ABSTRACT
Data on prevalence of LGBT parenting have been criticized as imprecise at best (Tasker & Patterson, 2007). In-depth interviews or adapted genogram techniques, which can fully explore the meaning and implications of family relationships, have had more success in revealing an array of dierent informal parenting or care-giving arrangements in which LGBT parents participate (Swainson & Tasker, 2005; Weeks, Heaphy, & Donovan, 2001). ere are many dierences between families with LGBT parents: Some will have been planned as LGBT parented families; some will have been created aer the end of a previous heterosexual family relationship with the transitioned identity of the LGBT parent; other LGBT parents may have ongoing opposite-gender sexual partnerships; some parents may be single parents, whereas others will be in couple or multiparental relationships (Gross, 2006; Pallotta-Chiarolli, 2006; Tasker & Patterson, 2007). Careful and sensitive exploration of clients’ backgrounds and histories makes it increasingly likely that psychotherapists will encounter and acknowledge LGBT parenting in their clinical work with adults or children.
