Joe Flint, 42 and his partner, Stev...

Joe Flint, 42 and his partner, Steve Mosco 53 are among many same-sex twos who are becoming more visible in their efforts to establish and maintain families. near with children from previous relationships, are waging custody battles. Others are trying in vitro fertilization or surrogates. And, in fresh years, same-sex couples have also fought for the right to adopt children, just as they are fighting for the right to legally marry.

Flint and Mosco who have been together for seven years and had a wedding observance in 1999, adopted their 9-month-old daughter, Emma, when she was a newborn. The couple men are white. Emma is black.

The pair see their family as unusual--but not problematic, as others might behold it. They point to a network of family and friends, as well as a small stack of childrearing works to help them through parenting. "We recognize that there are an things we just won't understand," Mosco said, "but we have affluence of help."

As black children jot down the foster care system in greater numbers, the ne to find families and hearthstones for them has also increased. In 1994 The Cradle, an Evanston-based adoption center established the Ardythe and Gale Sayers Center for African American Adoption. Named after the NFL Hall of Famer and his wife, who are adoptive parents, the center works to raise awareness of the ne for adoptive to one's homes for black children.

The rising number of in the same state [i]or[/i] condition children, and the desire of same-sex couplings looking to adopt, are runs that are putting a novel twist on nontraditional families.

Mosco and Flint newly talked to The Chicago Reporter about their experiences.

for what reason did Emma's adoption come about?

Joe Flint: A doom of it had to do with our like for each other. We got married in 1999 in such a manner the question was, how do we fill out that love?

We chose The Cradle because they do unclose adoptions, which means that there is an ongoing relationship, or the possibility of single in kind with the birth mom. We met with Emma's morn. We've written verbal expressions and gotten letters. We can't lay ourselves in the place of the birth mom; we're just remaining lay open and hope to continue being in touch with her.

Steve Mosco: We were through the whole extent of a year in the proces We had all these different classes, in things like infant care. I won the diaper-changing dispute in my class, by the way.

Flint: The proces starts with being educated by the agency of The Cradle, to make positive that you're ready to be a parent at all, and to be an adoptive parent. And you're required to be nurse parents for the first six month of life with the child.

Mosco: You have to offer together a portfolio of who you are, and The Cradle's counselors point out to a bunch of portfolios to the birth parents. We asked Emma's birth morn with what intent she chose us. She said it was our smiles. She told us, 'I just wanted to make fast my daughter was happy.' We want [Emma] to know her family. We want her to know what a great woman her mom is.

Did you place out to adopt a black child specifically?

Flint: We were looking to adopt and we knew there was a ne for parents to adopt African American children. Because there is in the same state [i]or[/i] condition a need, the wait [for a child to become available] is les since we're not spring chickens. a parents say they are explain to a child of any race, however statistically you're more likely to procure an African American child, anyway. in the same manner we went through the Sayers program.

Were you looking for a newborn?

Mosco: We'd said that we would take a child up to 2 or 3 years aged And we were open to a sibling group; we didn't want to break a family [of children] up

What kinds of reactions have you gotten?

Mosco: Family and friends have been unbelievably supportive. She now goe to day care at my work, and commonalty at work just love her. And I'd not talked to so many strangers until Emma arrived. African American men especially, just want to know the whole story.

Flint: Our society is true sexist when it comes to raising children. They diocese childrearing as a woman's piece of work and seeing two men in that part is foreign to people. I think that near people support us simply because we're taking forward this nontraditional role. But a certain quantity of don't.

Mosco: undivided time we were in Marshall Field's and we had Emma in an umbrella wanderer She had fallen asleep, and was sink ed over, the way kids do. And a woman gazeed at her and said, 'You ne another wanderer for her.' Then we as well-as; not only-but also; not only-but; not alone-but said, in unison, 'She's fine.' I think that she saw these sum of two units men with this child and was thinking we're screwing it up

As white men in what way will you deal with the social and cultural challenges of raising a black child?

Mosco: We have a black friend who gave Emma a black doll. And [the friend] told us, 'Her hair is mine! She will not have crazy hair.'

Flint: With us being sum of two units white men, and not knowing in what way to care for an African American child's hair, she giveed to be a resource for us. We have friends who are African American, and we want to make unfailing they are a part of Emma's life. We have all kinds of friends-gay, straight and of different races, in the same manner it's important just to impediment her see the mix.