What would you do if you were the new foster parent to Adolf Hitler Campbell (age 2)?

[Bucky]

I think I'd rename him "Aiden Campbell" or "Dolph Campbell" and hope the kid doesn't notice. But maybe it's cruel to change a child's name this late in life. It's not as easy a solution as you'd hope.

Definitely, however, handing him and his siblings over to foster care is the right thing to do.

[Hello_Kitty]

1. I don't think it's ever cruel to change the name of a child named Adolph Hitler. eom

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. The brain's still plastic enough at that age to make the adjustments.

I'd probably change the name. Better he be confused for a while as a child than suffer the ignominy of a tainted name.

[GA_ArmyVet]

3. This late in life?????He is 2...he wont even remember his

original name unless he reads old newspapers.

Change his name is Number One. It is cruel to force it on him because his parents are stupid.

[Bucky]

8. My guess is, with a dad like that, he probably thinks his name is Shut up, Brat! anyway.

But then, maybe I'm being unfair to question the parenting skills of a guy who names his kid Adolf Hitler.

[Ian David]

4. I'd rename him Israel Juden n/t

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

6. Oym what a mensch he'll be!

:rofl:

[stillcool]

5. Foster parents don't change kids names...

they can call him anything they want, unfortunately. I'm not a big fan of foster care, as I did not have such a good experience myself. I hope the kids get to stay together, and they hang tight.

[Control-Z]

16. It all depends on the family

you end up with. I was in three homes as a teen. The first just didn't work out. The second was like I'd been sold for child/slave labor. Horrible place, with 5 other foster kids. But the third, the last one, was in a good home with 2 other kids, (one was my age, the other a year older) and parents who were very normal and generous. I still see them on occasion.

I always wonder (and worry a bit) when I hear about foster home placements. Always hoping the child(ren) ends up in a decent home.

[stillcool]

19. I think it must be some human trait....

that makes people abusive to other people, animals, whatever they have power over, and have no relation to. I was a year old when my mother died, so I at least didn't get taken from any home that I had a memory of. The statistics of abuse are horrendous, and you just know that isn't even half the story. I always got the 'you're so lucky we took you in'..and I think I still believe it. What a mind-fuck it is.

[Control-Z]

20. I'm sorry you lost your mom so young.

I was 7 when my mom died (and I've never stopped missing her). My father was abusive. After it became out of control I ended up in foster care. And as sick as I may sound, I missed my father horribly. He died while I was in the foster home. There are a lot of mind-fucks when family life is not ideal, aren't there?.

Even with decent people (and my last foster parents), there was that element of 'You're so lucky'. I have actually been told I was lucky she died when I was young?? I think it was an effort to shut me up to avoid something uncomfortable that might rock their boat. People just don't like hearing about these kind of things. I still get it from my ex who has had a seriously golden existence. He does not want me to muck up his entitled, selfish way of living with my reality.

I'm sorry you still believe any of the crap your foster parents told you. There is nothing lucky about losing a mother or needing foster care.

:hug:

[stillcool]

27. Amazing...a few words on a page..

and I know that you know. That is so rare. :hi:

[Control-Z]

33. Yes,

and it's kind of sad, but comforting all the same.

[Dulcinea]

40. Give him a nickname!

If the foster parents can't legally change the poor kid's name, they can call him "Buster" or "Barack" or something like that. He can pick his own legal name when he's old enough. My guess is he won't remain Adolph Hitler Campbell.

[DollyM]

57. Foster parents can give them a nickname.

We were foster parents for 11 years, I see nothing wrong with giving a child a nickname, especially in this situation. We have friends who fostered and got a little boy named "Darwin." They shortened it to Dar as kids were making fun of him (we think that is why he was placed in foster care becasue his parents named him Darwin! LOL! Actually, his birth mother beat the hell out of him several times and kept having more kids until the finally terminated parental rights and adopted all the kids out. Our friends kept Darwin and his older brother since they had pretty much raised them. I think there were three other children after that that were also taken away.)

[stillcool]

58. A nickname is fine...

foster parents are temporary, and regardless of the background kids come from they have their own identity. It would be nice if someone influenced the parents to change their kids names.

[Fovea]

7. Change his middle name

to Ghandi.

[Arkansas Granny]

9. Has there been any info as to why the children were taken into foster care?

[Bucky]

14. I dunno. I suspect naming your kid Hitler gets you about 60% of the way to "material harm"

It's not the same category as the hippies who named their kids Moonchild or Skyclad. A kid raised with that name is going grow up resenting the parent. Handicapping a child for life is just not good parenting.

[Cid_B]

30. As an aside...

I would resent the hell out of my parents if they stuck me with some age of a aquarius name. Get that crap changed as soon as I can read.

