From foster to 'forever' parents: One gay uple's path to adoptn | SBS News

Contents:

• GAY UPL VICTORIA FIGHTG FOR THE RIGHT TO ADOPT THEIR OWN CHILDREN
• GAY ADOPTN LEGAL VICTORIA
• FROM FOSTER TO 'FOREVER' PARENTS: ONE GAY UPLE'S PATH TO ADOPTNDPE SAME-SEX ADOPTN BEG LEGAL ACROSS THE ENTIRE UNTRY - AND WA LEADG THE WAY 16 YEARS AGO - 'S FAR OM AN EASY ROAD TO CREATG A FAY.THE UPCROFTS ON A FAY HOLIDAY. SOURCE: SUPPLIEDTHIS MONTH THE NORTHERN TERRORY BEME THE LAST OF ATRALIA'S STAT AND TERRORI TO LET GAY UPL ADOPT. THE TERRORY PARLIAMENT AGREED TO CHANGE AN ADOPTN LAW THAT HAD PREVLY LIMED THE RIGHT TO ADOPT CHILDREN TO MARRIED HETEROSEXUAL UPL, OR THOSE TRADNAL ABORIGAL MARRIAG.IN ALAI, FLRS UNIVERSY ASSOCIATE PROFSOR DAMIEN RIGGS HAS REARCHED FOSTER RE AND ADOPTN ATRALIA AND SAYS THERE ARE STILL SOME BARRIERS TO SAME-SEX ADOPTN.HE SAYS FOSTER-RE AGENCI N STILL REJECT APPLITNS OM LGBTIQ PEOPLE ON RELIG GROUNDS, RCG THE RAT OF ADOPTN BY SAME-SEX UPL. "THERE STILL IS A POSSIBILY THAT SOME AGENCI WOULD SAY, 'NO, WE WON'T ASSS THAT ONE,' SO THAT HAS KNOCK-ON EFFECTS FOR ADOPTN, IF 'S ADOPTN OM RE," DR RIGGS SAYS. "IF YOU N'T BEE A RER THE FIRST PLACE, THEN THAT'S GOG TO LIM YOUR ADOPTN OPTNS." DR RIGGS SAYS, WHILE THE LEGAL BARRIERS TO ADOPTN FOR SAME-SEX UPL ARE GONE, GAS REPRODUCTIVE MEDICE MEAN MANY LGBTIQ PEOPLE MAY TAKE THE SCIENTIFIC ROUTE TO CREATG A FAY."IT'S TERTG WHICH ONE HAS BEEN TAKEN UP MORE, AND I WOULD SAY THAT FOSTER RE AND ADOPTN HAS BEEN TAKEN UP LS MONLY BY LBIAN AND GAY UPL THAN HAS IVF OR SURROGACY."MAKG THE UPCROFTS AN OFFICIAL FAYEARLY ON THEIR RELATNSHIP PL AND BRENDAN UPCROFT CID THEY WANTED TO HAVE CHILDREN, A DREAM THEY HAVE ACHIEVED, FIRSTLY THROUGH FOSTERG AND, FALLY THROUGH ADOPTN. FOR THE UPLE, ADOPTG THEIR TWO FOSTER CHILDREN - SIBLGS AIDAN AND KALEB - BROUGHT A EP SENSE OF RELIEF.THE UPCROFTS ON THE DAY THE ADOPTN WAS OFFICIALLY FALISED. SOURCE: SUPPLIEDTHE TWO BOYS, AGED 13 AND 11, HAD BEEN THEIR RE SCE 2014, BUT ADOPTN WAS THE FAL STEP THE FORMATN OF THE FAY OM THE NEW SOUTH WAL REGNAL CY OF MALAND.PL UPCROFT SAYS THAT WHEN HE HAD ASKED HIS YOUNGT SON HOW HE FELT ABOUT THE ADOPTN, HE RPOND WH RERVED ENTHIASM. "KALEB, WE MENTNED TO HIM THAT FRIDAY'S THE DAY WE'RE GOG TO THE URT TO SEE THE JUDGE," MR UPCROFT RELLS.BROTHERS KALEB AND AIDAN WERE FOSTER RE FOR NE YEARS BEFORE THEY WERE ADOPTED BY BRENDAN AND PL UPCROFT. SOURCE: SUPPLIED"IT