Diverse Pathways to Parenthood

Diverse Pathways to Parenthood: From Narratives to Practice is a timely contribution to the study of reproduction and parenthood. Drawing on a wide breadth of projects, this book covers topics such as first time parents, donor conception, pregnancy loss, surrogacy, lesbian, gay and/or transgender parenting, fostering and adoption, grandparenting, and human/animal kinship. By presenting individual narratives focused on reproduction and parenthood, this book successfully translates empirical research into practical, applied outcomes that will be of use for all those working in the fields of reproduction and parenthood. Including recommendations for fertility specialists, educators, child protection agencies, reproductive counselors, and policy makers, Diverse Pathways to Parenthood: From Narratives to Practice is a vital new resource that will help guide practice into the future. As a contribution to the field of critical kinship studies, this book heralds new directions for the study of kinship, by revisiting as well as reimagining how we think about, research, and respond to a diversity of kinship forms.

• Includes over 70 narratives representative of hundreds of interviews collected as a part of 15 research projects undertaken over the past decade
• Supported by a companion website that provides further materials and information: www.diversepathways.com
• Translates critical kinship studies theory into applied tools for practice in the fields of reproduction and parenthood

Researchers in psychology, sociology, family studies, and other social sciences; mental health practitioners working with parents/expectant parents

1. Introduction: Reproducing our selves through stories

Section I: Imaginations
2. Planning for a possible future: Transgender people and fertility preservation
3. Dreams of motherhood: Women in heterosexual couples planning for a first child
4. Animal companions as kin: The significance of animals to women of diverse sexualities

Section II: Interruptions
5. Assisting reproduction: Heterosexual women’s experiences with infertility and fertility-related challenges
6. A profound grief: Heterosexual women’s experiences of pregnancy loss
7. Disenfranchised grief: Foster parent experiences of an unplanned placement termination

Section III: Conceptions
8. Donor conception: Creating new possibilities?
9. Baby desired, travel required: Negotiating international commercial surrogacy arrangements
10. Conception narratives: Journeys to family for adoptive and foster parents

Section IV: Reproductions
11. Wearing the pants?: Men’s accounts of becoming fathers
12. An act of resistance: Lesbian women becoming parents
13. Generations: Parent views on becoming grandparents
14. Conclusion: From stories to practice