COLAGE Announces the ART Project, A Survey of Children Born Through Donor Insemination

Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE) is pleased to announce the debut of the ART Project. The numbers of families utilizing artificial reproductive technology (ART) are every increasing, with recent studies showing lesbians as most likely to be raising happier, healthier children than heterosexual families. However, in spite of this increase, little is known about the dynamics of homosexual families, the challenges they face, and the development of the children raised in them.

According to Change.org, the most common fear regarded legal recognition of the non-biological parent. For families who happen to live in one of the 42 states that does not allow second-adult adoptions, parents voiced fears of challenges to parentage in the event of an emergency. Some parents even voiced concern over whether or not the donor used for insemination could one day sue for custody.

The first major effort of the ART Project is to conduct a national assessment of children born through donor insemination into gay & lesbian families. As part of this project, COLAGE is collected data from youth born through donor insemination, as well as their parents to take an online survey. There will be future opportunities to participate in other assessments through conference calls and/or in-person groups as well. In the upcoming months, COLAGE will be using all the information collected to develop and debut new programs and resources giving children born through direct insemination the tools to talk about their family, spark open dialogues within families and communities about donor insemination, and equip both themselves and their parents to navigate schools and other institutions.

Learn more HERE: http://www.colage.org/programs/art/