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LGBT Parenting Network
November 2005, E-News
This month:
- ECE Staff Interested in LGBTT Issues
- The First Teachers of Colour Conference 2005
- Holiday Traditions with a Twist of Pink
- New Adoption Information Law
- Mothering on the Margins: Community Forum: Sat. Dec.
- Call for Papers: Queer Fertility Journeys
ECE STAFF INTERESTED IN LGBTT ISSUES
The Ontario Coalition for Better Child Care is launching a public education initiative for early childhood education programs. The project is being supported by the City of Toronto’s Access and Equity Grants program to help develop practical and concrete training, resources and education materials for early childhood environments called “Building Bridges: A resource and training guide for Early Childhood Educators working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and transgendered families This project is being co-sponsored by the University of Toronto Early Learning Centre and the George Brown College Centre for Early Childhood Development.
The project wants to hear from Early Childhood Education staff interested in LGBTT issues. A discussion meeting has been planned to get your ideas and feedback for the document.
When: Monday, November 21, 2005 @ 6:00 – 8:00
p.m.
Location: George Brown College: Ryerson Campus 99 Gerrard Street
East, 5th Floor Board Room
RSVP: Zeenat Janmohamed: Project Manager, zjanmoha@gbrownc.on.ca or
call:
(416) 415 – 5000 ext. 2342
Light Dinner Provided
THE FIRST TEACHERS OF COLOUR CONFERENCE 2005
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2005
Rosedale Heights - Staff Lounge (opposite Castle Frank subway)
Topics include:
- sharing anti-racism practices
- critical reflection
- networking and activism
- creating spaces for support
**Keynote speaker - Carl James, Faculty of Education, YorkUniversity -
popular educator, youth and anti-racist activist.
9:30 am Registration (with a light breakfast)
Conference begins by 10 am and ends at 3 pm (lunch provided)
ORGANIZED BY THE TEACHERS OF COLOUR COLLECTIVE and our sponsors include:
Hasham Consulting, Elementary Teachers of Toronto, Coalition for Inclusive
Curriculum, Alternative Grounds, TDSB Equity, A Different Booklist.
Please register by November 18/05 and email to moira.wong@tel.tdsb.on.ca .
Include your name, e-mail address, name of school and specify if you
are teaching at secondary or elementary level.
HOLIDAY TRADITIONS WITH A TWIST OF PINK
For: abOUT Magazine www.aboutmag.com. A Southwestern Ontario and US publication.
Interviewer: Max MacDonald, Contributing Style Editor/Writer
Here’s the synopsis…
Depending on your religion, everyone has grown up of some kind of celebratory event around the holiday season. With that time approaching rapidly, abOUT Magazine wants to know how gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and two-spirited people spend their holidays. I am looking to interview lesbian and transgendered couples that are the parents/guardian of a child about their holiday traditions. With Canada passing the same-sex marriage law earlier this year, abOUT Magazine wants to feature families of all kinds in this piece.
I will need about half an hour to interview the individuals and, if they are comfortable, provide a picture of them with their child. If you are interested in participating in this piece please do not hesitate to call or e-mail me.
Contact: call 416-913-3079, or e-mail: macdonald_cema@hotmail.com
NEW ADOPTION INFORMATION LAW IMPROVES RIGHT TO INFORMATION AND PRIVACY
FOR ADOPTEES AND BIRTH PARENTS
Legislation Balances
The Right To Know With The Protection Of Privacy
TORONTO – Ontario ’s new adoption information law will soon give adoptees and birth parents easier access to information sealed in adoption records and new privacy protections for people who want to keep their past in the past, Minister of Community and Social Services Sandra Pupatello announced today.
The Ontario legislature today passed Bill 183, the Adoption Information Disclosure Act, 2005. The legislation updates provincial adoption information laws.
“This legislation will give adoptees the same rights as non-adopted individuals, while allowing those who wish to maintain their privacy to do so,” said Pupatello. “It strikes the right balance and recognizes that the right to information is not the same as the right to a relationship.”
Once fully implemented, the new adoption information law will:
- Give adoptees who are 18 years old or older the right to obtain copies of their original birth records and adoption orders that would provide them with their original birth name and may identify birth parents
- Provide birth parents with access to information from the adoptee’s birth records and adoption orders once the adoptee has reached 19 which could allow them to learn the adoptee’s name after adoption
- Allow the Child and Family Services Review Board to prohibit disclosure of identifying information in circumstances where there are concerns for personal safety
- Give all parties the right to put a “no contact” notice on their file, prohibiting each party from contacting the other.
The legislation will come into full effect in approximately 18 months. The transition period will allow the province time to put necessary procedures in place to process requests for information and “no contact” notices. The transition period will also provide time for adoptees and birth parents to learn about their new information and privacy rights.
"We’re thrilled that the McGuinty government is recognizing that adoptees have the same rights as every other Ontarian - to know who they are,” said Wendy Rowney with the Coalition for Open Adoption Records. “Many birth parents and adoptees in this province have waited decades for this day to arrive; we’re finally here."