*shudder*

[Hekate]

37. Moon Unit and Dweezil Zappa? >snrk< I do know a young reporter named Starshine...

Very sweet girl, wears her name well.

Some names, however, beg to be changed asap.

Hekate

[Goblinmonger]

59. If that's the reason

that's bullshit. If they took them because their parents were racists, that's bullshit, too. There better be a better reason than that.

[Warpy]

10. Petition the court for a name change

that would clearly be in the child's best interest.

I'm afraid naming a child after the biggest monster of the last century is not in his best interest, no matter how cuckoo the parents are.

The name could be chosen by the court with the parents' input or not.

[Warren DeMontague]

11. Please, no more Aidens. Or Jadens. Or Kadens, Or Bradens.

Please, God. Make it stop.

Doesn't anyone name their kid "Bob", anymore? :shrug:

edit: It goes w/o saying you shouldn't name your kid "Adolph Hitler". Some names have dropped out of favor for a reason.

[mitchum]

18. Those along with Taylor and Morgan and such are what I call "English sheepdog names"

[Jane Austin]

22. It was all I could do when my son named his daughter Zoe,

not to say "That's a dog name!"

Wish I had a nickel for every Golden Retriever named Zoe. Same for Tucker and Morgan and Bailey.

[muriel_volestrangler]

42. It's a saint's name

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoe_of_Rome

A lot of people do use human names for animals, you know. It doesn't mean they can't be used for humans any more.

[Jane Austin]

47. It's quite prevelant in dogs these days. . . . . . . . n/t

[mitchum]

51. True...I always thought it would be funny to name a dog...

Steve or Scott or Greg

[Warren DeMontague]

55. Totally.

"Brad".

[Stephanie]

32. I know a child named Rogan

Definitely a better name for a dog than a boy.

[Liberal_in_LA]

23. How about a Caitlen?

[Warren DeMontague]

29. Mike.

:thumbsup:

[muriel_volestrangler]

43. You'd call a boy by a nickname?

Why is using "Bob", instead of "Robert", any better than "Aiden" instead of "Aidan"?

[Warren DeMontague]

46. Yeah, I grew up with a whole slew o' "Bob"s. What the hell is wrong with "Bob"?

I mean, metaphorically speaking.

[muriel_volestrangler]

50. I'd give them the name 'Robert'

and let 'Bob', 'Rob', 'Robbie' or whatever develop as a nickname, as they wish. I'm not sure I've ever known anyone whose full name is 'Bob'.

[Warren DeMontague]

52. Okay, yes. I wasn't suggesting actually making the legal name "Bob", although that would be better

than making the legal name "Adolph Hitler", of course.

My point also wasn't whether "Aiden" was better or worse than "Aidan", or whatever. My ONLY point is, and I don't know if you are a parent or travel in circles of parents of young kids these days, but if you do p'raps you've noticed that EVERY OTHER KID in this country born in the last 5-10 years seems to be named "Aiden" or "Jaden" or "Braden" or "Kaden" or some silly variation on the same.

I guess I'm old; I'm a fucking curmudgeon- but when I was a kid there were a ton of Jeffs and Bills and Mikes and Bobs (yes, I know those aren't the legal names) ... while I suppose that was, in and of itself, a form of herd behavior, I find it odd when a large percentage of the species all seems to decide, at the exact same time, that "Braden" is a nice name for a kid. It's weird. Of course, I thought it was weird in the 80s when every other kid was named Britney, Madison, etc. etc.

I suppose I just like old fashioned names. I also like Chuck Taylors and The Grateful Dead. I plead guilty; Hip and Trendy I'm not.

Edit: See, I rest my case --- http://www.babynames.com/Names/Popular/

[muriel_volestrangler]

56. I'm British, so the names I see are quite different

The 2008 list:

Girls

1 Olivia

2 Ruby

3 Grace

4 Emily

5 Jessica

6 Sophie

7 Chloe

8 Lily

9 Mia

10 Lucy
...

Boys

1 Jack

2 Oliver

3 Harry

4 Alfie

5 Charlie

6 Thomas

7 Joshua

8 Daniel

9 James

10 William
...

Those names you cite are there in the UK, but quite a lot further down. Apart from 'Aidan', which does have a long tradition behind it, I don't think I've ever seen any of them here myself.

