The Toronto Lesbian Family Study

Twenty-seven lesbian mothers completed standardized tools chosen to assess current functioning, followed by a video-taped interview. Verbal children w ere also interviewed. Questions involved perceptions of the mothers' and ch ildren's experiences of being homosexual or being raised by homosexual pare nts, knowledge and fantasies about the donor/father; feelings regarding the role of fathers, parents' experiences of being fathered, legal issues, and development. All mothers were strongly lesbian identified and most were completely "out. " Ail but one mother planned to or had told their children. All mothers planned to reveal donor information at an appropriate age. Many , especially parents of boys, had concerns about lack of a male role model, but none felt this would negatively affect the child's development. Mother s were open to having their child ask questions and even seek out the donor when older. Thirty-one percent of mothers reported a positive relationship with their o wn father, 42% a father who was present but unavailable or punitive and 27% a completely absent father for large parts of their childhood. Couples divided parenting work based on individual strengths and interests, work schedules and demands. Only two of the couples felt that one of them played a role typical of a father. An aggregate score was compiled for each mother based on the number of nega tive outcomes in the standardized tools. The mean number of negative outcom es for the mothers was 3.15 (SD = 1.85). Of the six women with 5 or more ne gative outcomes on the scales, three were single parents and one had lost h er partner when her child was two months old. On the CESD, three mothers showed depression levels that were high. The Int ernal External scale showed 42% of mothers to have an external locus of con trol. Three mothers scored negatively on the Family Assessment Device. Nine ty two percent of women showed moderate to high self-esteem on the Rosenber g Self-Esteem scale, and the Parenting Stress Index found only 4 women show ing enough stress to warrant follow-up. Mothers who reported very negative early experiences of coming out were more likely to report current depressi ve symptoms (p = .03). All but one child living in two-mother homes identified both mothers as par t of their family. Our initial impression is that these are primarily strong families with a v ariety of parenting skills, stressors and philosophies.