Parenting
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Stigmatization Associated With Growing Up in a Lesbian-parented Family: What Do Adolescents Experience and How Do They Deal With It?
By Loes van Gelderen, Nanette Gartrell, Henny M.W. Bos, et al.
March 2012
Fifty percent of 17-year-olds who grew up in lesbian-headed families in the United States have experienced stigmatization, but were able to cope, according to a new study published in Children and Youth Services Review.
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Case of Atala Riffo and Children vs. Chile
Translated by Stephanie Plotin
March 2012
Official Summary Issued By the Inter-American Court of the Decision
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Children and Families Impacted and Fiscal Impact of Virginia HB 189/SB 349
By Gary Gates
February 2012
We estimate that 1,700 adopted children and 300 foster children are being raised by single lesbians and gay men in Virginia. If this legislation were to pass, families such as these may find it more difficult to serve as adoptive or foster parents, resulting in more children in congregate care or more children remaining in foster care for longer periods of time.
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Family Formation and Raising Children Among Same-sex Couples
By Gary Gates
January 2012
Proportionally fewer same-sex couples are raising children today than in 2006, and their families reflect greater racial/ethnic and socioeconomic diversity than often represented in the media and academic research, according to new analyses by Williams Distinguished Scholar Dr. Gary Gates, published by the National Council of Family Relations.
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Quality of Life of Adolescents Raised From Birth by Lesbian Mothers
By Loes van Gelderen, Henny Bos, Nanette Gartrell, Jo Hermanns, Ellen C. Perrin
January 2012
The quality of life of 17-year-olds reared in lesbian-parent families did not differ from that of a matched group of adolescents who grew up in heterosexual-parent families.
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New Trends in Same-Sex Contact for American Adolescents?
By Nanette Gartrell, Henny Bos, and Naomi Goldberg
December 2011
New data suggests that seventeen-year-old girls are significantly less likely to have been heterosexually active and more than twice as likely to have had same-sex contact (11% v. 5%). They are also more likely to have used emergency contraception and less likely to have been pregnant.
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Family Characteristics, Custody Arrangements, and Adolescent Psychological Well-being After Lesbian Mothers Break Up
Nanette Gartrell, Henny Bos, Heidi Peyser, Amalia Deck, And Carla Rodas
November 2011
Based on the first longitudinal study on dissolutions among lesbian couples, this article suggests the importance of co-parent adoption for same-sex couples with children.
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Brief of Amici Curiae: Adar v. Smith
By Jennifer C. Pizer and R. Bradley Sears
August 2011
for the Surpreme Court’s Review of Unmarried Parent Adoptions, Adar v. Smith
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Substance use by adolescents of the USA national longitudinal lesbian family study
By Naomi G. Goldberg, Henny M.W. Bos, Nanette K. Gartrell
May 2011
Although studies show that adolescents with same-sex parents experience homophobic discrimination, little is known about associations between stigmatization and substance use in this population. The 17-year-old offspring of lesbian parents from the largest, longest-running, longitudinal study of same-sex parented families were surveyed about substance use, experiences of homophobic stigmatization, and overall life satisfaction.
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Stigma, Social Context, and Mental Health: Lesbian and Gay Couples Across the Transition to Adoptive Parenthood
By Abbie E. Goldberg, JuliAnna Z. Smith
February 2011
This is the first study to examine change in depression and anxiety across the first year of adoptive parenthood in same-sex couples (90 couples: 52 lesbian, 38 gay male). Given that sexual minorities uniquely contend with sexual orientation-related stigma, this study examined how both internalized and enacted forms of stigma affect the mental health of lesbians and gay men during the transition to parenthood.
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Adolescents of the USA National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Can Family Characteristics Counteract the Negative Effects of Stigmatization?
