Are We Family? Lesbian Mothers and the Decision to Make Contact with Their Children's Donor Siblings

The current study examines the experiences of three lesbian families who have made contact with their children's donor siblings: a single mother by choice, a couple and a mother who had children in the context of a relationship that has since ended. It builds on prior research that has addressed this topic, but has primarily utilized survey methodology. Participants of the current study shared their experiences via focus group and individual interviews. A narrative research approach was used to analyze and present the findings.

Invisible Suffering: Practitioner Reflections on Peacebuilding Programs with Youth Exposed to Traumatic Stressors in Intergroup Conflict

For decades, the international community has recognized that youth are some of the most vulnerable to mental and emotional distress within the intractable and cyclical nature of identity-based violent conflict. Exposure to traumatic stressors within these intergroup conflicts poses unique risks not only to the neurological and social development of youth, but also to the capacities of youth to fully participate in peacebuilding interventions. The peacebuilding field has yet to strongly consider how traumatic stress affects dynamics within programs for youth and how these programs may need to modify expectations of youth’s cognitive, social, and emotional functioning to account for the traumatic dimensions of political and social violence. Through a qualitative analysis of practitioner reflections gathered from an online survey distributed worldwide, this study explores how practitioners conceptualize and approach issues of traumatic stress in peacebuilding programs focused on youth in conflict-affected contexts. The objective is to identify the working assumptions undergirding practitioner conceptualizations and approaches to traumatic stress and gaps in trauma interventions in peacebuilding programs for youth. The implications of these findings will support efforts to enhance trauma-sensitive peacebuilding practice by revisiting and reconsidering preexisting norms.