Abstract

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

The authors outline how the experience of adopting and fostering has changed for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people over the years, major changes in policy, and what the research can tell us about LGBT parenting. 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. While the number of LGBT people adopting or fostering has increased since then, some of the very real challenges still endure - including social stigma, homophobia and discriminatory policies - and families share some of the strategies they have used to help to address them.

This is an essential source of information and advice for same-sex couples and LGBT single parents, as well as social workers, social work educators, sociologists of personal life, fostering and adoption panel members.

Stephen Hicks is a Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Manchester, and was a chair of the Northern Support Group for Lesbian and Gay Foster Carers and Adopters. He lives in Manchester, UK and is the author of Lesbian, Gay and Queer Parenting: Families, Intimacies, Genealogies.

Janet McDermott is an Asian lesbian writer, trainer and adoptive parent based in Sheffield and was a founder member of the Northern Support Group for Lesbian and Gay Foster Carers and Adopters. She lives in Sheffield, UK, and is the author of Dancing Cows.