By Stephanie M. Caballero
By Lornet Turnbull
Seattle Times staff reporter
Some men rocked and cradled young babies; others pushed gleeful toddlers high on the playground swings.
Among them were fathers still getting used to maladies like colic and diaper rash and others gearing up for back to school.
And all of them were gay -- dads of children ages 3 months to 10 years, who gathered for a picnic at Cal Anderson Park on Capitol Hill on Sunday to share stories of child rearing and offer each other support.
They included new dads such as Peter de Zoete and Frans Middendorff, originally from the Netherlands, who, hoping for twins, began making arrangements two years ago to have children through surrogacy -- and who, four months ago, brought home a baby boy and girl.
And Reade Cook and Kris Winkler, who arranged through private adoption to become parents to Markus, born in New York 18 months ago.
The fathers are members of Feather Boa Fathers, a support group for gay men who either already have children or are thinking about doing so, whether through adoption, foster parenting or some form of surrogacy.
It's a way, they say, for their children to get to know others growing up in families like their own.
Larry Nicholas, a psychotherapist from Capitol Hill who formed the idea for the group eight months ago, before his 4-month-old daughter, Orly, was born, said, "There's room in the Puget Sound for groups like this -- and there's a need."
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 19 percent of same-sex male couples in Washington -- about 1,423 couples -- are raising children younger than 18.
Nicholas arranged the group's first get-together through meetup.com, an online community that helps people with shared interests plan events and form online clubs.
About 53 people -- gay men and their children -- attended Sunday's picnic in the children's section of the park. Some laid blankets on the lawn and watched as their children romped about. Others stood by as their kids explored the jungle gym.
Nicholas, 41, said he and his partner, Tom Underhill, began talking about having children on their second date.
"We have different clocks," he said, joking he didn't want to be raising children later in life.
The men were at the hospital when his daughter was born four months ago -- in the next room behind a curtain, he said.
"Fatherhood has been great," he said, adding, "We have a great support system."
Cook, 36, and Winkler, 45, have been partners for 10 years and about two years ago began adding children to their family.
Cook said the couple have a regular cohort of close friends -- also gay fathers -- in whom they find support, sharing baby-sitting duties and swapping tips.
Middendorff, 30, and de Zoete, 40, had been discussing having children for 10 years. But while they could marry in their native Netherlands, laws there prohibit surrogacy, in which a woman agrees to carry and bear a child that others would raise.
The men, partners for 14 years, were living in Hong Kong in 2005 when they first began making plans to have children through surrogacy. Twins Coco and her brother Jonas were born in Ohio in March.
"We were shocked at how many gay families we've met in the few months we've been in Seattle. Today, this is amazing," Middendorff said.
Added de Zoete, "It's good for kids to see other families with gay dads."
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Blood Is Not Thicker Than Water When It Comes To Family
By Stephanie M. Caballero
British Psychological Society
Parents who have children via embryo donation or adoption have just as good relationships with their children as parents who are genetically related to their children. But more than half of all embryo donation families try to keep the origins of their children's birth a secret.
This is the finding of Dr Fiona MacCallum and Sarah Keeley of the University of Warwick. They presented their results on Friday 31 August 2007, at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section Annual Conference at the University of Plymouth.
Dr MacCallum's research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explores the importance of the experience of pregnancy and childbirth on the quality of parenting. They questioned 17 embryo donation families with a child aged between five and nine and compared them with 24 adoptive families and 29 families with genetically related IVF children.
The researchers found the quality of parenting and the formation of good parent-child relationships did not depend on a genetic link between parent and child, nor was the experience of pregnancy and childbirth vital for parents to bond with their child - as is the case with donated embryos.
In fact, embryo donation and adoptive families showed equally positive parenting. For example, the parents expressed high levels of warmth and affection towards their children and enjoying spending time and playing with their child. Dr MacCallum said: "All of these families show high quality parenting and all children from these families show normal social and emotional development."
The only difference between the three types of family was that embryo donation families were more likely to keep the method of family creation a secret from their child - with only 41 per cent saying they planned to tell their children how they were conceived compared to 89 per cent of IVF families. All of the adoptive families said they would reveal their child's history.
This could have family implications because as part of the draft Human Tissues and Embryos Bill, the government have recommended that children born from donated sperm or eggs should have this fact recorded on their birth certificates.
