LGBTQ Family Building Primer
Part I: The Intro
My passion is helping people to form families when traditional methods are out of the question. I know what it's like to strongly desire a child and my heart goes out to anyone who faces an obstacle on their way to building a family. Having worked in "ART" Assisted Reproductive Technology since 1998 I have counseled hundreds of intended parents facing fertility issues. For the most part infertility often comes down to what is missing, be that gametes or a uterus and nothing brings me more joy than to help intended parent to find those missing pieces so they can reach their goal of parenthood.
California is the most supportive state in the country for building a family through non-traditional means. You may think that this is solely because California is so forward thinking. Although that's true that may also be because there are more fertility clinics in California than any other state in the union and clinics are a business like any other competing for business. Next, California is one of the few states where a same sex couple can have their names appear on their child's birth certificate through a pre-birth order.
There are many options available for family building adoption both domestic and international, third party fertility another odd term essentially meaning you contract to borrow the missing gametes that are needed to build a family, either an egg donor, sperm donor and/or surrogate. Regardless of which avenue of family building you choose there are a lot of issues to be addressed, medical, psychological and legal. Things are never as simple or as straightforward as they may seem. Which is why over the next few weeks I will delve into each area blog by blog.
Gail Sexton Anderson, Ed.M
Gail Sexton Anderson has dedicated her career to helping intended parents from all walks of life to build families. She holds a master’s degree in counseling from Harvard Graduate School of Education. In 1998, Gail began her work with intended parents and is the founder of Donor Concierge. She is a frequent speaker at fertility conferences, blogger, and consultant. Gail has been married since 1984 and has two wonderful children. Having the privilege of being a mother has ignited her passion for helping others experience the joy of parenting.
