The Ordinary Extraordinary blog
The Ordinary Extraordinary blog
Four co-parents, all of them legal parents, highlighted in CBC Radio piece
CBC Radio has delivered a piece entitled “The Mamas and the Papas: How two Ottawa couples became co-parents.” We missed this when it was posted at the end of January—and it’s so damn charming and hopeful, it absolutely deserves notice. It was written by Matthew Pearson, one of the four people co-parenting in the article. As he makes plain in the article’s subheading: “The Ontario law passed in 2016 gave equal rights to same-sex parents and multi-parent families. That's us.”
The piece opens with this: “In the fall of 2016, I sat in the visitor's gallery at Queen's Park and witnessed the introduction of the All Families Are Equal Act. The bill was enacted to enshrine in law the basic premise that all parents in Ontario deserve equal rights, regardless of the route they took to become a parent.” Amen, brother.
Mr. Pearson continues: ”It gave same-sex parents who aren't biologically related to their children — such as those who use sperm donors and other reproductive technologies — the same legal rights as heterosexual parents. Before the law was passed, same-sex couples often had to spend thousands of dollars on legal fees to adopt their own children. The new law also cleared a path for multi-parent families, allowing up to four parents to be listed on a child's birth certificate. It was a game-changer for families like mine, which is comprised of four people — two queer couples — who joined forces with the intention of raising children together.”
He goes on to detail the path he and his three compadres took to their current configuration and does a lovely job of it. Matthew, Karin, Janette, and Alain are clearly mindful, loving partners and parents. A baby girl, Zora, is already here and another child is on the way—and Dada, Papa, Mum, and Mama are there for her. As Pearson writes, ending the article: “In the beginning, we were two — Karin and me. Then we were four with Janette and Alain. Zora's birth made us five. And soon we'll be six. Two moms, two dads, two children. One family.”
Check out this lovely article HERE.
Monday, March 4, 2019