Dr MacCallum said: "The views of the donor conception parents are at odds with proposed moves towards openness. If new legislation enforces disclosure through birth certificates, information and support about how to discuss this issue with children must be readily available to all such families."
British Psychological Society
Parents who have children via embryo donation or adoption have just as good relationships with their children as parents who are genetically related to their children. But more than half of all embryo donation families try to keep the origins of their children's birth a secret.
This is the finding of Dr Fiona MacCallum and Sarah Keeley of the University of Warwick. They presented their results on Friday 31 August 2007, at the British Psychological Society's Developmental Section Annual Conference at the University of Plymouth.
Dr MacCallum's research, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explores the importance of the experience of pregnancy and childbirth on the quality of parenting. They questioned 17 embryo donation families with a child aged between five and nine and compared them with 24 adoptive families and 29 families with genetically related IVF children.
The researchers found the quality of parenting and the formation of good parent-child relationships did not depend on a genetic link between parent and child, nor was the experience of pregnancy and childbirth vital for parents to bond with their child - as is the case with donated embryos.
In fact, embryo donation and adoptive families showed equally positive parenting. For example, the parents expressed high levels of warmth and affection towards their children and enjoying spending time and playing with their child. Dr MacCallum said: "All of these families show high quality parenting and all children from these families show normal social and emotional development."
The only difference between the three types of family was that embryo donation families were more likely to keep the method of family creation a secret from their child - with only 41 per cent saying they planned to tell their children how they were conceived compared to 89 per cent of IVF families. All of the adoptive families said they would reveal their child's history.
This could have family implications because as part of the draft Human Tissues and Embryos Bill, the government have recommended that children born from donated sperm or eggs should have this fact recorded on their birth certificates.
Dr MacCallum said: "The views of the donor conception parents are at odds with proposed moves towards openness. If new legislation enforces disclosure through birth certificates, information and support about how to discuss this issue with children must be readily available to all such families."
Monday, September 03, 2007
Gay Parents Find Similar Souls at 'Pride' Conference
by Stephanie Caballero
Paul Chavez
LOS ANGELES - The bouncing, little baby looks like any other with those chubby cheeks, hints of drool and gah-gah sounds.
This infant, named Joseph, is a bit different, though. He’s a foster child with two gay fathers.
Ken Martinez, 39, brought the baby to a recent “Parenting with Pride” conference where prospective gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender parents mingled with others who already have started families.
The conference was started nine years ago by the “Pop Luck Club” - a Los Angeles-based support group for gay fathers. The group has about 275 families, including 250 children, said Larry Riesenbach, a group member.
Each year, the conference draws foster agencies, adoption lawyers and surrogacy and egg donor companies, Riesenbach said. Last year, the conference added a resource fair with 20 workshops for gay parents and their children.
Martinez, who also has a 2-year-old boy he adopted with his partner, said the conference helped allay his fears that his children would endure hardships for having gay parents.
After listening to the experiences of children with gay parents, he realized his own children would be fine.
“Hearing them talk today and be proud of who their family is was a great experience for me,” Martinez said.
Children of gay parents
Meredith Fenton, a program director for COLAGE, a support group for children of gay parents, held workshops at the conference for youths ages 8 to 16.
“We give them a safe space to talk about their experiences, school and what our experience was on coming out about our parents,” said Fenton, whose mother is a lesbian and whose father is straight.
The group has been participating for the past four years in the conference and has grown over the years with some of the same children returning year after year to share their experiences.
“All of them thought they were the only ones; just meeting was revolutionary for them,” she said. “Now they know, at least hypothetically, that there are other families with LGBT parents.”
Bi-mom
Katrina Thompson, 31, says she has a 4-year-old son from a previous relationship and as a bisexual woman came to the conference to meet other parents like herself.
“The most useful part for me was the workshop on coming out and how it’s a continual process on coming out to yourself and your kids and your whole family,” Thompson said.
“That was useful to me to know I’m not the only one going through these kinds of things.”
Paul Chavez
LOS ANGELES - The bouncing, little baby looks like any other with those chubby cheeks, hints of drool and gah-gah sounds.
This infant, named Joseph, is a bit different, though. He’s a foster child with two gay fathers.
Ken Martinez, 39, brought the baby to a recent “Parenting with Pride” conference where prospective gay-lesbian-bisexual-transgender parents mingled with others who already have started families.
