Fertility & family building Town Hall
In March 2024 Seed and Sprout & 2SLGBTQ+ Family Building Canada held our first town hall including discussion, brainstorming, and information sharing.
The report from our gathering is available for viewing below:
APRIL 2024
2SLGBTQ+ FAMILY BUILDING CANADA
TOWN HALL REPORT
Our project is founded by Birth Mark’s Seed and Sprout Program with support from Community One’s Rainbow Grant
ABOUT 2SLGBTQ+ FAMILY BUILDING CANADA
2SLGBTQ+ Family Building Canada (FBC) is a new national resource for community support and provider training. Our upcoming projects focus on:
Community Resources: We will provide information, education, and community supports to 2SLGBTQ+ people building their families.
Provider Trainings: We will offer trainings, education, and consultations with healthcare providers, fertility services, and clinics throughout the country.
REPORT ON 2SLGBTQ+ COMMUNITY TOWN HALL
In March 2024, FBC hosted our first virtual community town hall to provide community members an opportunity to share experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ family building in Canada in the last five years.
Our steering committee members facilitated discussions on barriers, supports, and recommendations for improving fertility and family building care in Canada.
This report shares findings and recommendations from community members and town hall attendees, as well as plans for future FBC initiatives to address these calls for change and how community members can continue to stay involved.
Summary of Discussion
For 2SLGBTQ+ people navigating their family building journeys, many of the most useful supports and resources are found from grassroots efforts, discussions with peers, or community programming. While there have been some positive changes for fertility care, there remain many obstacles that make the journey challenging for intended parents. Participants in the town hall noted a variety of challenges from a lack of transparency about regulations and requirements, to emotional experiences of isolation, vulnerability, and loneliness, to prohibitive costs and unnecessary expenses. The lack of services and information was even more apparent in rural areas outside of urban city centres.
Discrimination and oppression were compounded for town hall participants who are racialized or who do not fit an imagined ideal. Participants noted experiences of fat shaming, racism, transphobia, and cissexism in clinic settings.
Recommendations for Services
Participants shared the need for more transparency, easier access to information and options, additional community supports, and more equitable regulations for pricing and costs. Participants also noted a need for more spaces to discuss these barriers and additional training required for healthcare providers.
“THIS PROCESS WASN’T BUILT FOR US”
SUMMARY OF BARRIERS AND CHALLENGES
Lack of Resources, Information, and Supports: Participants shared challenges related to a lack of resources and transparency related to services, legal processes, and Health Canada regulations. This was exacerbated for those who lived outside of urban city centres. Most attendees reported that they had to find services on their own without medical guidance, or that they had to educate their providers about their care.
Emotional and Social Isolation: Many individuals experienced feelings of loneliness and isolation, highlighting the lack of support networks and the impacts of micro and macro aggressions from doctors, clinics, and families. Participants noted that they felt tired, angry, or anxious when trying to navigate family building.
Financial Burdens and Economic Inequities: The high costs associated with family building, compounded by opaque fee structures and lack of financial support, posed significant barriers for intended parents. The lack of regulation around pricing and standardization of funding allocation were noted as significant barriers, alongside high costs.
Institutional and Systemic Discrimination: Participants faced discrimination and oppression within healthcare institutions, including issues related to privacy, consent, misgendering, and lack of inclusivity in forms and procedures.
Intersectional Marginalization: Race, class, gender, weight stigma, and intersecting oppressions contribute to additional disparities in fertility care experiences.
“This process can make you feel very exposed and in a very public way”
Participants shared that they were concerned about privacy and the expectations that intended parents should expose or share personal information with doctors, counsellors, surrogates, or donors.
SUMMARY OF BENEFICIAL SERVICES AND SUPPORTS
Peer Supports: Consistently across our discussions, peer supports and online groups were noted as a primary sources of knowledge sharing, support, and resource distribution. Social media, community spaces, and sharing stories with other queer and transgender parents were key to families feeling seen, grappling with emotional journeys, and navigating Health Canada regulations.
