‘Who is in Your Family?’ Italian Children with Non‐heterosexual Parents Talk about Growing Up in a Non‐conventional Household

Abstract

The paper presents findings from explorative research conducted in Italy with seven 9-to 12-year-old children with non-heterosexual parents. The aim was to find out how children describe their family structure, how they talk about their family with peers, and how they experience peers' attitudes toward non-heterosexual families.Findings show that children have a flexible and inclusive representation of family and they disclose selectively with their peers who don't always consider homosexuality normal and homoparental families "real families".

Adolescents Conceived through Donor Insemination in Mother‐Headed Families: A Qualitative Study of Motivations and Experiences of Contacting and Meeting Same‐donor Offspring

“…Father's Day) led to feelings of being different to others; however, these differences were not about their donor conception per se , but about not having a father. Children in same‐sex couple families form their own interpretations of their social surroundings which can lead to them being selective about whom they discuss their family structure with (Bosisio and Ronfani, ) Establishing a basic sense of the differences between oneself and others at an early age enables a better understanding of one's identity during adolescence in a clear and cohesive manner (Marcia, ). Acknowledgement of donor conception origins from an early age therefore appears to be an important factor in normalising this experience.…”

Kinship Practices Among Alternative Family Forms in Western Industrialized Societies

“…Another stream of literature on gay families suggests that children deconstruct the normative centrality of biogenetic connections. An Italian study showed that kinship for children of same‐sex parents is mostly constructed through the act of parents “doing” caretaking (Bosisio & Ronfani, 2016). Children living with two mothers demonstrated an inclusive and flexible representation of the family that goes far beyond biological and genetic aspects.…”

“…Despite popular assumptions about same‐sex parent families, children are committed to presenting their family and parents as “normal.” Evidence suggests that children carefully select the peers to whom they explain their family configurations and tend to be more open about having two mothers rather than having two fathers, as peers' reactions are more challenging when men are involved and a mother figure is absent (Bosisio & Ronfani, 2016; Davies, 2011). Research on lesbian couples that had children through donor conception also suggests that children engage in kinship practices by creating a sense of lineage and line of descent that extend long into the past by borrowing “relational biographies” (Nordqvist, 2014), that is, by retrospectively applying their parents' past relationship to make it part of their own family history.…”

Familia y escuela en el mundo contemporáneo

“…Investigaciones realizadas en Reino Unido, Italia y Estados Unidos demuestran que los niños criados por padres del mismo sexo no presentan alteraciones en el desarrollo social, cognitivo o de la identidad y orientación sexual. Sin embargo, en la socialización con sus pares, aquellos recurren a la revelación selectiva de información sobre su familia, pese a que mantienen representaciones más amplias y flexibles sobre este concepto (Bosisio y Ronfani, 2016).…”