Second Edition

New collection of stories from lesbian, gay and transgender foster and adoptive parents about the challenges and rewards of parenting children of all ages. Interviews with some of the first LGBT families to adopt or foster also gives unique insight into parenting adolescent and adult children with reflections on recent policy and cultural changes.

Wisdom and experience from lesbian, gay, and transgender foster and adoptive parents

Featuring a spectrum families from a diverse backgrounds, this book reveals the joys and challenges of adoptive and foster parenting.

The authors outline how the experience of adopting of fostering has changed for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people over the years, outlining some of the major changes in policy, and what the research can tell us about LGBT parenting and adopted and fostered children. They interview families involved at different stages of the fostering and adoption process, from those undergoing assessments through to the experienced foster carers and adopters who were interviewed for the first edition of this book 20 years previously, and describe parenting adolescent and adult children. While the number of LGBT people adopting or fostering has increased since then, some of the very real challenges still endure: encounters with social stigma, racism, homophobia, and discriminatory policies — and families share some of the strategies they have used to help address these.

Full of remarkable stories that stay with the reader well after reading, this is an essential guide for same-sex couples and LGBT single parents, as well as social workers, social work educators and fostering and adoption panel members.

Contents:

1. Who Currently Adopts?
2. Adopting and Fostering as a Couple or Single Parent.
3. Race and Culture.
4. Bisexual, Trans and Queer Adoption and Fostering.
5. Disability and LGBT Adoption and Fostering.
6. Kinship Care.
7. Sexuality and Attachment.
8. Coming Out: Is it Important?
9. Ethical Dilemmas in Lesbian and Gay Adoption and Foster Parenting.
10. Adopted and Foster Children Grow Up.
11. Support Groups and Networks.
12. Social Work and Lesbian and Gay Adoption.
13. Placement Experiences.
14. Conclusion.
15. Useful Organisations and Websites.