JT SORT OF WENT OVER HIM. AND I ASKED HIM THE NEXT DAY, AND HE SAID, 'OH, 'S ALL ON THE SI, 'S ALL ON THE SI.' SO, THEY LOVE BEG PART OF THE UPCROFT FAY." ATRALIAN INSTUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE STATISTICS SHOW MORE THAN 46,000 ATRALIAN CHILDREN NOW LIVE OUT-OF-HOME RE, WH MORE THAN 40 PER CENT RE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. KALEB AND AIDAN HAVE SPENT MUCH OF THEIR SHORT LIV FOSTER RE, TOO, BUT, WHEN BOTH AGREED TO BE ADOPTED BY THE UPCROFTS, THE CHANGE WAS MA. BRENDAN UPCROFT SAYS, FOR HIS PARTNER AND HIM, WAS ABOUT GIVG THE BOYS A SENSE OF SECURY. "THE OTHER DRIVER BEHD MOVG TO ADOPTN WAS THE STABILY THAT PROVIS OUR SONS. AIDAN AND KALEB HAVE NOW BEEN FOSTER RE FOR ALMOST NE YEARS. AND WHILST 'S BEEN A VERY STABLE THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS LIVG WH , ALWAYS HANGG OVER THEIR HEADS IS THE FACT THAT THGS ULD CHANGE, THE AGENCY ULD SUDNLY E AND SAY TO THEM, 'RIGHT, WE NEED TO MOVE YOU TO A DIFFERENT PLACEMENT.'"NOW, THEY HAVE STABILY, AND THEY'LL BE WH THEIR PARENTS NOW FOREVER."BLOGIL PARENTS N STILL PLAY A ROLE CHILDREN'S LIVDPE THE CREASGLY LONG-TERM NATURE OF OUT-OF-HOME RE, FEW LONG-TERM PLACEMENTS LEAD TO ADOPTN.LAST YEAR, JT 315 ADOPTNS WERE FALISED ATRALIA, CLUDG TERNATNAL ADOPTNS, WH ABOUT 45 PER CENT BY KNOWN RERS SUCH AS FOSTER PARENTS OR RELATIV.AMONG LOL ADOPTNS, ABOUT 88 PER CENT ALLOW SOME GREE OF NTACT OR THE EXCHANGE OF RMATN BETWEEN BLOGIL AND ADOPTIVE FAI.BRENDAN UPCROFT SAY ADOPTN HAS GIVEN THE BOYS SECURY. SOURCE: SUPPLIEDTHE UPCROFTS SAY THEY THK IS IMPORTANT THEIR SONS MATA NTACT WH THEIR BIRTH MOTHER."WE HAVE A REALLY FLUID RELATNSHIP WH THEIR BIRTH MUM," BRENDAN UPCROFT SAYS."WE MA A LOT OF MMENTS TO HER OM OUR VERY FIRST MEETG, AND WE'VE WORKED REALLY HARD TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THOSE MMENTS HAVE BEEN MET OR, SOME S, SURPASSED. THE DAYS, 'S LS OF A VISATN SCHLE AND MORE OF JT AN ARRANGEMENT WHEREBY WE TCH UP."THE BIRTH MOTHER RECENTLY SPENT AN ENTIRE DAY WH THE BOYS AND HAS JOED THEM FOR BIRTHDAYS. SHARE4 M READPUBLISHED 23 MARCH 2018 2:21PMUPDATED 26 MARCH 2018 7:38AMBY PEGGY GIAKOUMELOSTAGSSOCIAL ISSUSHARE THIS WH FAY AND IENDSCOPY LKSHAREREMEND FOR YOU
• ATRALIA'S FIRST MISTER FOR EQUALY TO REFORM GAY ADOPTN LAWS
• VICTORIA LEGALIS ADOPTN RIGHTS FOR GAY UPL
• VICTORIAN BILL BANNG GAY NVERSN THERAPY PASS UPPER HOE AS AMENDMENTS FAIL

