Special Report: Family affair

And you don't have to leave Massachusetts to find more adults than you'd expect under one roof.

This attorney, computer expert and physicist say three is definitely not a crowd.

"I'm one of a triad, as we call it, a three person intentional family; three adults and two children," one said.

The three, who didn't want to show their faces, say they have been living as a husband, wife and wife for more than ten years. All they're missing is marriage certificates.

"We aren't married, because the laws don't permit three people to marry. And you could say, so what's holding us together? Well, we have kids, we're raising kids, the three of us, there are three parents," another said.

They share custody of their 4-year-old twins, they share a mortgage and they share each other's beds.

"There are times when you want sex or you don't. The adults each have their own bedroom, and when somebody wants to go to bed with somebody else, we have some little discussion about whose gonna do it and when," one said.

It may seem like a man's fantasy come true, but in real life it can get a little tricky.

"I didn't say there was no jealousy. I don't really like to listen, so I'd rather they weren't in the next room," another said.

"In terms of how to advise a guy who finds himself in this situation, proceed with extreme caution," the male said.

Raising the kids takes some caution too.

"They're gonna experience rejection from the peer group. They have to understand their life is different and that's a reality," explains Clinical Psychologist and family expert Dr. Luisa Medrano.

It's a reality they don't try to hide from the children.

"They know that they have three parents, and we talked about that not everyone has two mommies and they're lucky that they get have this many," they said.

And with so many divorces they say their twist on tradition is an improvement on the original.

"The point is to have a community in your household of people who are very closely emotionally committed. It's not to have sex with a lot of people. You don't need a committed relationship for that at all," they said.

That's why these two mommies and a daddy say they are committed to this family affair.

While there are no hard and fast numbers on the amount of people living this lifestyle, websites devoted to it estimate the number to be somewhere around 200 in Massachusetts alone.

Related links:
Poly Boston
Polyamory

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