Dutch Father Writes Children's Book About Gay Family

A father, a second father, and two children. Not exactly the standard family setting for a children’s book. But it’s all part of everyday life for Arwen and Wolf, the adopted children of a gay couple in the Dutch town of Dordrecht. One of their fathers decided to write a children’s book based on his own family situation: for his own children but also for the rest of the world. "It’s a feel-good book about a happy family." Dad is hopeless when it comes to putting beads in her braided hair, sighs four-year-old Arwen. But her adoptive father Jarko de Witte van Leeuwen knows plenty of mums who leave that job to the hairdresser as well. The De Witte van Leeuwen household describe themselves as a happy family but certainly not an average one. Once same-sex marriage became legal in the Netherlands in 2001, Jarko (now 39) married his partner Jos. Soon afterwards, he applied to adopt a child. In 2005 they welcomed their adopted daughter Arwen into their home and last year she was joined by their adopted son Wolf: two Afro-American kids with two white Dutch dads. Full Story from Radio Netherlands Worldwide: http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/two-fathers-two-children-one-book

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