Question
Gramps,
I have always tried to do what is right in my life and be a good example for my family. I have not been blessed with the opportunity to raise any children of my own. I married a wonderful women who has three grown children. Now her 19 year old granddaughter is living with us because she is pregnant and the father of the child is no longer around. I have tried to counsel my wife and her granddaughter that the best course of action for the baby would be to give the baby up for adoption. My wife is encouraging the granddaughter to keep the baby. What can I do?
Glen
Answer
Dear Glen,
If we think of the child in this case, how will the child fare? If the unmarried mother keeps the child, she will undoubtedly at some point put the child in a day care center and go out to earn a living. The child may grow up without a father, of if the mother later marries the child will have a stepfather, and who knows at this point how she will be treated by her stepfather. The chances for a normal home life with its accompanying normal development are really rather slim. If, however, the baby is adopted by a loving two-parent family, there is a very good chance for a full normal development of which a loving father and mother are an integral part.
Of course there is always a strong desire for any mother to keep her child, but that desire on the part of an unwed mother is really a selfish desire, the mother is focusing on her own feelings and not on the feelings or the welfare of her child. If she really loves her child she will provide for it in the best possible way–by giving the child every opportunity to grow up in a loving two-parent home where it will have the greatest opportunity for normal development and care.
Gramps