Currently, it can take up to four years to re-unite families through Ontario's adoption disclosure register. In 2004, only 887 individuals out of 57,000 who were on the register were reunited. The new law should help adoptees and birth parents learn about their medical and personal history without any unnecessary hardship or delay.
“Imagine not knowing about your personal history, or who your parents are. Imagine not knowing if the child you gave up has had a good life,” said Pupatello. “Finally, our adoption information laws will recognize how important these things are to adoptees and birth parents. Finally, Ontario adoptees will have what the rest of us take for granted – the right to know their personal identity and history.”
MOTHERING ON THE MARGINS: COMMUNITY FORUM: SAT. DEC. 3
The Mothering on the Margins (MOMs) team from the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health and LGBT Parenting Network of the Family Service Association of Toronto would like to invite you to a community forum to celebrate the conclusion of the project.
The forum will take place on Saturday December 3, 1:00-4:00 pm, at the 519 Church St. Community Centre in Toronto .
We're inviting all the research participants, the research team, the Community Advisory Committee and some local decision-makers to learn about the research results. The forum will also include opportunities to connect with other LGBTTT mothers and enjoy a reading by the hilarious actor/writer/new lesbian mom Diane Flacks from “Bear With Me: What They Don't Tell You About Pregnancy and New Motherhood."
Please bring your partners, significant others, friends and, of course, your children! There will be childcare available plus the forum itself will be child-friendly. For those wanting childcare, please let us know how many children you need childcare for and their ages.
* Parking and travel reimbursement is available for those who need it. Light refreshments will be provided.
* If you can't attend the forum, but would like to be added to a MOMs email list to learn about the results of the study and connect with other participants, please let us know.
The Mothering on the Margins (MOMs) project is a research study carried out by researchers at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the LGBT Parenting Network of Family Services Association of Toronto. The research was funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research through the Institute of Gender and Health. The goals of this research were (a) to learn about the factors that contribute to emotional well being in lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, transsexual, and two-spirit (LGBTTT) mothers and mothers-to-be, and (b) to learn what services LGBTTT mothers and mothers-to-be find helpful, and what services they wish existed
Tel: 416-260-4138 or 1-866-371-6667 Email: moms_project@camh.net
CALL FOR PAPERS: QUEER FERTILITY JOURNEYS (from Natasha Pinterics)
As my partner and I embarked upon our journey of trying to become parents, I devoured every last bit of information that examines and explores LGBT families, pregnancy and adoption. Although there are now some wonderful books on the market about these topics, I was left hungering for something different. I wanted to read about and find comfort and inspiration in others' experiences about the fertility journey itself - the time before we become queer families, when we are still making plans and dreaming our families into existence.
The time between deciding to grow our families and actually becoming parents is a time fraught with complicated emotions and experiences – it can be simultaneously exhilarating, sorrowful, anxiety-producing, isolating and enriching – it can shift our conceptualizations of who we are, how we think about ourselves and the world around us. Yet, in our haste to become parents, I believe that we often ignore the significance of this very "fertile" time in our lives.
To this end, I am putting out a call for proposals for essays about people's experiences with the queer fertility journey. It is my hope that these submissions will eventually be compiled into an edited anthology for publication. Essays may be academic, personal stories and/or both, but all must be written for a general reading audience.
There is of course, no one "fertility journey" for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgendered people. It is my hope that this anthology will create a pastiche of diverse queer experiences, and help to fill in the gaps for others in our communit(ies) who hunger for the same kinds of information that I have sought.
- How does this time of "waiting" to become parents impact us?
- How does our identity shift in the time between deciding to try to create a family and actually becoming parents?
- How has the fertility journey shifted our relationships with partners, family, the world around us?
- How have we experienced and been impacted by homophobia and discrimination?
- How are our choices about how to become parents constrained by our gender orientation, sexual orientation, relationship status, socio-economic status?
- What are the ups and downs of deciding how to become parents (using known/unknown donors, surrogates, adoption, fostering)?
- How do we as queer people navigate finding donors and surrogates and finding our way through adoption and foster care systems?
- In the case of donor insemination (or IVF), how does the journey differently impact upon carrying and non-carrying partners?
- How does the experience of miscarriage impact queer people and might this be different than how straight people experience miscarriage? (For example, how are gay men who use a surrogate impacted if their surrogate miscarries?)
- What are the experiences of lesbians who are struggling with infertility?
The above questions are meant as examples of possible angles of inquiry. I welcome submissions on any and all topics relating to this period in the queer fertility journey.
I look forward to receiving and reading your submissions. Those whose proposals are accepted will be invited to write and submit essays for consideration for publication.
Along with your submissions, please include a separate piece of paper with your contact information, including email. Please send proposals for essays to: tpinterics@hotmail.com
Deadline for proposals: February 28 th, 2006
Past LGBT Parenting E-News issues:
Disclaimer: News from the Parenting Network, as with our Pride & Joy newsletter may include reprints, excerpts or summaries from other sources. We cannot take responsibility for any inaccuracies or omissions. We are also happy to publish information about research projects and other community initiatives. We do so in the spirit of sharing information, but do not have sufficient knowledge to actively endorse or advocate participation in particular projects.
