Clinical Themes in Gay- and Lesbian-Parented Adoptive Families

Abstract

When gay and lesbian people choose to create families by adoption, there is a complex intersection of issues relevant to the work of clinicians treating such families, especially their children. This article identifies identity and responsibility as two clinical themes emergent in the confluence of these issues and gives special attention to those themes’ importance to clinical work with children and adolescents in families, as they form and continue through their post-adoption years. The changing face of gay and lesbian parenting demands that researchers, educators, clinicians, and policy makers explore the issues of gay and lesbian adoptive parents and their children in their own right, not assuming that they are necessarily the same as those faced by other lesbian and gay families.