Should Bigots Be Allowed to Adopt?

Photo by Stephen West

There are currently around 6,800 kids waiting for adoption in the UK, but just 60 of them were snapped up in 2010. You’d have thought with those kinds of figures you’d be rolling them out to whoever will have them – after standard checks and precautions have been carried out, obviously – but according to one local council, it’s better to keep kids trapped in the system rather than send them to a loving home, all because their prospective parents support a tin-pot one-policy party: UKIP.

Sure, the party might be mildly bigoted, but the UKIP members in question had been adoptive parents for nearly seven years and had taken on nearly a dozen children in that time. It doesn’t sound like they’re too terrible to me. But hey, maybe I’m just a massive racist sympathiser. I asked some strangers a question to help me find out: Should bigots be allowed to adopt?

Marcus, 20: I think it’s fine, to be honest. I don’t think that political views should come into it at all, unless they directly affect the kids.

But won’t far right views rub off on the children?  
Yeah, that’s maybe not such a good thing, but that shouldn’t stop them from adopting. Adopting is a good thing, innit? It keeps kids out of the system, so it’s stupid to stop anyone from adopting.

What about people with radically extreme views?
The thing is – I was chatting to my mum about this – social workers can’t do anything right these days. They’re trying to protect the kids and trying to help ‘em, but they can’t do anything right, so they should take help from anyone who’s willing to give it.

I’ll thank you when the next generation of kids fostered by neo-Nazis start to come through. 

David, 25: To be fair, adopting kids should be allowed full stop. There’s so many kids out there who need adopting and if there’s a family out there willing to take them, let them have ‘em.

Aren’t you afraid of their views rubbing off on the children, though?
Yeah, their views could rub off on the kids quite easily, but everyone’s allowed to think what they want, aren’t they? To a certain degree anyway – as long as you’re not hurting anyone else.

What if they planned to adopt a bunch of kids so they could start their own mini-KKK?
Never thought of it, but there’s always that possibility. Obviously that would be a no.

Should anyone be barred from adopting kids because of their views?
Just serious offenders – paedophiles, people like that – but there’s plenty of kids out there that need adopting. Let ‘em have ‘em, if you ask me, mate.

Jabedul, 18: If a kid is treated right and they’re not trying to get their kids to do wrong, then they should be allowed to adopt them, yeah.

Don’t you think it’s inevitable that you’ll grow up and share your parents’ views?
I don’t share my parents’ views. For example, arranged marriages – I don’t believe in them. I believe you should know your own wife before you marry her. My mum tried to get me married and I rebelled against that.

Do you think that maybe they’re adopting kids to indoctrinate them into right wing extremism?
It’s the 21st century. My parents taught me right from wrong, but you grow up and you learn your own rights and wrongs.

Fair point, I suppose.

Dip, 50: Absolutely. Isn’t it the aim to help kids rather than worry about their parents’ views?

Aren’t you afraid you’ll be facilitating a new generation of right wing nut jobs?
Not necessarily, no. Why should the views of the parents affect the views of the children? If the parents are going to be good parents and the kids are going to be good parents, what’s wrong with it?

Are there any sort of views that should disqualify people from adopting kids?
If views are extreme, yes. But what’s extreme? If it’s going to distrupt society and how they fit in, then yes. Other than that, I don’t think it should affect anyone.

Who shouldn’t be allowed to adopt kids then?
There isn’t a specific group I can think of. Even if you said the BNP, or whatever, as long as the future of that child is being protected and they’re not brought up in an environment that brainwashes them, I think that’s fine.

But don’t you think someone with BNP parents is more likely to grow up sharing their views?
Not necessarily. The children would have some time growing up outside that environment and would hopefully see what’s right or wrong for themselves.

How optimistic. Do you think there might be a right wing conspiracy to indoctrinate kids via adoption?
Isn’t that a left wing view?

I suppose it is, yeah.

Fanny, 23: Yes. I think anyone who’s willing to pay all that money and go through the whole process will ultimately take good care of the child. There are so many idiots out there with kids anyway, so as long as they treat them right, I think that’s OK.

Don’t you think it’s a concern that their views will rub off onto the kids?
Yeah, of course they will, but who are we to say you’re not allowed to have kids because of that?

Do you think there’s anyone who shouldn’t be allowed to adopt children?
People who are raping kids and stuff. Or incestuous people – they’re fucking sick in the head. But anything that’s within the law is alright.

Alright. The general consensus seems to be that it’s fine for bigots to adopt. Have at it, Tommy Robinson! 

Previously – How Would You Blow £1.4bn and Keep It a Secret?