“Three Dads and a Baby”, a book that details the journey of three men to have themselves listed as parents to a baby is all set to be released on the 9th of March. The book has been written by one of her fathers, Dr. Ian Jenkins. The three men from California created history in 2017 when they became the first family in history to list three fathers on a birth certificate.
Jenkins wrote in the book, “The fact that Piper has three parents is just not a big deal. I have three parents myself — my mother, father and stepmother — and no one thinks anything of it.” “Some people seem to think it’s about a ton of sex or something, or we’re unstable and must do crazy things. [But] it’s really remarkably ordinary and domestic in our house and definitely not ‘Tiger King,’” he added.
Admitting that his family is unique, Jenkins questions those who believe his family is not “normal”. “I’m pretty sure it’s lifelong monogamy that’s weird,” he said. “Our culture is filled with all of these stories about longing and infidelity. It’s natural for us to feel affections for more than one person. What’s exotic is that we actually did it – we made a life many people think of as an unattainable dream, but we’re ordinary people otherwise. We have the same conversations about what to have for dinner, what to watch on TV.”
Jenkins also documented the legal troubles in ‘Three Dads and a Baby’ that the family had to endure due to the unusual situation.
“We had to have contracts between each man and each woman. Then, when another cycle got planned, we realized the contracts had to be redone. Of course, redoing them means $500 an hour in fees,” Jenkins says. “And the requirement is to pay four lawyers [one to represent each father, plus one for the surrogate] to craft a parenting agreement, which no straight couple has probably ever been asked to sign.”
The parent says that the ‘throuple’ went to such great lengths because failure to do so would mean that one of them would have no legal right over the baby. “No right to visitation if we split up. No ability to consent for medical care. No say in decisions. No legal responsibilities. No automatic inheritance. This would have been really risky for the family.”
The family had to spend over $120,000 on legal fees, contracts, implantations and tests.