What did Jonas' father want to do about the newchild, Gabriel? Why?

Jonas’s father wants to bring the newchild home for extra nurturing.

Jonas’s father is a Nurturer, and his job is to take care of infants.  In Jonas’s community, infants are known as newchildren and are raised in an institutionalized setting for the first year of their life.  They are cared for by Nurturers.  At the evening telling of feelings ritual, Jonas’s father shares that he is worried about one of the newchildren. 

"He's a sweet...

Jonas’s father wants to bring the newchild home for extra nurturing.

Jonas’s father is a Nurturer, and his job is to take care of infants.  In Jonas’s community, infants are known as newchildren and are raised in an institutionalized setting for the first year of their life.  They are cared for by Nurturers.  At the evening telling of feelings ritual, Jonas’s father shares that he is worried about one of the newchildren. 

"He's a sweet little male with a lovely disposition. But he isn't growing as fast as he should, and he doesn't sleep soundly. We have him in the extra care section for supplementary nurturing, but the committee's beginning to talk about releasing him." (Ch. 1) 

Jonas’s father is supposed to just let this release happen. Although he does not know that release means the baby dies, he knows it means the baby leaves and it is considered a failure for the community.  He doesn’t want that to happen, so he comes up with a plan.  He looks up the baby’s name, Gabriel, and calls him that secretly.  Then he asks to bring Gabriel home with him at night. 

Although the family seems to enjoy having Gabe in their household, it is against the rules to have more than two children so they can't keep him.  A family is allowed one girl and one boy.  Despite this, Jonas’s father must be very persuasive, because he is still not released when he turns a year old. 

Father had gone before the committee with a plea on behalf of Gabriel, who had not yet gained the weight appropriate to his days of life nor begun to sleep soundly enough at night to be placed with his family unit. (Ch. 6) 

It is pretty amazing that this community, which so routinely releases newchildren, would give Gabriel so many extra chances.  Jonas’s father must have a lot of clout.  Unfortunately, even he gives up on Gabe eventually, when after another year he still does not sleep through the night.  He votes for Gabe’s release, and Jonas escapes and takes the baby with him.