A new study published by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (“CMAJ”) explores the experiences of Canadian polyamorous[1] families during pregnancy and birth. The participants of the study were self-identified polyamorous women or partners of women who had had a child in the last five years. Each participant family reported some level of marginalization when accessing pregnancy and birth care and a general lack of knowledge by health care providers about families with more than two parents, or “multi-parent” families. The issues identified by the participants included having negative or judgmental interactions with health care professionals or hospital staff, as well as logistical problems such as forms or procedures not being able to accommodate their familial arrangement.
Multi-parent families arise in a variety of other contexts as well, such as same-sex couples who are parenting with a biological or birth parent, or family or friends who have platonic parenting arrangements. Awareness and recognition of multi-parent families is growing, and in 2016 Canada took steps to recognize multi-parent families by enacting the All Families Are Equal Act (“EFCA”). The EFCA amended several existing statutes regarding parentage rules to allow a variety of multi-parent families to be formally recognized in law.
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