Adopting a child in Second Life

I had previously written a report on people getting married in Second Life (see 'Why people get Married in Second Life' dated 25 December 2007), as I had been interested to see how much people wanted to simulate real life into their virtual world. A good friend of mine, co cnn reporter Headburro Antfarm told me that avatars also had children in Second Life to create a family unit. Another good friend Wheemzel DeCuir informed me that there were adoption agencies catering for would be parents and children who would love to have parents. I was lucky enough to speak to Laura2933Bailey (pictured above) who owns Molly's Adoption Centre and she kindly told me what actually happens. Laura says her agency is not the biggest one of its kind, but she does have a fair amount of adult avatars seeking a child or children av's who seek parents. I asked her what was the percentages of adults compared to children and she told me it was a slightly higher amount of children who ask her for help. Most adults who apply are couples and they just want to carry their relationship a step further by having a child. I was really curious in what makes an adult want to become a child in Second Life, as we only seem to hear about the dark and unpleasant reasons for adult/child relationships. Laura is an expert in this field because she talks to so many child av's. She told me that they just want the kindness of having a virtual family, someone they can come on line and talk to, who will listen to them. They are role playing, of course, but if they want to talk about real life they insert a bracket around the 'chat' text to let thier virtual parents know that they are talking about the real world. Laura says that the children may not have a family in real life, or they may have had a terrible childhood and want to be happy with their new parents. I also spoke to two child av's at another agency, JoJo Rockett and Ethandil Jaxxon. JoJo told me it was less stressful being a child and also that she could talk funny and spell things wrong and its ok, I told her I do that anyway and I'm an adult! The other little girl Ethandil was looking for parents and she said she wanted a family so she was not lonely and scared and had someone to talk to. They both agreed it was a lot more fun being a child than being an adult. Laura told me that children are warned to watch out for anything sinister and to report it. She told me she charges L$25 for adoptions, but the children get an adoption panel to advertise for free. Both the children and the adults fill out their details, which are displayed in the panels. If an adult fancies adopting a particular child they click on the panel, likewise the child would click on the adult's panel if they like the look of the would be parents. If there is a match the parties involved have a trial for 5 days to see if they get on. There is no pressure, if the parents or the child are unhappy they simply come back to cancel the arrangement or come back to confirm adoption, in which case an adoption certificate is issued. Laura herself is testimony that adoption works in Second Life, she has a daughter Lorie and a niece Molly, whom she named the agency after. Lots of negative things are written about Second Life, but it really is full of caring people who want to look after each other. Just as in the real world the majority of people just want to be happy and to do this they interact with other people of similar feelings. So go ahead, adopt a child, or be a child and be adopted if you want to be part of a virtual loving family unit.
Submitted by Janey Bracken