Abstract
As same-sex parents begin to adopt/conceive children more frequently, the legal system must determine the parental rights and responsibilities of parents who separate. In order to inform judges and legislators’ decisions, this research investigated same-sex parents’ sentiment about their roles and responsibilities as well as their experiences (as parents) with law and society. Quantitative and qualitative analyses suggested that same-sex parents assumed high amounts of parental responsibility, demonstrated strong parent–child bonds, and took on fundamental roles in their children’s lives. Many parents reported that they (or their partner) could not establish legal rights, leading to negative physical and emotional outcomes. Implications for therapeutic outcomes are discussed.
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Notes
- 1.
For the purpose of this study, partners were broadly defined as individuals involved in a romantic cohabitating relationship—ranging from long-term dating to gay marriage (or the equivalent).
- 2.
Because parents could be in more than one category, the total for these three groups was larger than the N.
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Acknowledgement
The authors would like to thank the American Psychology-Law Society and the University of Nevada, Reno Graduate School for funding this research.
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Chamberlain, J., Miller, M.K., Rivera, C. (2015). Same-Sex Parents’ Sentiment About Parenthood and the Law: Implications for Therapeutic Outcomes. In: Miller, M., Blumenthal, J., Chamberlain, J. (eds) Handbook of Community Sentiment. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1899-7_13
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