Gay, lesbian and heterosexual adoptive families: family relationships, child adjustment and adopters' experiences

Abstract

Since the introduction of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and the Civil Partnership Act 2005, many lesbian and gay couples have started families through adoption; yet, to date, research on same-sex parent families has almost exclusively focused on families in which children were conceived through a heterosexual relationship or assisted reproduction. What is more, despite a large body of evidence regarding lesbian mother families, there have been few studies of children’s adjustment when raised by gay fathers. The circumstances of gay father families are more unusual than lesbian mother families; not only are the parents same-sex, but it is also rare for fathers, be they heterosexual or gay, to be the primary caregivers. It is not known what the combined effect of these two factors might be on children’s social, emotional, identity and gender development as they grow older. This study was the first to examine families in which children live, from early childhood, with their adoptive gay fathers, lesbian mothers or heterosexual parents in the UK. The focus was on the quality of parent–child relationships, parental wellbeing and child psychological development. Our aim was to produce robust evidence that may be used to inform all those who work with lesbian and gay adopters and their children about the experiences of adoption and family functioning in same-sex parent families. Names and identifying information have been changed. On the following pages, we present a report highlighting the key findings.

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