‘We told them that we are both really involved parents’: sexual minority and heterosexual adoptive parents’ engagement in school communities

ABSTRACT

The current qualitative study examines how parents’ sexual orientation, gender, and other social locations intersect to shape their experiences with and connection to their children’s school communities. We applied thematic analysis to interview data from 90 adoptive parents in 45 couples (15 lesbian, 15 gay, 15 heterosexual) in the USA, whose children were mostly in preschool and kindergarten. Parents reported being involved in a variety of ways (e.g. school committees, donations). Gay male couples and heterosexual couples more often described differential involvement, whereby one partner was more involved at school than the other. Benefits of involvement included reduced likelihood of marginalisation (among lesbian/gay participants in particular) and influencing the school to create change. Parents described mixed experiences with other parents; feelings of disconnection sometimes resulted from difficult dynamics related to sexual orientation, gender, and their intersection.

KEYWORDS:

• Schools
• parents
• involvement
• adoption
• gender
• sexual orientation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Abbie E. Goldberg is a professor of clinical psychology in the Department of Psychology at Clark University in Worcester MA, USA. Her research examines key life transitions and family processes in diverse family structures.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the Spencer Foundation and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.