It shouldn’t be news, actually. Foster kids get adopted all the time. Not as often as we’d all like, certainly, but it does happen. So why would anyone care that Martin Gill adopted his two foster children? Gill was the boys’ foster parent for 6 years before the adoption became final on Wednesday. But it’s not so much the adoption itself that’s noteworthy but the route Gill took to get there. You see, Martin Gill is gay and, until recently, Florida was the only state in the nation with a law on the books that barred homosexuals from adopting. That is no longer the case, thanks to Gill and the ACLU.
Archive for the ‘Parenting News’ Category
Florida Boys Get New Parents
Thursday, January 20th, 2011Dreaming a Dream
Monday, January 17th, 2011Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day here in the US, a federal holiday. That means that the kids don’t have school so, because I don’t have to get them up and out the door, I get an extra hour of sleep while still heading off to work at the usual time. But I worry about that. I worry that, for most people, that is the extent of the meaning of this day off — a holiday in honor of some dead guy that did something at some point in history. Is that enough, however, or do we, as parents, have a responsibility to our children to make it something more than that?
Martin Luther King Jr. Versus The Snow Day
Sunday, January 16th, 2011On the one hand, it is important to recognize the life and accomplishments of the great Martin Luther King, Jr. On the other hand, educating our children is just about the most important task we have as a society. So what do we do when a school district needs to make up for snow days and the only option available seems to be the reverend doctor’s holiday?
Your Marriage Is All About The Kids
Tuesday, January 11th, 2011According to Andrew Haines, writing in Ethika Politika, the blog of the Center for Morality in Public Life, without children, the whole point of marriage vanishes. That is, you and your spouse don’t actually love each other; you’re just in it for the good genes. While this is not a new theory (in fact, it is so old as to have been thoroughly debunked over and over again), Haines’ take on it is a novel one; he seems to be saying that if two people who cannot have children together are allowed to get married, everyone else’s marriage will fall apart.
Couple’s Niece and Nephew Are Also Grandkids
Thursday, December 30th, 2010Here’s something you don’t see every day — a British couple has discovered that not only are they aunt and uncle but that they are also the grandparents of the same children. Lynn and Charles Lowden learned that Lynn’s sister’s children were actually her own son’s offspring. Now, before you start calling Jerry Springer, it’s not as bad as it might sound at first.
Divorce and Love and Kids
Tuesday, December 28th, 2010Someone I know is getting a divorce. I suspect that most of us, these days, can make that claim most of the time. The percentage of marriages that end in divorce within 10 years ranges from about 1 in 4 to almost half, depending on the age of the bride. There are many reasons why couples split — abuse, dishonesty, and infidelity are common — but I’m not so interested in whether or not a particular reason is valid or sufficient. I’m more interested in why those reasons exist in the first place, especially when there are kids involved.
Surprise Boy To Surprise Troops
Monday, December 27th, 2010Did your kids make you a holiday card? Did they perhaps make cards for their best friends too? If they were really industrious, they might have made one for each of their classmates. No matter what, however, if Stephen Goodman reaches his goal, your kids will look like real slackers in comparison. His plan is to send a holiday card to members of the U.S. Military actively deployed overseas. All of them.