2022 LGBTQ+ Pathways to Parenthood Symposium & Resource Fair

On October 16th 2022 we will present our annual, since merging with Family Pride Network, Pathways to Parenthood symposium—this year’s theme is “Securing Your Family.”

 

The Supreme Court’s recent decision, overturning Roe v. Wade and almost half a century of precedent sent shock waves through our nation. And, the language in the opinion signaling looming threats to other freedoms related to our ability to find, form, and sustain our families has raised considerable fears within the LGBTQ+ community. In the wake of Dobbs, we have heard from many LGBTQ+ families asking how they can not only create their families but how they may also protect and care for their families. And, we’ve heard from allies asking what they can do to make a difference.

 

Pathways to Parenthood brings together LGBTQ+ people looking to enhance their families through parenthood—via a number of options like adoption, assisted reproduction, fostering to adopt, and others. And this year we’ll add information about how our families can ensure their families stay whole no matter the legal challenge.

 

Program Schedule

9AM	Tea/Coffee/Selection of continental breakfast items
Conversations
9:30AM – 10:15AM	Foster Pathway: Foster parenting is a way of caring for a child of any age for a range of time, usually because the child has been removed from a prior familial situation deemed unfit. Fostering can, but doesn’t always, lead to permanent adoption.
10:30AM – 11:15AM	Surrogacy/Assisted Reproduction Pathway (presented with support from Cryobio): Surrogacy is an arrangement, often supported by a legal agreement, whereby a person agrees to delivery/labor for another person or people, who will become the child’s parent after birth. In Vitro fertilization (IVF) is the process by which an egg is fertilized outside of the body and transferred to the uterus where the child is carried to term. Artificial insemination is the process by which a donor’s sperm is inserted directly into a person’s uterus.
11:30AM – 12:15PM	Adoption Pathway – (presented with support from Choice Network): Adoption is a process whereby a person assumes the parenting of another, usually a child, from that person’s biological or legal parent(s)/guardian(s).
12:30PM – 1:15PM	Legally Securing Your Family: In the LGBTQ+ community our families are often created by bond first and not bold. In the wake of Dobbs, we have heard from many LGBTQ+ families asking how they can not only create their families but how they may also protect and care for their families. We’ll spend time with Columbus lawyer Hanna Botkin-Dotty exploring how we should ensure our families are not only bonded but also legally secure.
Guest Speaker	Hanna Botkin-Dotty: Attorney, educator, and LGBTQ+ advocate; entrepreneur and sole proprietor of Hannah’s Legal Help in Columbus, Ohio. Hanna spent their career working in the Domestic and Juvenile Courts across the state. They now focus work on writing Estate Plans, Dissolutions, Adoptions, LGBTQ Law including Name Changes, Birth Certificate Corrections, and Second Parent Determinations.
Mix  & Mingle
1:00PM	Lunch & Mix
2:00PM	Program Concludes

• Resource Tables open from 9AM through the program end at 2PM

 

Conversations moderated by Stonewall Executive Director — Densil Porteous

 

Event Sponsors

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