Mega-families bring "it takes a village to life"

USA Today ^ | July 30, 2002 | Laura Vanderkam

[laurav]

When David and Margaret Mason of Lovettsville, Va., planned their summer trip to Poland, they encountered an unexpected obstacle: The country's biggest rental van holds only nine passengers. With six children already and an appointment in Poland to adopt four more, their family was about to become too large for one vehicle.

[patent]

"You have to be assertive and as diligent as possible in finding homes for children, but it's not in anyone's best interest to put together a family that's incapable of dealing with the everyday stresses that families endure," she says. "The goal is not to create another orphanage environment. The goal is to create a family."

Why is it, that in a family that has already proven capable of dealing with the everyday stresses that families endure for 8 kids, they think the family can’t deal with the stresses of one more?

patent  +AMDG

[laurav]

that's the issue with all regulations. Obviously some families could deal with more, others can't cope with far fewer children. The states try to solve the problem, but too heavy a hand undermines others' attempts to build a family. Obviously it would be better if all families wishing to adopt could be evaluated solely on their own merits. But when does government do anything as sensible as that?

[AppyPappy]

Note that America doesn't HAVE orphanages.

[Cheesel]

Yes, we do. We simply call them 'Children's Homes' now. Also, the children in the orphanages here are not orphans in the traditional sense. Mom and dad didn't die. Most likely they are strung out on drugs. The kids are more like 'orphans of the living'.

Renee, an adoptive parent