What shall we call them?

When last discussed in Pediatrics in 2002, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health statement “Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents”2 (reaffirmed February 2010) and the accompanying technical report written by Ellen Perrin, MD, FAAP,3 drew much attention and engendered controversy both within the AAP and outside of it. The AAP noted that there were large numbers of children being parented by gays and lesbians and that lesbian and gay couples were serving as coparents. It was important that pediatricians caring for these children understood these nontraditional relationships, and it still is. After a careful review of the literature gave no indication of harm to children, the AAP took the appropriate, although we have since learned bold, step of suggesting how these children and their parents might be best served. Gartrell and Bos1 cite Perrin’s technical report when they state, “In young children, adjustment is largely determined by family functioning: regardlessof theirparents’ genderorsexual orientation, children fare better when their parents are compatible, share responsibilities, provide financial stability, and have healthy interpersonal connections.” We now have data for older offspring, and the findings are the same.