First single dad to adopt child in Türkiye gives first interview
ISTANBUL
Serkan Özübek, who broke new ground in Türkiye by becoming the first single male to adopt a child in the country in 2019, has come to the forefront in this year’s Fathers Day with his first interview “he gave with his son” after three years.
“I always wanted to father a child even if I was not the biological dad,” Özübek told daily Milliyet on June 19.
His foster child, whose identity was kept secret by Özübek, is now five and a half years old. The duo became a family when the boy was over 2 years old.
“I feel as if we have been together with him since his birth,” the father said.
When asked if he was afraid to raise a child as a single dad, he quickly replied, “No.”
“When I applied, my name was put on a waiting list for 3, 4 and 5 years old children,” he said. “When he entered my life, he could walk, talk and even feed himself. So I was not scared.”
Though this was his first interview, he has been airing his life with his adopted child on his social media account named “kalptenbaba,” roughly translated as “father from heart.”
“Taking courage from my experiences, some 30 people applied to the state to adopt children or be foster parents,” he said proudly.
In his words, Özübek was a man who had many relations that could not “end with marriages or labors.”
“I have six cousins, and I wanted a child so much. I believed in myself that I could raise one properly,” he expressed.
When asked about his feeling when he first united with his son, Özübek stated, “An emotional film frame.”
In Türkiye, social services invite the applicant to the center and present the file of the foster child without a photo to the applicant. Officials then ask if they want to see the child or not.
Applicants may refuse to see the foster child candidates three times.
“As soon as I read his file, I said, ‘Yes, I want to see.’ One day later, we united,” he said, resembling himself like a “father-to-be waiting in front of the delivery room with anxiety.”
It only took five minutes for the child “to get out of his shell,” “hug his foster father,” and climb to his father’s shoulders.
Experts think that a foster child should know their situation when he is 6 or 7 years old.
“He knows it, but from time to time, I say that he is a foster child.”
Strongly recommending all those who lean toward adoption, Özübek said, “People should not hesitate to adopt one when there are a lot of children waiting for new families at care houses.”