GAY UPL VICTORIA FIGHTG FOR THE RIGHT TO ADOPT THEIR OWN CHILDREN

Farrah Tomaz Cocks and her partner Sam still remember the homophobic qutns they had to remember the social worker who ma clear she was termed to stop "those lbians" gag permanent re of the child they had fostered for uple Anna Vla and Belle Atria wh their children Lily, 5, and Benji, 6, at home Northte. Cred: Pl JeffersThey also rell beg asked to expla how they uld provi a nurturg home pared wh tradnal heterosexual who uld fet the judgmental psychologist, who asssed their pacy to raise children by askg about their sex life, or whether they attend gay and lbian ralli, and which woman "played the man" their and his dads, Pete and Matt, who shared their story the documentary Gayby Kate Disher-Quill"She nclud that Sam played the man bee she do the lawn mowg, " Cocks says.

Cred: Penny StephensAs the bate around same-sex marriage tensifi natnally, Tracey and Sam are one of the many upl who fd themselv a separate battle for equaly: this time, over Victoria's adoptn other Atralian jurisdictns legalised gay adoptn years ago, Victoria's Adoptn Act – which the Andrews ernment is set to overhl – lims such rights to sgle people, or heterosexual upl who are married or facto rult is an illogil suatn where same-sex upl n bee foster rers but n't adopt a child permanently – even if that child has been their re for n a lbian or a gay man formally adopt their partner's children om a prev relatnship, or jotly adopt a niece or nephew whose parents had died, or even jotly adopt a child born through surrogacy or IVF. In the rridors of power at Sprg Street, legislatn has quietly been drafted to brg Victoria to le wh NSW, Wtern Atralia, Tasmania and the ACT, where adoptn equaly has been a realy for chang are expected later this year, givg same-sex upl the right to adopt children known to them (such as those step-parent fai or unr permanent re, which make up the bulk of adoptns) and also the right to adopt unknown fants (which acunt for about 20 adoptns per year) safeguards may be put place, but the fundamental pot is that discrimatn between gay and heterosexual upl who want to adopt will no longer exist unr the law.

GAY ADOPTN LEGAL VICTORIA

Gay adoptn was remend a 240-page review by the Victorian Law Reform Commissn 2007, but the then Bmby ernment lacked the polil urage to take up the difference now is that muny attus have changed, and so too has Daniel Andrews, a former Bmby mister who has recently st himself as a rabow warrr when gay g to office ne months ago, the 43-year-old Catholic father-of-three has not only bee the first Victorian premier to lead Melbourne's Pri March, he's also bee the first lear to create a dited "equaly" portfol wh his bet, the first to appot a sexualy and genr missner, and the first to make the removal of discrimatn for lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) people a central plank of his first-term, last week, when the Baird ernment banned NSW schools om screeng Gayby Baby, a documentary about the liv of four children om same-sex fai, Andrews took to Facebook to scribe the move as "cel bbish". Opposn lear Matthew Guy has prevly revealed he personally supported same-sex adoptn and would allow Liberal MPs a nscience vote when legislatn is troduced, but has also told The Sunday Age he would be "fortable" givg exemptns to fah-based agenci "provid there are still servic to look after gay upl" ernment, however, appears to have taken a different view. "It's the kd of sentiment that Gayby Baby director Maya Newell would no doubt wele given the events of recent the child of two lbians who shared their 30th anniversary this year, Newell rells growg up a world where her fay stcture was rarely reprented the media, and where beg open about same-sex parentg was Baby was signed to buck the trend, givg the muny an sight to four children growg up same-sex hoeholds.