[Warren DeMontague]

61. I like the top British choices quite a bit more, myself.

:thumbsup:

[moc]

48. Hey, my son's name is Aidan.

Note it's AidAN, not AidEN. The latter is a made up spelling. The name Aidan is an Irish name that dates back centuries:

Aidan is a modern English spelling of the early medieval Gaelic name Áedán. It was relatively common in early medieval Ireland, and was the name of at least two 6th and 7th century saints. In the late Middle Ages, the saint's name was spelled Aodhán, but the name appears to have dropped out of common use after the 10th century or so. Its modern popularity dates to a revival in the 19th or 20th century. (Withycombe; OCM; Woulfe; CE; Annals)

http://medievalscotland.org/problem/names/aidan.shtml

Just because American parents have recently discovered this perfectly respectable Irish name and decided to bastardize it with a range of mispellings is no reason to slam it in general.

[Warren DeMontague]

53. I'm not slamming it. It's a fine name. It's just everywhere. As are the sound-alikes.

Take a look; not just at 2008 but at 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, and 2003. Like I said, a fine name. But come on.

http://www.babynames.com/Names/Popular/

[moc]

60. I know; it bugs the crap out of me.

I had the name picked out 12 years ago when our first child was born since we didn't know my daughter's gender until she was born. Hardly anyone had heard of the name back then. Wouldn't you know it that when we finally had a boy six years later, that name had become so damned popular? Sigh.... And they spell it some weird way so often that no one can spell MY son's name correctly. Drives me bonkers.

[BlooInBloo]

12. Change his name. And not to anything WASP In The City, either.

[KamaAina]

13. File for a name change

to Joseph Stalin Campbell. :evilgrin:

edit: Stalin worse than Mussolini by a long shot.

[Mist]

15. Holy shit, if two years old is "late in life," what does that make me? (I'm 50). Of course I'd

change the kid's name, fer Chrissake.

[TheCowsCameHome]

17. I'd be eternally thankful his name wasn't Dick Cheney Campbell.

[Liberal_in_LA]

21. Was he taken from birth parents for weird name only?

[anonymous171]

24. Change his middle name to Hilter. nt

[salguine]

25. I'd rename him Hirschel Moses Lifschitz.

[LisaL]

26. I sure wouldn't be calling that kid an Adolph Hitler.

[liberal1973]

28. Just think kid

You were one step away from being Rush Limbaugh Campbell. Just one more puff.

[trthnd4jstc]

31. Work to change the name. nt

[Raine]

34. Change his name

it's the height of cruelty for him to have a hideous name like that.

[fujiyama]

35. The name he has is not practical in the least

The foster parents should immediately petition the state to have it changed. Hell, there should be no need to petition the state. They should have renamed him themselves.

The name can cripple his future. Just imagine his problems later in life. Many won't take it seriously. They'll think it's a joke. If they don't think that, they'll figure he's some sort of freak - seems wrong to suffer that way because of parents with a hard on for a genocidal monster.

[JVS]

36. I'd start by getting him a nice welcoming cake with his name on it!

;-)

[frustrated_lefty]

38. I'd feed him and tuck him into bed.

The name change doesn't require his knowledge or input.

[Dorian Gray]

39. The poor child...

I hope he has a chance to grow up into a giving and loving human being. He was dealt an awful hand for such a young child.

[carlyhippy]

41. switch the letters around and call him Dale Holt Campbell

I used most of the letters anyway

[Blue_Tires]

44. rename him Max Bialystock

[Mamacrat]

45. Good one!

Max Bialystock.

The Aidens, Jadens, Caitlens, pretty much sums up what I hear on the playground with my 3 1/2-year-old, who has a "normal" name, albeit one we've yet to hear. I took that into consideration. That said, Aiden would be just fine over Adolph Hitler.

On another note, someone did ask about this above... As horrible as the name is, can you really take a child just for that alone? I know some countries have to approve the names, but then they have to do that for everyone. I think a good lawyer could argue for their right to name their child anything they want, given that the name is an actual name, not a body part. Not that there won't be a great argument to the contrary, of course.

[WI_DEM]

49. I'd sure take the Hitler out.

[Sanctified]

54. Just would not use his middle name when calling him. Adolf H. Campbell is a fine name. n/t

[SoCalDem]

62. Unless parental rights have been permanently stripped away

I would guess that no one can legally change the name..Would a new birth certificate be issued with the name change, when and if the names get changed?

The sad part is that school admission requires a birth certificate, and even with a nickname, the "official name" would be used for school purposes, and would have to have some impact on the teachers those children ended up with :(

In the meantime, they probably do use nick names.. Their caseworker should be checking into legally changing those kiddies' names, though...BEFORE they start school.

[Hekate]

63. I'd assign him a new nickname immediately. Nearly everyone has a nickname...

... especially little kids.

I don't know how the State could intervene in changing his and his sister's names, but it would be a kindness to do so before kindergarten.

Hekate