Abstract
Background: While there has been a surge in recent scholarship focusing on gender diverse people, the specific needs of trans and non-binary headed families have historically been overlooked or subsumed within wider LGBTQ+ research. Many gender diverse people may chose to start or grow their family via adoption or fostering, others may wish to conceive. Research and policy that specifically attends to the needs of gender diverse parents and carers is inconsistent and requires development.
Methods: This paper presents a subset of empirical findings from a narrative inquiry, supplemented by the researcher’s practice-based knowledge of gender inclusive social work. Eight gender diverse participants with experience of adoption and fostering and two social workers with experience supporting trans and nonbinary people were recruited via purposive followed by snowball sampling. Qualitative data produced by semi-structured interviews was analysed via a thematic analysis using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-stage method.
Findings: Cisgenderism was prevalent within adoption, fostering and wider health and social care services that gender diverse people access to support family life. Views establishing cisgender-headed families as the norm and trans families as unusual appear to be embedded within societal and professional belief systems.
Conclusions: A reduction in stigma and increased appreciation of the skills and qualities that gender diverse parents can offer children could enable more gender diverse people to start and grow their families. Training and further research on gender diversity is needed to promote societal and professional attitude shifts and support the development of gender inclusive integrated care policies.
Methods: This paper presents a subset of empirical findings from a narrative inquiry, supplemented by the researcher’s practice-based knowledge of gender inclusive social work. Eight gender diverse participants with experience of adoption and fostering and two social workers with experience supporting trans and nonbinary people were recruited via purposive followed by snowball sampling. Qualitative data produced by semi-structured interviews was analysed via a thematic analysis using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-stage method.
Findings: Cisgenderism was prevalent within adoption, fostering and wider health and social care services that gender diverse people access to support family life. Views establishing cisgender-headed families as the norm and trans families as unusual appear to be embedded within societal and professional belief systems.
Conclusions: A reduction in stigma and increased appreciation of the skills and qualities that gender diverse parents can offer children could enable more gender diverse people to start and grow their families. Training and further research on gender diversity is needed to promote societal and professional attitude shifts and support the development of gender inclusive integrated care policies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 23 Jun 2022 |
| Event | JSWEC Social Work Education and Research Annual Conference 2022: Reclaiming the 'social' in social work - Leeds Becket University, Leeds, United Kingdom Duration: 23 Jun 2022 → 24 Jun 2022 https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/school-of-health/jswec-conference/ |
Conference
| Conference | JSWEC Social Work Education and Research Annual Conference 2022 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Leeds |
| Period | 23/06/22 → 24/06/22 |
| Internet address |