The conference was started nine years ago by the “Pop Luck Club” - a Los Angeles-based support group for gay fathers. The group has about 275 families, including 250 children, said Larry Riesenbach, a group member.
Each year, the conference draws foster agencies, adoption lawyers and surrogacy and egg donor companies, Riesenbach said. Last year, the conference added a resource fair with 20 workshops for gay parents and their children.
Martinez, who also has a 2-year-old boy he adopted with his partner, said the conference helped allay his fears that his children would endure hardships for having gay parents.
After listening to the experiences of children with gay parents, he realized his own children would be fine.
“Hearing them talk today and be proud of who their family is was a great experience for me,” Martinez said.
Children of gay parents
Meredith Fenton, a program director for COLAGE, a support group for children of gay parents, held workshops at the conference for youths ages 8 to 16.
“We give them a safe space to talk about their experiences, school and what our experience was on coming out about our parents,” said Fenton, whose mother is a lesbian and whose father is straight.
The group has been participating for the past four years in the conference and has grown over the years with some of the same children returning year after year to share their experiences.
“All of them thought they were the only ones; just meeting was revolutionary for them,” she said. “Now they know, at least hypothetically, that there are other families with LGBT parents.”
Bi-mom
Katrina Thompson, 31, says she has a 4-year-old son from a previous relationship and as a bisexual woman came to the conference to meet other parents like herself.
“The most useful part for me was the workshop on coming out and how it’s a continual process on coming out to yourself and your kids and your whole family,” Thompson said.
“That was useful to me to know I’m not the only one going through these kinds of things.”
Monday, August 27, 2007
40 Women In Japan Apply To Be Surrogates
By Stephanie Caballero
The Yomiuri Shimbun
About 40 women in their 20s to 50s have applied to a maternity clinic in Nagano Prefecture to offer themselves as volunteers to become surrogate mothers for couples receiving infertility treatment at the facility, the clinic's director said Thursday.
The Suwa Maternity Clinic in Shimosuwamachi, Nagano Prefecture, headed by Yahiro Netsu, sent out a questionnaire to applicants to check whether their family members would consent to their surrogacy despite the potential risks involved.
Netsu reported the findings of the questionnaire Friday to a panel of the Science Council of Japan covering assisted reproductive medicine.
According to Netsu, all of the applicants had given birth before. However, since surrogate birth can endanger the life of the mother and baby and can restrict the daily activities of surrogate mothers for up to about 10 months from pregnancy to birth, even if women want to be surrogate mothers, they might face problems if they lack the support and understanding of their families. The applicants were asked to confirm whether they have husbands or children, and whether their husbands, their parents and their husbands' parents would accept any illnesses or even deaths that occurred as a result of their surrogate pregnancies with the proviso that a system of remuneration or compensation had been established.
Netsu said that while the rigorous nature of the questions might reduce the number of volunteers, there were still plenty of women who could become surrogate mothers.
"I'd like these findings to be used as a reference for the government when it discusses surrogate births. I'll interview the applicants to pick them, but as long as a surrogate birth compensation system has yet to be established, I have no intention of going ahead with surrogate births [using these women]," he said.
The clinic has helped five infertile married couples give birth using surrogates. Since the surrogates were the wives' sisters or mothers, no major problems had occurred, Netsu said.
===
Mukai briefs panel
A panel of the Science Council of Japan discussing assisted reproductive technology held a closed-door hearing Friday with TV personality Aki Mukai, who made a statement about surrogate birth.
The panel's hearings are open to the public in principle, making the closed-door session somewhat unusual.
The panel asked Mukai, who has twin sons born using a surrogate in the United States, to give a briefing at the panel, but Mukai said she would only brief panel members in private. The panel decided to hold a closed-door hearing in compliance with the condition set by Mukai.
Mukai has published a book about her sons. A member of staff at her office said she did not want to go public this time because she was asked to speak as a private citizen residing in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, who had taken advantage of surrogate birth and not as a TV personality.
(Aug. 25, 2007)
The Yomiuri Shimbun
About 40 women in their 20s to 50s have applied to a maternity clinic in Nagano Prefecture to offer themselves as volunteers to become surrogate mothers for couples receiving infertility treatment at the facility, the clinic's director said Thursday.
The Suwa Maternity Clinic in Shimosuwamachi, Nagano Prefecture, headed by Yahiro Netsu, sent out a questionnaire to applicants to check whether their family members would consent to their surrogacy despite the potential risks involved.
