John and Furnish recently sat down with Barbra Walters of ABC News’ 20/20 to talk about their baby for the first time.  Their baby, Zachary, was born to a surrogate mother in California because it is the only place in the world where a couple using a surrogate is considered the baby’s legal parents even when the child is still in the womb.  Elton John is the biological dad of the now five-month old child.

Since the birth of the child a number of rumors have been circulating with regards to how the child will be raised.  The Daily Mail in Great Britain reported that the couple spent $4 million dollars on their son’s nursery by purchasing a next-door apartment and outfitting it with around the clock nannies and a personal chef.

John and Furnish have refuted this claim.  They said they’ve not had much time to work on the nursery until the birth of the child to keep the news of their plans to become fathers out of the press’ eye.  The real situation of the child’s upbringing is much less glamorous than a $4 million dollar apartment.  The actual nursery is being built at their house in Windsor, England, and the child only has one nanny.

They are making an effort to be hands-on parents for the child.  They change him, bathe him, and take him out to lunch.  While it’s hard to imagine a baby out for lunch at the Beverly Hills Hotel it comes with the territory for these famous parents.  However, John says he feels the worst thing a parent can do for the child is “the silver spoon.”  To which Furnish agrees, “Our life might be very luxurious but it’s all come from hard work.  Both Elton and I have sort of earned everything we’ve done in our careers and furthered our educations through our own drive and our own ambitions and we want Zachary to be exactly the same sort of way.”

See part of the interview here:

Jeffrey Feulner and the Men’s Divorce Law Firm believe in hands-on parenting and a grounded upbringing for a child no matter the parent’s situation.  The traits of good parents remain the same across all socioeconomic classes.

In 2005, Martin Gill and his partner became foster parents to two brothers that the Department of Children and Families classified as special needs children.  The two boys, a 4-year-old and a 4-month-old, came to the Gill’s residence with ring worm, bald patches, severe fevers, an untreated ear infection along with other medical problems.  Gill and his partner nurtured them back to health, loved them unconditionally and began to receive their trust as caregivers.

As the years passed, Gill began to realize that this placement was not going to be temporary and embraced the thought that he could fight Florida’s 33-year-old ban on gay adoption.  He turned to the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Florida to assist him in achieving such a goal.  In November 2008, a Miami-Dade County family court judge ruled in favor of Martin Gill and his partner, deeming them to be the best parents for the two brothers, then ages 7 and 3.  The State quickly appealed this judgment.

For the past two years, Florida’s 3rd District Court of Appeal in Miami have been deliberating and considering all aspects of the original ruling.  Yesterday, the three-judge panel ruled that the ban on gay adoption was unconstitutional because it singled out gays as unfit parents and fathers stating that there was no evidence to show that gays were less effective parents than heterosexual parents.

According to Orlando Sentinel, Governor Charlie Crist commended the recent decision by the appellate court, “It’s a very good day for Florida. It’s a very good day for children. Children deserve a loving home to be in, and the opportunity for judges to make this call on a case-by-case basis with every adoption I think is wonderful.”

Mat Staver, a leading opponent of gay adoption, did not agree, “Not only would it preclude the child from having a mother or a father, but their view of the opposite sex is skewed,” said Staver, founder of the Maitland-based Liberty Counsel, which challenges gay rights in the courts. “My opinion is the Florida Supreme Court will reverse this decision. If they let it stand, children would ultimately experience long-term negative consequences.”

Likewise, John Stemberger, head of the Orlando-based Florida Family Policy Council, which opposes gay adoption, criticized the decision, “They ruled that two dads are just as good as a mom and a dad. We know that is empirically wrong.”

Civil rights leaders and activists are joining together to celebrate what they consider to be the first victory of many.  Vicki Nantz, an organizer of the One Orlando coalition of gay organizations, Nadine Smith, executive director of Equality Florida, a gay civil-rights organization, Florida’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Project and various politicians are all optimistic and excited as to what this means for the future of civil rights.

Click here to read the complete article by the Orlando Sentinel.

Fathers, Families, Fairness.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway has posted many interesting studies referencing the affect of fathers on children. They inform the public of the reaction children have to various situations between the mother and father, as well as the reaction to growing up without a father.

To read more about the psychological affects on children for issues such as these, click on the following link:

Click here to read more information about the importance of a fathers presence in children’s lives…