About
While LGBTQIA+ family formation continues to increase through fertility care, adoption, and assisted reproduction, yet support structures for parents and children remain inconsistent and often inadequate.
The Family Circle addresses systemic gaps affecting LGBTQIA+ families by strengthening both individual and institutional capacity.
Tools for Families.
Readiness for professionials.
Our work focuses on ensuring that families have the tools they need, and that the professionals who work with us are prepared and confident. Everything we do is informed by extensive qualitative and quantitative research with LGBTQIA+ parents, adults raised by queer parents, educators, and allied professionals.
The gap is closeable.
And it's within our reach.
All evidence shows that, when a child is raised in a home filled with love and acceptance, they thrive.
Yet children of LGBTQIA+ parents often encounter environments where their families are misunderstood, misrepresented, or unsupported.
Educators, healthcare providers, and family-serving professionals frequently lack the training or resources to meet these families' needs.
The Family Circle exists to close this gap.
Origin Story:
Why Are We Called The Family Circle?
When a coastal redwood is damaged, a 'family circle' forms.
Burls will begin to form around the tree base, eventually springing a ring of new trees. Other redwoods join in, and even different species entirely, sharing nutrients and information through an interconnected root system. The collective is ever present in a family circle.
As time passes, the original trunk disappears, but the family circle remains.
Our work at The Family Circle is embedded in the understanding that all families are not created equal, and that our work towards equality for LGBTQ+ birthing parents is long term. It's our aim to plant new, connected roots that sustain us many generations into the future.
MD Sitzes
Founder
MD Sitzes (sites) founded The Family Circle to address critical gaps in support for LGBTQIA+ birthing people and the professionals who serve them.
MD is a communications strategist and educator with over 15 years of experience in organizing, education, leadership, and policy-informed messaging. Check out MD's LinkedIn page here.
MD specializes in helping navigate: sperm, egg, and embryo donation, perimenopause conception, PPD/PPA/PPP risk mitigation, biases in insurance systems, affirming care, and day-to-day interactions between parents, prospective parents, and professionals.
MD's vision for the future is one where everyone thrives.
A family journey should start with informed advocacy
Let's begin together