Validation & Acknowledgement of Inequities: Some participants noted that when care providers acknowledged inequities or noted that fees or processes were unjust, they felt more supported and seen. Some healthcare providers were willing to find alternative routes or options when 2SLGBTQ+ families advocated for their needs. Participants noted that finding 2SLGBTQ+ providers or those with training to work with our communities were more prepared to offer services and improved supports.
Community Programming: Online and in-person programming like those at Seed and Sprout, Sherborne Health, and the 519 were noted as useful services and spaces for accessing up to date information, community resources, and networks of care providers and experiences. The need to better promote or share these services was also noted.
Financial Education and Tax Support: While the high costs of family building were an ongoing obstacle, several participants noted that learning how to make the most of tax rebates was a significant support and benefit. Some participants noted that their work benefits were also sources of additional financial support or resources.
All clinics should be encouraged to be aware of and connected to 2SLGBTQIA+ counsellors for mandatory counselling, preferably those with sliding scales, so that gender and sexually diverse intended parents can choose counsellors within their communities.
“I CONSTANTLY FELT LIKE IF I WASN’T ME, OUR EXPERIENCE WOULD BE DIFFERENT.”
Many participants noted that the emotional toll of family building and being othered was exhausting, frustrating, and expensive.
A number of community members noted that because they had privilege (race, ability, gender, or class) they were able to access more resources that they otherwise would have been denied or faced barriers in receiving. Self-advocacy, available time, expenses, external supports, and English as a first language were among the privileges cited.
COMMUNITY RECOMMENDATIONS
Peer Support & Community Programming: Direct community supports and opportunities for mentorship and grassroots education for 2SLGBTQ+ community members.
Policy Intervention & Updating Regulations: Policy updates and system changes related to outdated and inequitable requirements related to gender, family structure, counselling, and additional interventions related to cost transparency and standardization of allowable fees
Trainings for Healthcare providers: 2SLGBTQ+ training for providers are needed. Specifically noted were the needs for ongoing education that focuses on interpersonal communication, gender affirming care, trauma-informed care, and anti-racist trainings.
Database of services & clinic reviews: Participants noted the need for reviews of clinics and their inclusion policies, knowledge, and skill working with 2SLGBTQ+ communities, as well as a database of care providers and practitioners who work in 2SLGBTQ+ fertility and family building.
Information Access: A non-partisan or not for profit registry of available donors and surrogates was suggested as a means to reduce exploitation of intended parents by potential donors, surrogates, agencies, and clinics.
Participants shared that changes are needed on provincial, federal, and local clinical levels.
“One priority for us would systemic changes, including laws and regulations, so that queer families are treated the same as heterosexual families, rather than having extra steps and extra costs”
These changes require transparency, updated health regulations that reflect medical advances, and revisions to requirements that put ‘queer tax’ into law.
FBC PROGRAMMING
PEER SUPPORT
FBC is developing a peer-training program for 2SLGBTQ+ people to develop skills to provide fertility and grief support for 2SLGBTQ+ people on their family building journey. The goal is to create more networks of care led by community members and for community members, accessible through our websiite.
SYMPOSIUM
In Fall 2024 we will have a full day symposium for 2SLGBTQ+ healthcare providers and community members to continue this conversation, highlight experiences and oppressions experienced by 2SLGBTQ+ People and create a plan and initatives to enact lasting change.
PROVIDER TRAINING
In addition to community based supports and education, we are also developing training programis for healthcare providers and creating a database of training that is already offered. Our objective is to highlight programs and curriculum that already exist and to identify gaps in training and work to fill them.
FERTILITY GUIDES
In 2025 we will begin work on a collaborative community guide, that will enable community members to continually share information, resources, and tools for navigating the family building journey.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
JOIN OUR EMAIL LIST
As new programs, initiatives, and opportunities are introduced, we will send out emails to our mailing list.
Ways we are looking for community members to get involved in Fall 2024 / 2025
Become a Peer Support Workers (training and honorarium will be provided) Attend the Symposium Fall 2024 (free!) Contribute to our guide Participate in future advocacy initiatives. Share your feedback and ideas with us!
Info@familybuildingcanada.com