I recall one case on cable from the 80s (?) during a time when adoption placements took race into account. The child (then a baby) of a single mother with a history of drug addiction was put up for adoption. The child went to a mother-teenage daughter household; the child’s race did not match that of the adopting household. About 3 years passed and the natural mother wanted her child back. Family court stepped in. I don’t recall if the natural mother’s condition had improved or not, but she now had a live-in boyfriend. The judgement: Due to the race of the child (now a toddler), the race of the natural mother, and the race of her boyfriend (who would also provide parenting), the child would be returned to the natural mother. (The scene of the child being forcefully taken from the screaming, howling, crying mother/daughter was gut-wrenching and heart-breaking.) About a year later the toddler was beaten to death by the boyfriend.
You have no idea how much I hate “liking” that. Fuck…
I so understand. What I didn’t add was that the adoption agency person being interviewed stood by her decision to return the child to her natural mother even after learning of the child’s death. Because ‘rules were rules’.
Said the folks loading the Jews onto freight cars.
A thousand times this, children need a loving, supporting home. Plenty more is needed, but that is the foundation any real family is built on.
I’m fairly certain things have changed a lot since then. We have a young White engineer in our group who, along with her Black husband (an officer at the nearby base) adopted a Black child a couple of years ago. She brought her baby (when a few months old) to our area and showed her off to us one day with daddy in tow. They looked so happy and we enjoyed introducing our office cat to the baby and watching the interaction. I wish them well! 
Well, there are long lists of things that are good and bad for kids, and “love” is at best a euphemism for the things on the good list
Certainly plenty of bad parents say they love their kids—and getting drawn into an argument about that word is just changing the subject
Thanks, still pretty suspect though since the further link to the ‘older proverb’ 404s.
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
