Adoptees Retaining Original Parents?

[TaWanda]

So who's up for a Woody Allen story line? 

[Maria]

Sorry, I saw the last post and I just HAVE to comment, I think it's hilarious :lol:

Only the Husband can challenge that?

And how the hell would he know? (Well, maybe if he had abstained from activity with his wife over the critical time period, then yes, but otherwise...)

I'd have thought only the Mother would have been able to challange it - that would make a lot more sense!

Common law has been developing over the past 800 years or so.  In that time, there would very rarely have been a case where a married woman would have wanted to prove that her husband was not the father of her child.  Until the past 150 years or so, a non-marital (illegitimate) child could not inherit from either parent.  However, a man might have wanted to allow his wife's child to pass as his if he needed an heir.  The law could not allow his relatives to swarm in and try to have his child declared illegitimate after he died; it would have made estates even more difficult to settle.  So the law left it purely up to the father to decide if he would challenge paternity, and told all his greedy relatives to take a flying leap (denied them standing).  That's largely what genealogy was invented for: inheritance.  Under the old mindset, expecting every heir to be the blood relative of his father was as absurd as expecting every marriage to be for love.

[maxon]

Common law has been developing over the past 800 years or so.  In that time, there would very rarely have been a case where a married woman would have wanted to prove that her husband was not the father of her child.  Until the past 150 years or so, a non-marital (illegitimate) child could not inherit from either parent.  However, a man might have wanted to allow his wife's child to pass as his if he needed an heir.  The law could not allow his relatives to swarm in and try to have his child declared illegitimate after he died; it would have made estates even more difficult to settle.  So the law left it purely up to the father to decide if he would challenge paternity, and told all his greedy relatives to take a flying leap (denied them standing).  That's largely what genealogy was invented for: inheritance.  Under the old mindset, expecting every heir to be the blood relative of his father was as absurd as expecting every marriage to be for love.

Where are you talking about?  I always assume America unless someone says otherwise but 800 years seems a long time ago for American history.

[Maria]

Where are you talking about?  I always assume America unless someone says otherwise but 800 years seems a long time ago for American history.

Common law comes from England and is the basis of American law.  Actual statutes and case law may vary from it (though they're often based on it), but common law is the default that many judges turn to if there's no statute or relevant case to guide them.

To go back to the original topic of the thread, I've had the same problem with adopted kids turning up connected to only one adoptive parent.  Once, a gay couple adopted a kid and she retained links to both her original parents and didn't have ties with either adoptive parent.  I don't think I've had a couple adopt since then, one or the other just gets "insimenated".

[RainbowTigress]

I assumed she was talking about Britain, especially since she mentioned European families and Prince Charles in her previous post. 

[jsalemi]

Where are you talking about?  I always assume America unless someone says otherwise but 800 years seems a long time ago for American history.

Europe -- Great Britain, mostly, since American common law descended from British common law for the most part (this offer excludes Louisiana ).  In fact, marriages based primarily on love rather than social, economic or simply procreation reasons are a relatively recent phenomena in the scheme of things.

[vilia]

In france the queen had to give birth in public so that it could be proven that the kid was royal...I don't think I would want a room of spectators if I was in labour.

[maxon]

I assumed she was talking about Britain, especially since she mentioned European families and Prince Charles in her previous post. 

Really?  It didn't read that way to me and anyway, Americans always seem to take far more notice of royalty than ever we do.  Mind you, I am a terribly cynical republican (in the British sense, not the American).  It seems she was talking about American common law, originally derived from England perhaps but, by now, not the same as British common law.

[Ancient Sim]

I have to admit that the reason I have never allowed my game scenarios to result in removal of children is because of the memory-wiping, something I have a total aversion to in all situations, but also because I don't particularly want a Sim coming back from Uni and falling for her father.  Until a way is found for the child to be aware of its genetics AND its adoptive circumstances, I won't change my mind.  If a situation arose where adoption was unavoidable (such as a child being orphaned) I would simply leave the game, teleport it into whatever family I wanted it to belong to, and let it continue its life there with its memories and parentage intact. 

What I would like more than anything is the option for a step-parent to adopt a child, but the child still remember who its dead parent was.  Similarly, for the children of abductees to be adopted by their human parent's spouse but still know their true origins.  One of my main reasons for wanting this is because abduction is more likely with Knowledge Sims, who in many cases are married to Family Sims.  As I limit the number of children allowed, this is just one less that the Family Sim can have.

[Ellatrue]

I had that happen in my game, actually, in a very odd way.

Sim A and Sim B were children of the same, huge family. Each of them were adopted by different families. Then one adult family A moved out and took sim A with him, and moved in with his lover in household C. His lover adopted a child, and it was sim B. Sim A and Sim B were living together in the same house but not knowing they were related in any way, so they autonomously fell in love with each other after the gay couple that adopted them died when I left the game running by itself.

Creepiness and more creepiness!

[Ashleigh]

*puts lid back on can of worms*