Raphael Wong and Kathryn Weaver explore her family’s transformative journey through the adoption of Max and Roxie.
Kathryn offers profound perspectives on adoption, drawing from her experience both as a mother and an employment lawyer. After fifteen years together, Kathryn and her husband Alex deliberately chose adoption as their preferred path to parenthood. She champions the fundamental right to choose adoption whilst challenging the misconception that adoptive parents are merely couples unable to conceive naturally, believing family creation should reflect individual choice with society respecting diverse paths to parenthood.
She observes how considerably more straightforward their adoption journey proved compared to challenges faced by single applicants or same-sex couples. Their process proceeded remarkably swiftly, with a successful match emerging from their first panel hearing, leading to welcoming Max and meeting him at his foster placement. Kathryn reflects on how perceptions of family dynamics and interracial adoption have evolved over time, taking pride in how she and her husband established themselves within their Peng Chau community simply as “Max and Roxie’s parents.”
The discussion examines complex considerations surrounding parental age, extended family expectations, and the Hong Kong legal system and Social Welfare Department’s outdated policy requiring primary caregivers to share their adopted child’s gender. Kathryn advocates for increased dialogue about adoption across society, including mainstream media, legal circles, and employers. Examining interracial adoption complexities, she describes how their family’s composition occasionally leads to scrutiny at international borders, though these experiences provide opportunities to celebrate diversity when children express curiosity about their biological origins.
Drawing upon her legal expertise, Kathryn provides insights into how businesses and government should reconsider parental leave policies, advocating for comprehensive shared parental leave arrangements. Adoptive parents face additional burdens as their journey proves more complex than biological parents’, making supportive employers and robust governmental frameworks crucial. Psychological challenges intensify particularly when welcoming older children.
Kathryn concludes by advocating for Hong Kong to facilitate adoption opportunities for single individuals and same-sex couples, enabling them to fulfil parenting aspirations whilst providing deserving children with loving, accepting homes. Love is love!
Every family deserves recognition and respect, regardless of how it’s formed. This Pride Month, we celebrate rainbow families who enrich our community with their love and resilience. Their journeys remind us that family bonds transcend conventional definitions, and their strength inspires positive change towards a more inclusive society.
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