# It's official and legal--I got two new nieces! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 31, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137 "2010-01-31T18:27:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/1 "2010-01-31T18:27:41Z")
For those of you who don’t know it, I have a lesbian sister who has a partner who had two daughters, and my sister adopted them. Living down the block from them was a single mother who had two daughters in the same age group as ny nieces. The four of them grew as thick as any “real” family, hanging out and having sleepovers all the time. When the single mother developed terminal cancer two years ago, my sister and her family arraanged to sell her house and put the funds in an account for her daughers, then took the mother and the two daughers into their house. Before the mother died, she took the legal steps to have her children adopted by my sister and her lesbian partner. The adoption was approved Friday :D. Ariel & Zoey, welcome to the family. My sister the lesbian who did not want a family is now the mother of EIGHT! (she had one daugher and raised three others–now middle-aged–with her first partner, and by herself after her first partner died suddenly, though she had no legal standing back then). She’s a great mother too! ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/2 "2010-01-31T18:52:43Z")
Congrats about the new members of your family, Annie. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/3 "2010-01-31T18:55:22Z")
Congrats to the new family! ---
**Author:** ![gardentraveler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gardentraveler/32/3576_2.png) [@gardentraveler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gardentraveler)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/4 "2010-01-31T19:18:11Z")
Congratulations! What a wonderful family. ---
**Author:** ![nonacetone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonacetone/32/2819_2.png) [@nonacetone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nonacetone)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/5 "2010-01-31T19:27:25Z")
Congratulations to the entire family! ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/6 "2010-01-31T21:17:54Z")
What an amazing story! Your sister rocks! ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/7 "2010-01-31T22:31:33Z")
Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/8 "2010-01-31T22:40:33Z")
Wow, what a wonderful story. Kudos to your sister & her partner for being such loving and giving people. Give 'em all a hug for me. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/9 "2010-01-31T23:57:50Z")
Congratulations! That is so awesome. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/10 "2010-02-01T00:38:02Z")
What a story. How are the kids handling all this? Are they young? Your sister and her partner sound like good people. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/11 "2010-02-01T14:11:47Z")
The children they took in are 13 & 10, the other two are 12 & 10. Ariel and Zoey had a good deal because they got to both stay with their mother and get use to living with their new family before she died. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/12 "2010-02-01T14:59:06Z")
Congratulations to your whole family! It’s inspiring to hear about good folks like your sister and her partner. Thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![Slypork](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@Slypork](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slypork)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/13 "2010-02-01T19:49:28Z")
Congrats to all. That is wonderful, heartbreaking, heartwarming all at the same time. Slight hijack: I saw you posted > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > \ The four of them grew as thick as any “real” family\ I understand why you did that and it just burns my ass that there are still people out there pissing and moaning about what constitutes a “real” family. Unless the people involved don’t exist in reality then it is a real family, whether it’s a man and woman, two men, two women, grandparents, aunts, fosters, adopters or what have you. As long as they’re not members of the Sims or _The Simpsons_, then they are a real family. No quotes needed. Your sister and her partner have the realist kind of family around: a family built on love. You are a lucky woman to have so much love around you. Don’t spoil them too much. Aw, who am I kidding? Spoil ‘em rotten! ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Rosetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Green\_Rosetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Rosetta)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/14 "2010-02-01T21:22:44Z")
That is so awesome! Some good friends of mine were selected a few weeks ago to adopt two brothers, 6 and 3, and we live in Indiana, where there has been some very un-gay-friendly legislation proposals in the past few years. It’s truly awesome to see such wonderful people become parents. Your sister and her partner sound amazing and those girls are lucky to have THREE great moms. ---
**Author:** ![rivulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/839c29/32.png) [@rivulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rivulus)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2010, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/15 "2010-02-01T21:35:28Z")
Congratulations! And best wishes to your sister and her new, bigger family! I’m also delighted to hear that they had the opportunity to adopt jointly. That’s not possible everywhere. We had to network through our underground LGBT connections to find a judge who would approve the joint adoption of our son. So, every time I hear of another couple having this opportunity, it does my heart good! ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/16 "2010-02-02T09:05:27Z")
Good thing she didn’t want kids or she’d have a school 😃 Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/17 "2010-02-02T14:17:44Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Living down the block from them was a single mother who had two daughters in the same age group as ny nieces. The four of them grew as thick as any “real” family, hanging out and having sleepovers all the time. To clarify: I meant the four daughters, not the two lesbians and their original two children. They have always been a family even before my SIL got ptegnant. For a whle, they were a REAL family with four daughters and three mothers. My other sister and I have no children, my two brothers have one and three. THe lesbian really took the parenthood prize in our family! ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2010, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-official-and-legal-i-got-two-new-nieces/527137/18 "2010-02-02T14:26:30Z")
YAY!