Can Anyone Be a Parent?

Norman Vincent Peale
American Minister
(1898 - 1993)

I wrote these verses many years ago, when we were trying very hard to adopt a second child. Personally, I worked with more than twenty expectant birthmothers in this process. We supported more than a handful of these young ladies to varying degrees, both emotionally and financially, during their pregnancies.

Several of these women bravely opted to raise their own babies, despite their own difficult life circumstances. Others chose other adoptive families. Sadly, some underwent abortions. A few of them marketed their newborns through unscrupulous attorneys and social workers. (Of course, I like to believe that such professionals are the exception, not the norm.)

Finally, we were blessed with another baby.

Someday soon, I hope to publish a series of stories about our family's experiences with this lengthy process, although I will certainly use pseudonyms to protect all involved.

Anyone

Anyone can have a child,
Anyone.
Even those who still run wild,
Just to stun.
Or youngsters still by love beguiled,
Anyone.

A rapper and his movie star,
On the run.
A pair of teens, out in a car,
Just for fun.
Two lonely strangers, in a bar,
Anyone.

A pop star and her rapper did,
More than one.
Till she flipped out and shaved her lid,
Overdone.
See? Anyone can have a kid.
Anyone.

A woman on her seventh man,
Might have one.
The family on the welfare plan,
Never done.
The couple parting ways again,
No one won.

But will their offspring do the same?
Overdone.
Participating in the game,
Call someone!
Pass along a life of blame,
Harm homespun.

But there are some with hope and love
Just for one.
For reasons known alone above,
Having none.
And these will try all means known of
Under sun.

Adoption makes another way
For someone
To build a family and to stay,
Live as one.
But this becomes a tangled fray,
Everyone.

Look what it takes to qualify
Just for one.
Write applications to the sky,
Get it done.
Have references piled up high,
Three-to-one.

Desiring this, life's greatest gift,
Anyone?
A social worker soon will sift,
Intrusion.
Hunting for the slightest rift,
Overrun.

Perhaps a birthparent will choose
Trial run.
Tell me, what have you to lose?
All or none.
Until she and her baby cruise,
Jump the gun.

But anyone can procreate,
Hit and run,
Even those without a mate,
Risking shun.
But happy parents celebrate -
Ovation!