as to residence imposed by an order of the Court or as a fit person or to any person who accepts a child on payment for boarding out under the supervision of the Director under the provisions of this Law or to any duly registered voluntary home or to any other institution being a school, hospital, home or institution which-
(a) is maintained by a Government Department;
(b) has been granted a certificate of exemption from the said provisions by the Director.
(2) Where a person undertakes the nursing and maintenance of children who are boarded out with that person in succession for short holidays only, by a bona fide charitable organization, the Director may exempt that person from the obligation to give notice under this Part in respect of each individual child received on condition that notice is given in respect of the first child received by that person in each year but for the purposes of other provisions of this Part, a child in respect of whom notice ought, but for this exemption, to have been given, shall be deemed to be a foster child.
(3) The Director may exempt from being visited and from inspection either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as he thinks fit any particular premises which appear to him to be so conducted that it is unnecessary that they should be visited or inspected.
(4) An exemption granted under this section may at any time be withdrawn by the Director.