Tuesday, August 30, 2016

[FIJI] 10 QUESTIONS I HATE AS A GAY FOSTER TO ADOPTION PARENT by Matt Young

There is a wonderful piece of writing by Gay Dad Matt Young at Our Queer Stories that I recommend you have a read of. He covers 10 Questions that as a Gay Dad he hates having to hear and answer - and I say AMEN to each of them.  You may also remember Matt as the gay dad to Graham in that amazing Maya Newell documentary, GayBy Baby.
"It became very clear after I first met Daniel that we would become parents at some point in our relationship. We also knew we would get married, and after he sponsored me as his interdependent partner and I moved to Australia in 2001, we figured it was just a matter of time. We’re still waiting. But that’s a topic for another post.
We looked at surrogacy, single parent adoption, arrangements with lesbian fiends to co-parent… And finally discovered long-term foster care. We knew there were children in our country – and as it turns out in our city, only suburbs away -who already existed, but were in a situation where their parents couldn’t take care of them. Our Catholic instincts kicked in and we were on our way.
We have been thrilled to be the carers of our two boys (now young men) for the past nine years, and their adoptive parents for four years. But it has not been without hurdles. We have faced many questions, from friends, family members, and of course total strangers.
There are all sorts of different families in Australia, and we all have our stories. However, sometimes, we don’t want to have to keep explaining ten times a day. So, hopefully, the following information can help some of you understand."

No comments: