Some people come to SL to experience something that they couldn't, or maybe wouldn't want to experience in RL ... for these cases, there are a lot of features in SL that brings it pretty close to RL. One of these features is make a family. I remember a very good article from Voodoo talking about pregnancy ... that inspired me to look for something related to it ... so, I'm going through adoption in SL. I talked with Carie Bishop, owner of Family First Adoption Agency.
Ross Larsson : Hello Carie, it's a pleasure have you in the SL Newspaper.
Carie Bishop : Thanks, Ross.
Ross: How did you have the idea to start this in SL?
Carie: Well I started off as a child myself and found it hard to find parents at first. I went to a couple of different agencies but the main one was New Life at the time. For a couple of reasons I chose not to use them for myself after I heard various things about them. So after finding my dad and realizing the difficulty in it I talked to a sister of mine and we decided to give it a try. We started off in a small prefab house with some poorly made panels but it was enough to start with. We outgrow the place and bought a bigger prefab made some adjustments to it and then we eventually out grew that place as well. And moved here with a half a sim now a place for the kids to swim, watch movies, play in the park or arcade, there is a mini mall, and now we're adding a daycare feature.
Ross: That's really nice ...
Carie: Well without my sister it would not have got this far and now we had to add two managers one you met, Gunner, and another Sadie and they are mine and Lushies right hand they help us out a lot here. As you see we stay quite busy here and constantly doing events for the kids such as movie days and dances for them to interact and get to know each other.
Ross: So ... how long have you had this agency?
Carie: We have been open since beginning of March.
Ross: Why do you think people are interested in adoption in SL?
Carie: I can't really give you an exact reason of what makes people choose to adopt I can only give you the reasons I have heard. One being they want to live the family experience in their second life, and some being they adopt in game cause they can't have children outside of game.
Ross: I see ... have you been successful in getting families for children here?
Carie: Although we just recently expanded here because we were doing so well and outgrew our last place. Oh definately I dont have an exact number sorry but many success stories.
Ross: How does it work? Could you give me some background on this?
Carie: It is a mutual thing it's all done behind the sceens and privately. Parents and kids each buy a board for their own depending what they are. Once they buy the board they upload their application and panel, they proceed to the other side and click on the boards. You choose profile to get their profile read it over if you like it then you click their panel again and hit like. If they have liked you too the boards cross match to make sure everything is in order on liking each other. You then go on a trial for one week, at the end of the week you can end the trial or finalize the adoption. If for some reason prior to the end of the week something happens you can end it early as well.
Ross: Great, that's a good strategy ... do you have some experience with adoption in RL?
Carie: Personally yes I do.
At this point Violete Robbins, Carie's daughter, joined us.
Ross: So ... how did you meet each other?
Carie: Well, her and her sister were up for adoption that is how we met and we just clicked and hit it off from there.
Violete: Yes, I was lucky. She adopted me and my sis, and I love my mommy!
Ross: So ... do you spend much time together? Carie seems very busy ...
Violet: I know she works. But I have family : grandpa, auntie, cousins ... So, I'm not alone.
Carie: Well we spend as much time as we can, but luckly Vio understands I'm busy and when I am she spends the time visiting with the rest of the family.
Ross: Talk a bit about your experience in SL ... how did you know about it, how long have you been here ...
Violete : I've been here about 2 years. And I love the game. I have met a lot of different people, made a lot of friends.
Carie: Well I been here since 2003 not on this character though. I found the game back when it first opened and decided to test it and here I am.
Ross: So Carie ... what are you planning for this place from now?
Carie: Well we are in the process of opening a daycare center now. And eventually to be honest I would like to pick up the other half of the sim and open a school with it.
Ross: Great ... Do you have some sponsorship to keep it?
Carie: Well at this point its all coming out of mine and my sisters pocket and some help from Sadie. It's something I have thought about doing, but haven't found anyone yet to bring into it. We have a donation box out yes and it brings in a little and what it does is definetely a help. However never enough to cover what we spend here each month.
Ross: So Carie ... Now, I'd like to do a fast game with you (almost finishing this!) ... I'll give you a statement and you complete it ... ok?
I wish people would take more notice of... the kids and the hard work that my workers do to help out here.
I am good at... helping people and making sure everyone is happy
And I’m very bad at... managing time
The most surprising thing to ever happen to me was... meeting my girls
For me, adoption means... family, security, love
And I’m very bad at... managing time
The most surprising thing to ever happen to me was... meeting my girls
For me, adoption means... family, security, love
Ross: Well Carie ... I think that's all ... Is there something you would like to add, some words would you like to share with our readers?
Carie: Yes, please. I suggest everyone thats thinking it to really take the time and look at the agencies and what they have to offer and how they support the kids before choosing one that might have been around longer. Make sure you're doing it for the right reasons not just because someone else did it, but because you really want to give that love to some one that comes with being a parent. Because although this might be a "game" you will soon learn you pick up the parent feelings for those children. One final note is that dont judge people because they choose to play a child in game not all of them are bad. I know sometimes they get bad reps and I'm not saying that there aren't some out there that have bad intentions but there are a LOT of kids out there that just want to play a kid and have fun with it and have that family experience.
Ross: Thank you very much, Carie.
Carie: Thanks, Ross.
Location : http://slurl.com/secondlife/Bishop%20Point/37/190/21
