April 30, 2007
Media Contact: Rick Moore
415-314-8952
rmoore.rockway@alliant.edu

Rockway Director To Discuss Ways to Encourage L/G Families

Rockway Institute Executive Director Robert-Jay Green, PhD, will participate in a symposium in Chicago at the Council on Contemporary Families Tenth Anniversary Conference.  As part of this panel presentation titled “Programs to Promote Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood” to be held Friday, May 4th, Dr. Green will discuss “Interventions for Enhancing Couple Relationships and Father Involvement: Different Strokes for Lesbian, Gay and Heterosexual Folks.”

“The U.S. government spends millions of dollars on programs to help heterosexual couples stay together and to help fathers stay with families,” said Green. “Lesbian and gay families are left out of these programs. If they were included, the programs would have to be adapted for the unique circumstances lesbian/gay families face.”  While noting that same-sex couples and lesbian/gay parents are very much like heterosexual couples and parents in most respects, Green explains that lesbian/gay families face three special challenges: coping with antigay prejudice in their communities; generally lower levels of extended family social support; and the “relational ambiguity” of their situation.  “For example, same-sex partners lack a legal structure and historical models for defining what it means to be a couple,” said Green.  “This uncertainty requires that same-sex partners engage in a lot more work to clarify the nature of their commitment, expectations, and mutual obligations in the relationship.”

Similarly, if a lesbian couple has a child via alternative insemination, the non-biological mother’s relationship to the child exists in legal limbo except in states that allow second-parent adoption by the non-biological mother.”  This ambiguity can be especially problematic for co-parents who split-up.  “The non-biological mother may have no parental rights to custody or contact with the child after the couple separates, even if she served as the primary parent.”

Dr. Green is one of the original founders of the Council, which was formed ten years ago to make recent research on family formation, marriage, divorce, childhood and other family issues accessible to the press and public. He is Distinguished Professor at the California School of Professional Psychology, a part of Alliant International University, in San Francisco. He was recognized in 1998 by the American Psychological Association and in 2001 by the American Family Therapy Academy for his contributions to family research. Among his more than 70 publications are two co-edited books on families and family therapy.

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Contact Dr. Green at rjgreen@alliant.edu or 415-955-2121.