Three Cheers As Young and the Restless Gets Real With Mariah and Tessa

Now that Mariah Copeland and Tessa Porter are married on The Young and the Restless, we all know what a hard time writers have coming up with stories for happy couples. If Mariah and Tessa don’t cheat on each other, and if Tessa’s brief medical crisis seems to be over, there needs to be a different conflict.

Young and the Restless Gets Real

The pair having a hard time going through with their adoption plans is a good one, and kudos to Y&R for not making it a boring cliché and predictable reason.

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It would have been knee-jerk and way too easy to say that Mariah (Camryn Grimes) and Tessa (Cait Fairbanks) were having trouble getting picked by a birth mother is because they’re a same-sex couple. But, the fact is, lots of adoption agencies and lawyers work with same-sex couples, and if one said no, there are dozens who’d be happy to take their money.

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It’s actually much more realistic to have a lawyer advise Mariah and Tessa that if they want to do an open adoption — where the birth mom approves them specifically — they’re facing an uphill slog, considering their mutual criminal record. Not to mention that, in many states, all prospective parents have to go through a home study process, where past arrests are a reason to deny the application. (This is only for adoptive parents. Biological parents with criminal records can have as many kids as they want.)

Mariah and Tessa think that Christine Blair Williams (Lauralee Bell) will be a much better advocate for them. (Because she did such a great job with little Dominic’s surrogacy situation!)

But even she can’t change the law…or coerce a birth mother. Well, she shouldn’t, at least. This may be the biggest challenge this young couple has to face. And it’s one well-rooted in history…and logic.

The Young and the Restless (YR) airs weekdays on CBS. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Genoa City, check out all the latest that’s been posted on Y&R spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.