Netsu reported the findings of the questionnaire Friday to a panel of the Science Council of Japan covering assisted reproductive medicine.
According to Netsu, all of the applicants had given birth before. However, since surrogate birth can endanger the life of the mother and baby and can restrict the daily activities of surrogate mothers for up to about 10 months from pregnancy to birth, even if women want to be surrogate mothers, they might face problems if they lack the support and understanding of their families. The applicants were asked to confirm whether they have husbands or children, and whether their husbands, their parents and their husbands' parents would accept any illnesses or even deaths that occurred as a result of their surrogate pregnancies with the proviso that a system of remuneration or compensation had been established.
Netsu said that while the rigorous nature of the questions might reduce the number of volunteers, there were still plenty of women who could become surrogate mothers.
"I'd like these findings to be used as a reference for the government when it discusses surrogate births. I'll interview the applicants to pick them, but as long as a surrogate birth compensation system has yet to be established, I have no intention of going ahead with surrogate births [using these women]," he said.
The clinic has helped five infertile married couples give birth using surrogates. Since the surrogates were the wives' sisters or mothers, no major problems had occurred, Netsu said.
===
Mukai briefs panel
A panel of the Science Council of Japan discussing assisted reproductive technology held a closed-door hearing Friday with TV personality Aki Mukai, who made a statement about surrogate birth.
The panel's hearings are open to the public in principle, making the closed-door session somewhat unusual.
The panel asked Mukai, who has twin sons born using a surrogate in the United States, to give a briefing at the panel, but Mukai said she would only brief panel members in private. The panel decided to hold a closed-door hearing in compliance with the condition set by Mukai.
Mukai has published a book about her sons. A member of staff at her office said she did not want to go public this time because she was asked to speak as a private citizen residing in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, who had taken advantage of surrogate birth and not as a TV personality.
(Aug. 25, 2007)
Monday, July 09, 2007
Mother's Eggs Give Daughter the Chance of a Baby
Mother's eggs give daughter the chance of a baby
JOHN VON RADOWITZ
THE first mother-to-daughter egg donation was announced by doctors yesterday.
If the Canadian girl, now aged seven, ever uses the eggs to have a baby she would effectively be giving birth to her own half sister or brother.
Flavie Boivin, from Montreal, was born with Turner's Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes impaired growth and learning difficulties. It also destroys eggs, leading to an unusually early menopause.
A patient's fertility can be preserved by freezing her ovarian tissue or eggs before the disease progresses. However, this carries a high risk of miscarriage or babies being born with genetic abnormalities.
Another option is egg donation, often by a second- degree relative such as a cousin or aunt. In Flavie's case, her mother stepped in by making a gift of her eggs - the first time this has happened.
Her mother, lawyer Melanie Boivin, 35,
said: "The role of a mother is essentially to help her children and if I could do anything in my power to help Flavie I had to do it, and because of my age I had to do it now.
"I told myself if she had needed another organ like a kidney I would volunteer without any hesitation, and it is the same kind of thought process for this."
Dr Seang Lin Tan, who led the team, presented details of the egg donation at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyons, France.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1038432007
Last updated: 03-Jul-07 00:36 BST
JOHN VON RADOWITZ
THE first mother-to-daughter egg donation was announced by doctors yesterday.
If the Canadian girl, now aged seven, ever uses the eggs to have a baby she would effectively be giving birth to her own half sister or brother.
Flavie Boivin, from Montreal, was born with Turner's Syndrome, a genetic condition that causes impaired growth and learning difficulties. It also destroys eggs, leading to an unusually early menopause.
A patient's fertility can be preserved by freezing her ovarian tissue or eggs before the disease progresses. However, this carries a high risk of miscarriage or babies being born with genetic abnormalities.
Another option is egg donation, often by a second- degree relative such as a cousin or aunt. In Flavie's case, her mother stepped in by making a gift of her eggs - the first time this has happened.
Her mother, lawyer Melanie Boivin, 35,
said: "The role of a mother is essentially to help her children and if I could do anything in my power to help Flavie I had to do it, and because of my age I had to do it now.
"I told myself if she had needed another organ like a kidney I would volunteer without any hesitation, and it is the same kind of thought process for this."
Dr Seang Lin Tan, who led the team, presented details of the egg donation at the annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology in Lyons, France.
This article: http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=1038432007
Last updated: 03-Jul-07 00:36 BST
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)