ABSTRACT
This contribution proposes an intervention methodology that provides improved access to and effectiveness of mental health care facilities in Brussels, Belgium, for children and their families with a refugee and migration background. Migration is a complex process that involves several potential risk factors, and referral to mental health facilities is often ineffective. Consequently, optimal developmental opportunities for refugee children are hampered. The intervention is underpinned by a broad-based contextual perspective that seeks to bring to the surface and tackles the many challenges faced by these families. It takes into account the unique developmental context of refugee children, as well as the interplay with broader systems.
Subject(s)
Health Services Accessibility/organization & administration , Mental Disorders/ethnology , Mental Disorders/nursing , Mental Health Services/organization & administration , Refugees/psychology , Adolescent , Child , Child Behavior Disorders/ethnology , Child Behavior Disorders/nursing , Child Behavior Disorders/psychology , Child, Preschool , Cultural Competency , Cultural Diversity , Ethnopsychology/methods , Ethnopsychology/organization & administration , Female , Humans , Infant , Interdisciplinary Communication , Intersectoral Collaboration , Learning Disabilities/ethnology , Learning Disabilities/nursing , Learning Disabilities/psychology , Male , Mental Disorders/psychology , Professional-Family Relations , Social Participation/psychology , Social ValuesABSTRACT
The quantitative and qualitative data of this study on family functioning in lesbian donor insemination families reveal that according to both parents and children, the quality of children's relationship with the social mother is comparable to that with the biological mother. Unlike fathers in heterosexual families, the lesbian social mother is as much involved in child activities as is the biological mother. Furthermore, the lesbian social mother has as much authority as does the father in heterosexual families.
Subject(s)
Family Relations , Homosexuality, Female/psychology , Insemination, Artificial/psychology , Parent-Child Relations , Adult , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
In many countries fertility services still refuse to inseminate lesbian couples because they believe the child's welfare would be at stake. One of their concerns is that these children will be stigmatized because of their non-traditional family structure. In this follow-up study, we interviewed children from lesbian donor insemination (DI) families about how they present their 'non-traditional' family to people in their immediate social environment. We also explored whether or not children were teased or harassed about their lesbian family and whether or not coping with a non-traditional family constellation was reflected in their psychological well-being. According to this study, almost all children from lesbian DI families share the fact that they live in a two-mother unit spontaneously with close friends who react positively. Others are only informed about the non-traditional family structure when they ask questions about it. From the children's answers, we can conclude that for some peers it is hard to understand that someone can have two mothers without having a father somewhere. Compared with children from heterosexual families, these DI children are not more likely to be teased but they are more prone to family-related teasing incidents. However, introducing their non-traditional family into their peer group does not seem to interfere with their psychological well-being. Nonetheless, teachers indicate that children from lesbian families experience more attention problems compared with children from heterosexual households.
