We are family: what really matters for children in new family forms

Delivered by the most outstanding academics in the UK and beyond, the British Academy’s flagship lecture
programme showcases the very best scholarship in the humanities and social sciences.

Our understanding of what makes a family has changed dramatically in recent decades due to advances in reproductive technologies accompanied by changing social attitudes. But what has the impact been on children? This lecture will present a summary of research on families with lesbian mothers, gay fathers, single mothers by choice and transgender parents, as well as families created by egg donation, sperm donation, embryo donation and surrogacy. The findings show that warm and supportive relationships between parents and their children, openness about the children’s origins, and acceptance of their family in the wider social environment matter more for children's psychological wellbeing than the number, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, or biological relatedness of their parents.

Speaker: Professor Susan Golombok FBA, Professor Emerita of Family Research and former Director of the Centre for Family Research

Susan Golombok is Professor Emerita of Family Research and former Director of the Centre for Family Research at the University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of the British Academy. She has pioneered research on lesbian mother families, gay father families, families with transgender parents, families formed by single mothers by choice, and families created by assisted reproductive technologies including in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination, egg donation and surrogacy. Her research has challenged commonly held assumptions about these families as well as widely held theories of child development, and has contributed to policy and legislation on the family both nationally and internationally. Her most recent book is, We Are Family: What Really Matters for Parents and Children.

Susan's book 'We are Family' will be on sale on the evening through Norwich's local bookseller The Book Hive.

Organised in partnership with The British Psychological Society

Free, booking required

A recording of this event will be added to the University of East Anglia's YouTube channel after the event has taken place. If you have any questions about this event, please email [email protected].