By Nanette K. Gartrell, Henny M. W. Bos
December 2010
This investigation examines the impact of homophobic stigmatization on the wellbeing of 17-year-old adolescents who were conceived through donor insemination and whose mothers enrolled before they were born in the largest, longest-running, prospective study of lesbian families, with a 93% retention rate to date.
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Adolescents of the U.S. National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Sexual Orientation, Sexual Behavior, and Sexual Risk Exposure
By Nanette K. Gartrell, Henny M. W. Bos, Naomi G. Goldberg
November 2010
This study assessed Kinsey self-ratings and lifetime sexual experiences of 17-year-olds with lesbian mothers in the longest-running, prospective study of same-sex parented families. The results revealed that there were no reports of physical or sexual victimization by a parent or other caregiver.
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Preadoptive Factors Predicting Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Couples’ Relationship Quality Across the Transition to Adoptive Parenthood
By Abbie E. Goldberg, Deborah A. Kashy, JuliAnna Z. Smith
August 2010
The authors examined preadoptive factors as predictors of relationship quality (love, ambivalence, and conflict) among 125 couples (44 lesbian couples, 30 gay male couples, and 51 heterosexual couples) across the 1st year of adoptive parenthood.
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Parenting and Child Development in Adoptive Families: Does Parental Sexual Orientation Matter?
By Rachel H. Farr, Stephen L. Forssell, Charlotte J. Patterson
July 2010
This study, funded by Williams Institute, investigated child development and parenting in 106 families headed by 27 lesbian, 29 gay, and 50 heterosexual couples with young adopted children. Parents and teachers reported that, on average, children were developing in typical ways.
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The Impact of Expanding FMLA Rights to Care for Children of Same-Sex Partners
By M.V. Lee Badgett
June 2010
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has expanded its scope of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) to allow employees to be allowed unpaid leave to care for the children of unmarried same-sex partners, but does not extend this unpaid leave to care for ill unmarried same-sex partners.
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US National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study: Psychological Adjustment of 17-Year-Old Adolescents
By Nanette Gartrell, Henny Bos
June 2010
The objective of this study was to document the psychological adjustment of adolescents who were conceived through donor insemination by lesbian mothers who enrolled before these offspring were born in the largest, longest running, prospective, longitudinal study of same-sex–parented families.
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Transracial Adoption by Lesbian, Gay, and Heterosexual Couples
By Rachel Farr, Charlotte Patterson
August 2009
Transracial adoptions occurred more often among lesbian and gay than among heterosexual couples, and they occurred more often among interracial than among same-race couples. Lesbian and gay couples were more likely than heterosexual couples to be interracial. Transracial adoptions were also more common among those who gave child-centered reasons as compared to adult-centered reasons for adoption.
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Kentucky Foster Care/Adoption Ban Cost Estimate
By Naomi G. Goldberg, M.V. Lee Badgett
February 2009
This memo estimates the impact on children and the cost to the State of Kentucky of Senate Bill 68, “The Child Welfare Adoption Act,” which would prohibit unmarried cohabiting couples from fostering or adopting children. We estimate that 630 foster children will be removed from their current homes and placements during the first year that the ban is in effect and 85 children in foster care will either not be adopted or remain in foster care longer. As a result, the ban will cost the State of Kentucky over $5.3 million in the first year.
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Florida Adoption Ban/Cost Estimate
By Naomi G. Goldberg, M.V. Lee Badgett
February 2009
This memo estimates the impact on children and the cost to the State of Florida of the current prohibition on adoption by gay, lesbian, and bisexual (GLB) individuals and same-sex couples. Prohibiting GLB individuals and same-sex couples from adopting means that 165 children must remain in foster care or must have alternative adoptive homes recruited for them. As a result, we estimate that the ban costs the State of Florida over $2.5 million in per year.
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Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States
By Gary J. Gates, M.V. Lee Badgett, Kate Chambers, Jennifer Macomber
March 2007
This report provides new information on GLB adoption and foster care from the U.S. Census 2000, the National Survey of Family Growth (2002), and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (2004).
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