FROM FOSTER TO 'FOREVER' PARENTS: ONE GAY UPLE'S PATH TO ADOPTNDPE SAME-SEX ADOPTN BEG LEGAL ACROSS THE ENTIRE UNTRY - AND WA LEADG THE WAY 16 YEARS AGO - 'S FAR OM AN EASY ROAD TO CREATG A FAY.THE UPCROFTS ON A FAY HOLIDAY. SOURCE: SUPPLIEDTHIS MONTH THE NORTHERN TERRORY BEME THE LAST OF ATRALIA'S STAT AND TERRORI TO LET GAY UPL ADOPT. THE TERRORY PARLIAMENT AGREED TO CHANGE AN ADOPTN LAW THAT HAD PREVLY LIMED THE RIGHT TO ADOPT CHILDREN TO MARRIED HETEROSEXUAL UPL, OR THOSE TRADNAL ABORIGAL MARRIAG.IN ALAI, FLRS UNIVERSY ASSOCIATE PROFSOR DAMIEN RIGGS HAS REARCHED FOSTER RE AND ADOPTN ATRALIA AND SAYS THERE ARE STILL SOME BARRIERS TO SAME-SEX ADOPTN.HE SAYS FOSTER-RE AGENCI N STILL REJECT APPLITNS OM LGBTIQ PEOPLE ON RELIG GROUNDS, RCG THE RAT OF ADOPTN BY SAME-SEX UPL. "THERE STILL IS A POSSIBILY THAT SOME AGENCI WOULD SAY, 'NO, WE WON'T ASSS THAT ONE,' SO THAT HAS KNOCK-ON EFFECTS FOR ADOPTN, IF 'S ADOPTN OM RE," DR RIGGS SAYS. "IF YOU N'T BEE A RER THE FIRST PLACE, THEN THAT'S GOG TO LIM YOUR ADOPTN OPTNS." DR RIGGS SAYS, WHILE THE LEGAL BARRIERS TO ADOPTN FOR SAME-SEX UPL ARE GONE, GAS REPRODUCTIVE MEDICE MEAN MANY LGBTIQ PEOPLE MAY TAKE THE SCIENTIFIC ROUTE TO CREATG A FAY."IT'S TERTG WHICH ONE HAS BEEN TAKEN UP MORE, AND I WOULD SAY THAT FOSTER RE AND ADOPTN HAS BEEN TAKEN UP LS MONLY BY LBIAN AND GAY UPL THAN HAS IVF OR SURROGACY."MAKG THE UPCROFTS AN OFFICIAL FAYEARLY ON THEIR RELATNSHIP PL AND BRENDAN UPCROFT CID THEY WANTED TO HAVE CHILDREN, A DREAM THEY HAVE ACHIEVED, FIRSTLY THROUGH FOSTERG AND, FALLY THROUGH ADOPTN. FOR THE UPLE, ADOPTG THEIR TWO FOSTER CHILDREN - SIBLGS AIDAN AND KALEB - BROUGHT A EP SENSE OF RELIEF.THE UPCROFTS ON THE DAY THE ADOPTN WAS OFFICIALLY FALISED. SOURCE: SUPPLIEDTHE TWO BOYS, AGED 13 AND 11, HAD BEEN THEIR RE SCE 2014, BUT ADOPTN WAS THE FAL STEP THE FORMATN OF THE FAY OM THE NEW SOUTH WAL REGNAL CY OF MALAND.PL UPCROFT SAYS THAT WHEN HE HAD ASKED HIS YOUNGT SON HOW HE FELT ABOUT THE ADOPTN, HE RPOND WH RERVED ENTHIASM. "KALEB, WE MENTNED TO HIM THAT FRIDAY'S THE DAY WE'RE GOG TO THE URT TO SEE THE JUDGE," MR UPCROFT RELLS.BROTHERS KALEB AND AIDAN WERE FOSTER RE FOR NE YEARS BEFORE THEY