All tagged New York Times
Concerned about losing access to pregnancy care, and fearful of legal consequences, surrogates and those who work with them are rewriting contracts and changing the way they operate.
This article involved a deep dive into neurofeedback, a "brain training" therapy that has been around for decades — its advocates say the therapy can improve concentration, mood, sleep, and even athletic ability, but it has yet to gain traction in mainstream mental health circles.
Ketamine — an anesthetic first popular with the 1970s counterculture movement and then as a club drug known as “Special K” — has recently emerged as a promising mental health treatment. Unlike conventional antidepressants, which work by increasing serotonin levels, ketamine appears to impact a neurotransmitter called glutamate, which is thought to play a role in regulating mood. Read the article here.
A new book of photography by Burt Heynen features the intimate moments of queer dads in America. American culture has not been particularly starved of images of gay fatherhood, particularly in recent years. It no longer feels revelatory to see them on television, as it did when “Modern Family” premiered in 2009. Less common are images of gay fathers who aren’t Instagram ready — like two men combing their daughters’ hair. Read the article here.
Deep canvasses require volunteers to be vulnerable with strangers, which can be uncomfortable but effective. A 2016 study published in Science found that 10 percent of voters deep-canvassed on transgender rights shifted their views in a positive direction. “That may not sound like a lot,” said Dave Fleischer, director of the Leadership Lab, a group involved in the research. “But it’s better than zero, which is the result of almost everything else we’ve tried.” Read the article here.
While the United States remains one of the few countries where gestational surrogacy is legal, and widely practiced, it continues to be a source of heated debate. Often missing from the conversation, however, are perspectives of surrogates themselves — and the varied, sometimes deeply personal, reasons that compel them to become surrogates. Read the article here.
On any given day in the United States, over 400,000 children, who have been temporarily or permanently removed from their biological families, are dependent on the country’s foster care system. Yet a perennial challenge facing the child welfare system is recruiting enough foster parents to meet the need — a problem that has worsened during the pandemic.
The pandemic is not just impacting parents and pregnant people — all prospective parents are facing new challenges.
This article is part of “The Price of Modern Parenting” series for the New York Times.
Each adoption process shares the same ultimate purpose: to unite children who need families with those that want children. Yet, despite this common goal, the price tag of adoption in the United States varies widely.
To consider the future is to consider a future without men — well, at least without male-created sperm. In the laboratory, scientists are drawing closer to growing sperm from skin cells. This piece was part of a special New York Times issue on Fertility, published on November 10, 2019.
It’s never been easier for L.G.B.T.Q. people to become parents. We can now adopt and serve as foster parents in every state in the country. Thanks to advancements in assisted reproductive technology, otherwise known as ART, and innovative co-parenting and known-donor arrangements, we’re also having biological children in greater numbers. Despite this progress, a complex network of state laws, regulations and restrictions affect many of our most common paths to parenthood, meaning would-be L.G.B.T.Q. parents can face a far more complicated legal landscape than our straight counterparts. Read the article here.
The process of adopting can be a long, complicated and emotional ride, with far more legal and financial roadblocks than many people assume. But, as most adoptive parents will tell you, it’s also a deeply fulfilling journey. Read the article here.
“Whose got your nose!” someone was carrying on in falsetto. I was mid-eye-roll before realizing, to my mortification, that it was I who was emitting these horrible noises. It was I who had her nose.
Arriving at my scheduled “donation time,” a technician guides me to the “collection room,” points out my various “entertainment options,” and hands me a sterile cup for my “specimen.”
Wow, what a nasty little bird, I thought. Imagine, tricking someone else into raising your own biological offspring. That’s just so wrong, so… Suddenly it hit me: I’m the cuckoo bird.
“But … I’m so short!” This, unfortunately, will always be the first phrase out of my mouth after my good friends, Tori and Kelly, asked me to be their sperm donor over a pizza dinner in Lower Manhattan.
"Did your childhood ever feel overly complicated?" I asked Flannery, who has two moms and a known donor.
I’ve had a lifetime to prepare my responses to the gay Mormon line of questioning, but I often find myself at a loss as to how to answer much of what’s posed to me about my known donor arrangement with Tori and Kelly.
As someone with the parental instincts of a fire hydrant, it was hard for me to understand why anyone would voluntarily put themselves through IVF, such an expensive and emotionally exhaustive process.
Being the type of people they are, my parents readily gave their consent when I finally worked up the nerve to broach the subject of sperm donation. “Of course!” my father exclaimed loudly. “I’m supportive of anything that eases the ability of the L.G.B.T. community to have children,” he added, like a politician giving an official statement on the matter.
Also… for an in-depth, firsthand account of how neurofeedback works, and how it can be helpful, check out this rec… https://t.co/DcsXfSRfb5
