The Experiences of Planned Two-Mother Families

What do you call a lesbian couple who chooses to conceive and raise a child together?-A Planned Two-Mother Family.This book focuses on six lesbian couples who have grown a family by having a child within their relationship. By focusing exclusively on planned two-mother families for the first time this type of family has been explored in depth. This study looked at what family meant by having each member tell their family stories and draw pictures of their family. Five broad themes emerged from the interviews. Overall the families described themselves as functioning well with children moving normally through developmental milestones while experiencing a high level of parental involvement and a close parental partnership with equal sharing of roles and responsibilities. Unique also to this book is that the author uses the lens of her own family's experiences to heuristically explore other similar families. Throughout this book the metaphor of the tree has been used to guide the reader through the journey of how to grow a lesbian family. This book will be of great interest to anyone studying the family as well as those interested in the use of self and metaphor in research.