Something I was wondering about.

[jekylljuice]

Originally Posted by antgirl1

Maybe there might be imaginary schools and human schools.

Surely that would count as segregation.

I can think of two instances within the show in which IFs have been adopted by adults for their own purposes, both of which had negative outcomes. The first, of course, was Kip Snip's adoption of Bloo in "the Sweet Stench of Success" (Kip had tricked Bloo into signing the adoption papers; nonetheless, his initial offer was to adopt Bloo). The second occurs in "Emancipation Complication", when Mac's principal purchases Wilt, with apparently little more intention than to use him as a flag pole (and was presumably one of many adults who took advantage of the opportunity for inexpensive labour). In Kip's case I guess the legality of it is highly questionable, and given that the latter example occurred during Lil Lincoln's extremely shady reign it's by no means representative of standard Foster's protocol. Either way, I would hope that they're not totally opposed to the concept of childless adults adopting IFs, because I'm sure that there are many responsible adults out there who lead lonely existences and could certainly use the companionship of an imaginary friend - why would they have any less right to one than a lonely child? That said, the fact that most kids are persuaded to give up their IFs when they reach a certain age strongly implies that having an IF companion is widely regarded as a "kid's thing", to be put away with the Barbies and the G.I. Joes. I can see a couple who chose to adopt an IF and raise it as a child facing a whole load of social stigma. Anyone seen AI: Artificial Intelligence? I haven't since it first came out, but from what I remember the troubles faced by the robots in that movie might not be terribly different to what an IF might face if used as an alternative to a real child. I don't know, maybe it's not such a good example.

Naturally, I agree that we're never likely to receive answers to these questions, but it's still fun to think about them.