WERE ADOPTED BY BRENDAN AND PL UPCROFT. SOURCE: SUPPLIED"IT JT SORT OF WENT OVER HIM. AND I ASKED HIM THE NEXT DAY, AND HE SAID, 'OH, 'S ALL ON THE SI, 'S ALL ON THE SI.' SO, THEY LOVE BEG PART OF THE UPCROFT FAY." ATRALIAN INSTUTE OF HEALTH AND WELFARE STATISTICS SHOW MORE THAN 46,000 ATRALIAN CHILDREN NOW LIVE OUT-OF-HOME RE, WH MORE THAN 40 PER CENT RE FOR AT LEAST FIVE YEARS. KALEB AND AIDAN HAVE SPENT MUCH OF THEIR SHORT LIV FOSTER RE, TOO, BUT, WHEN BOTH AGREED TO BE ADOPTED BY THE UPCROFTS, THE CHANGE WAS MA. BRENDAN UPCROFT SAYS, FOR HIS PARTNER AND HIM, WAS ABOUT GIVG THE BOYS A SENSE OF SECURY. "THE OTHER DRIVER BEHD MOVG TO ADOPTN WAS THE STABILY THAT PROVIS OUR SONS. AIDAN AND KALEB HAVE NOW BEEN FOSTER RE FOR ALMOST NE YEARS. AND WHILST 'S BEEN A VERY STABLE THREE-AND-A-HALF YEARS LIVG WH , ALWAYS HANGG OVER THEIR HEADS IS THE FACT THAT THGS ULD CHANGE, THE AGENCY ULD SUDNLY E AND SAY TO THEM, 'RIGHT, WE NEED TO MOVE YOU TO A DIFFERENT PLACEMENT.'"NOW, THEY HAVE STABILY, AND THEY'LL BE WH THEIR PARENTS NOW FOREVER."BLOGIL PARENTS N STILL PLAY A ROLE CHILDREN'S LIVDPE THE CREASGLY LONG-TERM NATURE OF OUT-OF-HOME RE, FEW LONG-TERM PLACEMENTS LEAD TO ADOPTN.LAST YEAR, JT 315 ADOPTNS WERE FALISED ATRALIA, CLUDG TERNATNAL ADOPTNS, WH ABOUT 45 PER CENT BY KNOWN RERS SUCH AS FOSTER PARENTS OR RELATIV.AMONG LOL ADOPTNS, ABOUT 88 PER CENT ALLOW SOME GREE OF NTACT OR THE EXCHANGE OF RMATN BETWEEN BLOGIL AND ADOPTIVE FAI.BRENDAN UPCROFT SAY ADOPTN HAS GIVEN THE BOYS SECURY. SOURCE: SUPPLIEDTHE UPCROFTS SAY THEY THK IS IMPORTANT THEIR SONS MATA NTACT WH THEIR BIRTH MOTHER."WE HAVE A REALLY FLUID RELATNSHIP WH THEIR BIRTH MUM," BRENDAN UPCROFT SAYS."WE MA A LOT OF MMENTS TO HER OM OUR VERY FIRST MEETG, AND WE'VE WORKED REALLY HARD TO MAKE SURE THAT ALL OF THOSE MMENTS HAVE BEEN MET OR, SOME S, SURPASSED. THE DAYS, 'S LS OF A VISATN SCHLE AND MORE OF JT AN ARRANGEMENT WHEREBY WE TCH UP."THE BIRTH MOTHER RECENTLY SPENT AN ENTIRE DAY WH THE BOYS AND HAS JOED THEM FOR BIRTHDAYS. SHARE4 M READPUBLISHED 23 MARCH 2018 2:21PMUPDATED 26 MARCH 2018 7:38AMBY PEGGY GIAKOUMELOSTAGSSOCIAL ISSUSHARE THIS WH FAY AND IENDSCOPY LKSHAREREMEND FOR YOU

