The 'Ideal' Adoptive Family

The ideal family?

The ideal family?

Colombia's supreme court seems set to reject adoption by same-sex couples because they supposedly aren't 'morally ideal.' This morning I heard a Catholic priest and spokesman for the church praise this position. Gay couples fall short of being morally ideal, he asserted, because, well, they fall short of being 'morally ideal'. Responsible same-sex couples were 'exceptions' he said, as were irresponsible heterosexual couples. He didn't offer any evidence to back this up, suggesting to me that he's basing his position on church doctrine.

But Colombia stopped being an officially Catholic nation when it wrote its new Constitution in 1991.

The ideal
mother? 

In fact, studies have shown that children of same-sex couples, at least female ones, actually outperform those of heterosexual couples, on average. That's because they tend to be planned, highly desired children, since same-sex couples can't have kids the traditional, easy way that hetero couples do.

The ideal father?

What is the 'ideal' couple? Straight? Gay? Catholic? Protestant? Rich? Poor? Black? White? What about single-parent families?

In fact, none of these criteria can work. Parents should be loving, dedicated and responsible, with enough resources to provide a healthy upbringing and motivated to provide a stimulating environment for their kids. Tryin to apply simplistic criteria is absurd and a real disservice to the many thousands of Colombian orphans waiting to be adopted by loving parents.

The existing Law of Infancy and Adolescence stipulates that adopting must 'guarantee that they are physically, mentally, morally and socially ideal.'

That's a lot to ask, whatever it means, and I'm sure it's never fulfilled.

Even the whole 'ideal' goal is a mistake. Life in orphanages is so far from 'ideal' that just 'good' families should be good enough.


By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours