
In France, a Baby Switch and a Lesson in Maternal Love - wglb
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/25/world/europe/in-france-a-baby-switch-and-a-test-of-a-mothers-love.html
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MyHypatia
“After four days, how can you not recognize your baby?” Sophie Chas, the
lawyer for the clinic, told the newspaper Le Figaro. “We can believe in it
when it’s a second, a day, two days. But 10 years? The mothers may have been
involved in creating the damage.”

How sad that the lawyer chose to argue that "the mothers may have been
involved in creating the damage"... because they trusted the doctors?
...because they didn't possess some "maternal instinct" to recognize a baby
they had spent almost no time with? Even after say 2 years or 10 years it's
your fault because you didn't call the police to report that your child's skin
tone doesn't match your own? How is it even acceptable to make this argument
in a court?

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nraynaud
in France, when the judge is a professional (by opposition to a jury), you can
use whatever arguments you want in court. But outrageous arguments are
extremely risky, the lawyer might have been in a desperate position to use
that.

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205guy
To summarize, two babies were switched at birth with plausible explanation as
to why neither mother acted on her suspicions. Each mother bonded with her
non-biological child, and raised her as her own (just like millions of
adoptions the world over). 10 years later, when a paternity test finally
happened (the delay was better explained in these HN comments) and the
families were reunited, differences in parenting and family dynamics (one said
to have strict discipline) meant neither family got along with their
biological child nor wanted to keep in close touch. They still made about $1
million each from the birth clinic in a civil suit.

I'm not really sure what the big deal is here, and whatever cultural
significance was missed by the NYT author (surprising given the French-
sounding name). Fact is, this was the plot of a hugely successful French movie
in back in 1988, thus still entrenched in the memories of many adults. Of
course, the movie was more of a white-collar vs blue-collar social satire and
very funny. But the real story for the French audience was that of life
imitating art.

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_a_Long_Quiet_River](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_Is_a_Long_Quiet_River)

[http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vie_est_un_long_fleuve_tranq...](http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_vie_est_un_long_fleuve_tranquille)

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jkot
It should be said that parental tests are illegal in France (and some other
countries), and parents in this case could face huge fine and jail.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_testing#France](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parental_testing#France)

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golemotron
Why would they be illegal? Shouldn't men be able to know whether they are the
biological fathers of their children?

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pervycreeper
It's illegal in order to prevent precisely this.

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wyager
What is the reasoning behind that? It seems quite absurd to prevent men from
knowing if they're the father of a child or not.

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nraynaud
The reasoning is that a "your" kid doesn't only depend on genetics, it's also
through adoption, or other family system (like in Africa, some kids are raised
by their aunt and uncle). Because deciding overnight that the kid should stop
calling that guy daddy is not really something we want to be simple like
fetching a baguette. Since it's a medical procedure, they used the medical law
to limit that. A family matters judge has to be involved, and the outcome has
to have a purpose. In this example the "father" was very distant and not
really involved in raising the little girl and the couple was splitting, so
the question of paying child support was raised. I guess the lack of a
fatherly bond and the lack of genetic link made the judge decide against the
child support and allowed the father to be removed from the child birth
certificate (but it's a soft limit, the judge has to make a difficult call for
the definition of father).

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jarjoura
How touching. This story gives me hope that I can both deeply love an adopted
child and that the child will love me back.

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fecak
I had similar questions when we were presented the opportunity to adopt a
newborn. She is now 10 days old, and she has felt like mine ever since I first
saw her minutes after her birth. Perhaps my experience is unique, but I didn't
expect the connection to happen as quickly (instantly) as it did.

~~~
Asparagirl
Mazel Tov!

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infr4long
> “The nurse said that the lights from the phototherapy treatment made the
> baby’s hair grow,”

> The other mother, also 18 at the time, asked another nurse why her baby
> lacked hair. She was told that phototherapy could also shorten hair.

Unfortunately, this kind of attitude from incompetent employees is damaging to
the society, and it is quite commonplace in France.

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swframe
You might be interested in this story too:
[http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/360/s...](http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-
archives/episode/360/switched-at-birth)

