Are you interested in becoming a foster carer but don't know enough about it? Perhaps you assume your circumstances or expectations mean you wouldn't be accepted. Here, with help from Achieving for Children, we get all your questions answered. There are now 70,000 children in care. Many of these children are on the adoption register…
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Worldwide surrogacy: an update
Sam Everingham runs Families Through Surrogacy, a not for profit organisation providing advice and support on international surrogacy. Building up to their EU conference in London on 5th March and Dublin on 6th March he gives us a round up of notable changes in worldwide surrogacy. Sam lives is Australia with his partner and twin…
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Getting fresh in the flesh: fresh sperm vs defrosted frozen sperm
Alice Ellerby and her lesbian partner want a family one day so they've started looking into their options. As an aerialist and performer Alice was inspired to create Mother Mother, a collaborative show about lesbians' experiences of becoming mothers. In part two of Alice's guest blog she gets a rare opportunity to see life being…
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Interview with Susan Golombok
Susan Golombok is director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge. Her fascinating book, published in March this year, brings together over thirty years of research into new family forms – forms which include lesbian and gay-parented families, single mothers by choice, and families created through assisted reproduction techniques (ART). The…
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Calling two mummies
Mother Mother is an innovative performance project in development for 2016, exploring the experiences of lesbians who use donor conception to create their families. Incorporating circus, theatre, projected images and animation, it looks at parenthood outside ‘normal’ family structures, attitudes to assisted reproduction, gender identity and more. The company, a collaboration between lead artist and…
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LGBT adoption: jargon buster
Jargon buster Tummy mummy: an easy term instead of birth mother that young kids understand Forever family: a child’s adoptive family are known as their forever family to acknowledge the permanent bond between them Life story work: a story book with, where possible, photographs of each child’s journey from birth through foster care to their…
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The adoption process in 10 steps
Here’s a breakdown of the adoption process. This may vary depending on your agency but these are the likely steps involved. Step 1: preliminary enquiry Make contact with a local adoption team through your council, a charity or other adoption organisations. They will ask you a few questions to establish whether you are eligible,…
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“Our best Christmas present ever!”
Paul and Mark had always wanted to be parents. After hearing positive things about adoption through Salford City Council they decided to go for it and apply. This is their journey... Watching their two-year-old son tear round the house on Christmas Day was better than any Christmas present Manchester couple Paul* and Mark* could have…
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A tribute to looked after children for their resilience
Guest blogger Anna Bianchi is a creative activist, writer, workshop teacher and change guide, as well as a grandmother with a 4-year-old grandson who is exploring female gender identity. Anna's last post exploring supporting her grandson's gender identity expression through courageous parenting created quite a bit of debate. Here, in her second blog post, Anna…
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Twin-to-twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS)
Tricia and Cathy were excited but daunted when they found out they were pregnant with multiple babies. Then they found out they had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS)… After a difficult time finding a clinic they were happy with, and choosing donor sperm, the couple were delighted when they found out Cathy was pregnant. “Two weeks…
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