The New York Times recently published a heartwarming story and slide show in the Lens Blog on a same-sex couple in Mott Haven who have successfully raised 20 foster children — with no signs of stopping.
You may remember that a report released in 2008 showed that same-sex couples in the Bronx were more likely, than any other borough in the city and perhaps county in the nation, to have children so it shouldn’t be surprising to Bronxites.
“…Ms. Scarborough-Harris and her partner, Paris Harris, had been foster parents to some 20 girls and young women at their South Bronx home in Mott Haven. Many had some form of disability, and a few identified as L.G.B.T. Some might think the Bronx’s blue-collar and immigrant neighborhoods make it an unlikely place for a lesbian couple to help raise more than 20 children. But a 2008 report by the Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles, showed same-sex couples in the Bronx were actually more likely to have children than in any other New York City borough — and maybe more than in any county in the country.
According to Gary J. Gates, one of the report’s authors, black and Hispanic same-sex couples are likelier to have children than similar white couples. The Bronx’s affordability and higher percentage of black and Hispanic residents, Mr. Gates said, could account for its large number of same sex parents.
Ms. Scarborough-Harris said they felt compelled to shelter and nurture youths whose lives had already endured enough hardship and uncertainty.
“We believe the service we give is the rent we pay to stay on the planet,” Ms. Scarborough-Harris said. “It’s been 10 years and 20 kids, and it just doesn’t look like it’s going to end.”
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Ed García Conde is a life-long Bronxite who spends his time documenting the people, places, and things that make the borough a special place in the hopes of dispelling the negative stereotypes associated with The Bronx. His writings are often cited by mainstream media and is often consulted for his expertise on the borough's rich history.
