Faculty of Education - Research Publications

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Inclusion of LGBTIQ-parented Children in Early Childhood Settings: What Are the Lessons from the Literature?

Liang, Xinyun ( 2018)

The recent social and legislative understanding of diverse families has extended to include those headed by people of diverse gender and sexuality, but children and their lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) parents are still experiencing stigma and not adequately catered for in early childhood education and care (ECEC). This paucity motivated the current study to explore factors influencing the ways that LGBTIQ-parented families are catered for in ECEC settings. Using an ecological model initially proposed by Bronfenbrenner as a conceptual framework, this study systematically reviewed contemporary scholarly discourse relating to the experiences of LGBTIQ-parented families when using ECEC services (2013 – 2018). A hypothesised ecological model for inclusion was developed based on preliminary reading and refined after a thorough assessment of twenty-three contemporary scholarly articles that focused exclusively on the ECEC context (birth to 5). By doing so, this review presented a synthesis of existing knowledge to identify stakeholders who should be influenced in making ECEC programs accountable for LGBTIQ-parented children. Despite some progress in this field of study, considerable gaps remain in current understanding. Missing or limited research areas are discussed to imply future research needs.