However, the are nservative timat, bee they don't necsarily pture children wh sgle same-sex parents, hoeholds whose parents may refe to intify as same-sex attracted due to stigma, or children livg -parented arrangements or across two Atralian Instute of Fay Studi also timat that 11 per cent of Atralian gay men and 33 per cent of lbians have children, although is hard to quantify how many fai have formally adopted, let alone how many would want Street policy director Julian Pock – whose agency has spent the past few years actively recg gay upl to bee foster rers – reckons a "signifint and growg number" of Victorian rers would jump at the opportuny if given the chance. 57pmGay upl will be allowed to adopt children Victoria and relig anisatns will fd harr to discrimate agast employe based on their sexualy, unr chang to be ma by Atralia's first mister for after beg sworn as part of the new Andrews ernment, Equaly Mister Mart Foley promised to waste no time amendg state adoptn laws orr brg Victoria to le wh NSW, Wtern Atralia, Tasmania and the ACT.

Tacklg equali: Mart Foley's appotment marks the first time an Atralian ernment has ever had a dited Mister for equaly overseeg lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex Chris HopksAt prent, gay upl Victoria n be appoted as foster parents or guardians, but do not have the right to adopt a child together – even if that child has been their re for Foley said Labor would also tackle other equali, cludg the abily of a step-parent to adopt their partner's child and the abily of a gay uple to jotly adopt a child nceived through plans have been broadly weled by the gay muny, although some are ncerned the ernment wants to nduct a review before troduc legislatn to parliament.

He admted some had cricised the move – "I've had some highly obnox emails which don't bear to be rpond to" – but said was an important step removg barriers faced by the gay Brown, -nvenor of the Victorian Gay and Lbian Rights Lobby, said: "The Andrews Government has set a new natnal benchmark for rpect of LGBTI muni, and we would enurage the Coaln to match this mment to diversy by appotg a shadow spokperson on the issu. See also J Millbank, ‘Regnn of Lbian and Gay Fai Atralian Law – Part Two: Children’, Feral Law Review, vol 34, no 2, 2006, p206, referencg M Pts et al, ‘Private Liv: A Report on the Health and Wellbeg of GLBTI Atralians’ (2006); Victorian Law Reform Commissn, Assisted Reproductive Technology and Adoptn Posn Paper Two: Parentage, (July 2005), para 3. [18] A recent study suggted that among 43 lbians tryg to nceive, only two percent ed terurse: see J Millbank, ‘Regnn of Lbian and Gay Fai Atralian Law – Part Two: Children’, Feral Law Review, vol 34, no 2, 2006, p207, referencg McNair et al, ‘Lbian Parentg: Issu, Strengths and Challeng’ Fay Matters, vol 63, 2002, p40.

ATRALIA'S FIRST MISTER FOR EQUALY TO REFORM GAY ADOPTN LAWS

[24] J Millbank, ‘Regnn of Lbian and Gay Fai Atralian Law – Part Two: Children, Feral Law Review, vol 34, no 2, 2006, p248: In footnote 245, Millbank not that ‘the Northern Terrory troduced a change to refe the child born to one party a facto relatnship as a ‘step-child’ as a prumptive stat the same way that the child of a party to a legal marriage would be: see Interpretatn Act 1978 (NT), s 19A(4).

VICTORIA LEGALIS ADOPTN RIGHTS FOR GAY UPL

Such arguments are not based on a prehensive asssment of the evince for this claim and are ually rmed by relig or iologil beliefs about what nstut a rearch paper scrib the diverse characteristics of same-sex parented fai Atralia, their support needs and experienc, and the challeng they may face given the stigma and discrimatn often attached to homosexualy and enuntered by some same-sex upl. In this report, "same-sex parented fai" is ed when the pot beg ma is relevant to all non-heterosexual fai, and "lbian-parented" or "gay-parented" when the pot relat to fai head by female and male same-sex upl or sole parents, is also important to note that "lbian" and "gay" are not universally ed as self-scriptors by women and men who are parentg the ntext of a same-sex relatnship or inty.

