Lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents' experiences in preschool environments

Abstract

Little research has examined the school experiences of lesbian/gay (LG) parent families or adoptive parent families. The current exploratory study examined the experiences of 79 lesbian, 75 gay male, and 112 heterosexual adoptive parents of preschool-age children with respect to their (a) level of disclosure regarding their LG parent and adoptive family status at their children's schools; (b) perceived challenges in navigating the preschool environment and advocating on behalf of their children and families; and (c) recommendations to teachers and schools about how to create affirming school environments with respect to family structure, adoption, and race/ethnicity. Findings revealed that the majority of parents were open about their LG and adoptive family status, and had not encountered challenges related to family diversity. Those parents who did experience challenges tended to describe implicit forms of marginalization, such as insensitive language and school assignments. Recommendations for teachers included discussing and reading books about diverse families, tailoring assignments to meet the needs of diverse families, and offering school community-building activities and events to help bridge differences across families.

“There Is No Perfect School”: The Complexity of School Decision‐Making Among Lesbian and Gay Adoptive Parents

“…Alternatively, schools can also actively disrupt and challenge heteronormativity, such as through their physical structures (e.g., trans‐inclusive restrooms) and curricular and extracurricular offerings (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender [LGBT] history month, LGBT student groups; Russell, Day, Ioverno, & Toomey, ). Aware of the potential for both invisibility and scrutiny of their families within the school context, LG adoptive parents may be motivated to seek out schools they believe will be affirming (Goldberg, ).…”

Towards creating inclusive environments for LGBTIQ-parented families in early childhood education and care settings: A review of the literature

“…Whilst societal understandings of ‘family’ may have progressed to include diverse family make-up, some LGBTIQ-parented families report that EC educators recognise and value the biological parent of a child more than the same-sex partner (Leland, 2017). Same-sex parents may be marginalised by school activities such as the celebration of Mother’s Day and Father’s Day (Goldberg, 2014; Lee, 2010). In addition, EC education curricula and centre policies may fail to explicitly reflect children with LGBTIQ parents (Michaud & Stelmach, 2019).…”

“…Ensuring that all families remain engaged with the ECEC community is important as it impacts on child outcomes (Goldberg, 2014; Goldberg & Smith, 2014a, 2014b, 2017). Children’s learning outcomes are closely related to the parent–educator relationship (Izzo, Weissberg, Kasprow, & Fendrich, 1999; Kim, Sheridan, Kwon, & Koziol, 2013; Goldberg & Smith, 2017), and the way in which LGBTIQ parents and EC educators view and interact with each other is likely to influence perceptions of safety and inclusivity of the ECEC environment for LGBTIQ-parented families and their children (Cloughessy et al, 2017; Goldberg & Smith, 2014a).…”

“…Despite LGBTIQ parents’ accounts of insensitivity and stigma in ECEC settings (Cloughessy & Waniganayake, 2017; Cloughessy et al, 2017; Goldberg, 2014; Goldberg & Smith, 2014a), and EC educators’ self-reported need for training and resources on working with LGBTIQ-parented families (Beren, 2013; Church et al, 2018), limited research has focussed on the provision of pre- or in-service teacher training on meeting the needs of LGBTIQ-parented families (see, for example, Beren, 2013; Janmohamed, 2014; Riggs & Due, 2013). Somewhat counter-intuitively, it appears that even when EC educators hold positive attitudes towards LGBTIQ-parented families, they are less likely to act upon their stated attitudes (Hedge, Averett, White, & Deese, 2014).…”

Displaying families. Significado y valor de las familias de origen en la homoparentalidad

“…Esta aparente libertad en la configuración del modelo familiar contrasta con las múltiples negociaciones y discriminaciones que tienen que afrontar estas parejas a la hora de configurar su familia en un sistema dominado por la norma heterosexual (Warner, 2001). Algunas de estas situaciones proceden del contexto social más amplio, esto es: prohibición o dificultad de acceso a los tratamientos de reproducción asistida (Mezey, 2013), rechazo o discriminación en el sistema educativo (Goldberg, 2014) o entre las redes sociales próximas (Mamo, 2007), entre otras. Junto con las situaciones descritas, las parejas del mismo sexo también tienen que afrontar un proceso de negociación, y posible discriminación, con sus respectivas familias de origen (Pichardo, 2009;Wakeley y Tuason, 2001).…”