I heard on the radio yesterday morning a discussion about Denise Richards and Charlie Sheen–previously but no longer married. Apparently, custody of Charlie Sheen’s two kids by his current wife, Brooke Mueller, has been temporairly granted to Denise Richards. She’s not blood-related to them, so the radio discussion focused on that: would you offer to take care of your ex-husband’s kids by another woman indefinitely because she and he couldn’t care for them?
As I’ve said before, biology doesn’t make family. When children are removed from the care of the parents, the first option is always to find a familial placement. Denise Richards is that option in this case. Rather than sending those kids to foster care or to live with a distant relative with whom they are unfamiliar, Denise Richards is allowing them the opportunity to live with their two half-siblings and in the same gated community as their father, who can regularly visit them. While Brooke Mueller gets her ducks ina row, Denise Richards has volunteered to take up the mantel of motherhood for these two young children. She has put their best interests first.
Good for her. We need more of that in the world. And less “It’s not my problem; they’re your kids.”
Wider than the Sky 