In Private Liv 2 - a recent natnal Atralian survey of 3, 835 LGBT people's relatnships, health and wellbeg - about 11% of gay male participants dited that they were parents or step-parents, or had some other kd of parent-like relatnship wh children, as opposed to 33% of lbian participants (Leonard et al., 2012). Consirably more bisexual men than gay men the study reported havg children (40% vs 11%), wh bisexual men also more likely than bisexual women (40% vs 25%) to report havg parented fai are characteristilly diverse wh regard to mo of nceptn or fay formatn, and fay stcture (see Anrssen, Aie, & Ytteroy, 2002; Biblarz & Savci, 2010; Gunn & Surte, 2009; Power et al., 2010; Tasker & Patterson, 2007; Weeks et al., 2001). Further to this, and for a range of reasons, very few Atralian children bee available for adoptn beyond their fai of orig (see Higgs, 2012) Work, Love and Play study (Power et al., 2010) of 445 Atralian and New Zealanr lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and tersex (LGBTI) parents is the largt this untry unrtaken to date and found there are six major fay typ:a two-parent same-sex uple-based fay;fai which a lbian uple were the primary parents but a known sperm donor lived separately and had volvement the children's liv;fai which a lbian or gay man were still -parentg wh an ex-heterosexual partner;separated same-sex fai where women or men were -parentg wh their ex-same-sex partner;sole parent fai; andmulti-parent fai, ually a gay male uple and a lbian uple raisg children together om birth across two hoeholds.

VICTORIAN BILL BANNG GAY NVERSN THERAPY PASS UPPER HOE AS AMENDMENTS FAIL

Children may have been nceived the ntext of prev heterosexual relatnships, or raised om birth by a -parentg gay or lbian uple or sgle tentnally planned lbian or gay parented fai, is mon for children to be nceived through assisted reproductive technologi (ART) such as donor sematn (DI), -vro fertilizatn (IVF) and surrogacy. Women's fathers, brothers and heterosexual or gay male iends are known to be valued as "male role mols" for children, due to lbian parents' sire for children to have accs to diverse adult male and female social works (Borthwick & Bloch, 1993; Gartrell et al., 1996; Goldberg & Allen, 2007; Wakelg & Bradstock, 1995) msag: Lbian-parented faiLbian -parentg upl tend to divi their hoehold labour and child re rponsibili more equably than heterosexual upl. Fai parented by gay menFai parented by gay menGay fatherhood rearch prr to the late 1990s tend to be US-based and emphasised the experienc of divorced gay fathers who had had children heterosexual marriag, mostly wh regard to issu associated wh disclosg their gay relatnships or inty to children, and their perceptns of children's adjtment to their homosexualy (see Barret & Robson, 2000; Bigner & Bozett, 1990; Bozett, 1987; Miller, 1979).

Atralian gay men's history of volvement known sperm donatn for lbian iends and acquatanc dat om at least the 1980s (see Borthwick & Bloch, 1993; Dempsey, 2005; van Reyk, 1995; Wakelg & Bradstock, 1995) and some men have veloped paternal or parental relatnships wh children nceived this way (see Dempsey, 2010, 2012a, 2012b; van Reyk, 2004). In the Work, Love and Play study (Power, Perlz, McNair et al., 2012), of the 88 gay and bisexual men who scribed themselv as "actively volved" parentg a child, 39% had bee parents a prev heterosexual relatnship, 23% were parentg children nceived through surrogacy wh their male partners, 19% had bee parents through known sperm donatn to lbian upl or sgl, and 11% were foster parents or permanent rers. Although there are far fewer studi to date of -parentg gay male upl or sgle parent fai than planned lbian-parented fai, ditns are the way two men parent together is closer to lbian upl and heterosexual women's approach than the greater tachment om children's daily re characteristic of fathers nventnal nuclear fai (Schacher, Auerbach, & Silverste, 2005; Biblarz & Stacey, 2010; Mallon, 2004; Stacey, 2006).

It is also apparent that havg children is a great source of personal fulfillment and pri for gay men, that brgs wh greater nnectedns to their own parents and other members of their fay of orig (Tuazon-McCheyne, 2010; Bergman et al., 2010; Power, Perlz, McNair et al., 2012) msag: Fai parented by gay menGay men's pathways to planned parenthood are more rtricted Atralia than the US and UK due to their abily to adopt children and the prohibn on mercial surrogacy. Although there are far fewer studi to date of -parentg gay male upl or sgle parent fai than planned lbian-parented fai, ditns are that two men parentg together have more equable divisns of domtic and parental labour than exists heterosexual uple fai; however some studi have not taken soc-enomic differenc to male parentg has also been lked to higher self-teem for the men volved than that of their childls gay male peers, and improved social and emotnal relatnships wh their fai of orig.