Family Counselling Service professionals’ attitudes towards same-sex parenting: a qualitative research in Northeast Italy

In Italy, the recent law 76/2016 allows the legitimation of a gay or lesbian couple’s union only through access to civil union but not to so-called stepchild adoption of children born to a same-sex couple through medically assisted procreation technologies (MAP). Nevertheless, the increasing number of lesbian and gay couples deciding to transform their desire to have children into action, makes it essential that professionals working in the public child and family sector be prepared and capable of providing suitable services for both heterosexual couples and gay and lesbian couples. This research intends to explore the view of same-sex parenting in a group of Public Family Counselling Services professionals (psychologists and social workers) working in Northeast Italy. The results show that there are very few gay and lesbian parents calling on public family support services and a lack of specific training for professionals. There is still a strong degree of conservatism among the interviewees who consider parenting a female domain, showing greater acceptance for lesbian parents than gay ones. More generally, the absence of one gender in parental couples, the need to use MAP, the risk of stigmatization, and a dearth of social networks are considered relevant risk factors.