You discover that, because of a mix-up at the hospital, your wonderful 2-year-old is not actually yours. Would you want to switch kids and try to correct the mistake? Assume you’d have no further contact with the child you gave up.
No. If my wife and I have spent the last two years forming attachments and raising this child, we’ll keep him or her. That child may not genetically be our offspring, but they would be our son or daughter. Same with the one who is our biological child. Psychologically, it would do a lot more damage to both of those kids to yank them out of the homes they’ve known since birth just to correct a hospital error.
Having no further contact with our biological child or the family that’s raising him or her will be okay. Because they can go on to lead a normal life, just like the child we have will do. At least, as normal as can be in the world we live in. If the other set of parents want to be jerks about it, I’d fight for things to remain the same and bring in some experts to explain what sort of damage can be done by switching kids at this point. I mean, I know kids are taken away from parents at two years old in tragic circumstances sometimes… parents die and a kid has to then be raised by godparents or grandparents or whatever… But problems can and do arise for those kids down the line. Why risk that if it’s not necessary?
No, I’ll settle for suing the hospital for a crap ton of money on behalf of both families involved and we can all walk away millionaires with a possible Hallmark movie in the pipeline. For the record, I would like to be played by Jack Black. I think he could pull off a serious drama while throwing in a little comic relief from time to time.
What about you? Would you want to make the switch after raising the wrong child for two years? Let me know down in the comments!
*The Question of the Week can be found in The Book of Questions by Gregory Stock, Ph.D.
The Confusing Middle 
What about in 10 or 15 years when the kid finds out the truth? Wouldn’t that be damaging as well? “My parents didn’t want me?” Just playing devil’s advocate here. It would definitely suck that’s for sure.
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I don’t know… I’d think it would be easier to explain the truth of the situation to an older child than it would to a toddler. I just can’t get the image of two crying toddlers being pulled from the arms of the only parents they’ve known and thrust into the arms of strangers.
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True and honestly, it’s not like you gave your “real” child away, it’s that you wanted to keep what you had. Definitely sue the hospital though!
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Okies here is my idea!
I agree with you on two points: I would keep the child and sue the hospital.
BUT I would want our families to know each other. Like maybe not in the “these are your biological parents” but more like “hey we know these people so please don’t date any of their offspring younger than you” because that would be your child’s biological sibling and ick.
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But… The end of the question says to assume no further contact. I think if contact were to continue, I’d want the same thing. But I think that could be problematic. The truth would eventually come out and somewhere in those troublesome teenage years you’ll have one or both kids get into it with their technically adoptive parents and shout, “You’re not my real parents!” before storming out. It’ll make for a good scene in the Hallmark movie.
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Oooh I thought no further contact meant if the children were returned.
And yes that it true about the shouting haha. But probably would happen anyway once they found out.
I am prepared to say that your way is the best haha. Everyone stays where they are and sue the hospital. But some how there should be a plan in place to avoid the possibly ick dating situation haha
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Sorry… I assumed the assumption of no contact went for either scenario. And you’re right about needing some kind of precaution against potential ick factor. You’d wind up with a Luke and Leia situation. And then someone’s dad is gonna end up being Darth Vader. No one wants that.
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😂😂😂 no, no one wants that
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Well, I have never had children but I think it would depend on the childs personality. I just think I would have a feeling as a mother that the child wasn’t mine and if it came true, I would want my biological child back.
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This might be one of your toughest questions. Maybe it seems tough because I have 7 children. This makes you wonder…what makes a child your child? Learning all their little quirks for 2 years and knowing what they like or dislike…or just the fact that a strang child has your DNA.
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I’d switch the kids back.
I’d also make sure that the other family and my family formed a relationship.
I watched a story about this happening in South Africa and one son was sent to a poor family instead of the wealthy biological family he should’ve been a part of. In the end he resented the poor mother and he wealthy family took custody of both sons.
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