Twenty-five published essays for children, teenagers, parents, teachers, schools, libraries and community organisations.
Children ask brilliant questions. Sometimes they ask about families, fairness, teasing, pride, adoption, surrogacy, donor conception, faith, law, privacy, identity or belonging.
Our essay library gives clear, thoughtful and age-aware answers. The essays are written for children and young people aged 8–15, with versions for pupils, teachers and families.
You do not need to know all the words before you begin. You only need curiosity, kindness and the courage to think carefully.
1. What Makes a Family a Family?
Core message:
A family is not made real by looking the same as every other family. A family becomes a family through care, safety, love, responsibility, honesty and belonging.
Primary audience: Children aged 8 to 12
Secondary audience:Teenagers aged 13 to 16, parents, teachers and educators
Reading level: Accessible upper-primary and lower-secondary reading level
A child with two mums or two dads does not have a strange or lesser family. Their family is one of the many ways love, care, responsibility and everyday life can come together.
Surrogacy is one way a child may be born with the help of another person. It should be explained with truth, care and respect for the child, the surrogate and the parents.
4. Donor Conception and the Question - Where Do I Come From?
Core message:
Donor conception is one way a family may begin. Children conceived with the help of a donor deserve truthful, age-appropriate information, emotional safety, privacy and respect for all parts of their story.
5. Adoption, Fostering and the Families That Grow Through Care.
Core message:
Adoption and fostering are ways children may be cared for when they cannot live safely or permanently with their birth parents. These stories can involve love, loss, change, protection, patience and belonging. Children who are adopted or fostered deserve dignity, privacy, honesty and respect.
LGBTQ+ families existed before the law fully recognised them. Legal recognition matters because it helps protect real people, real children and real family life, but love itself was real before paperwork learned how to name it.
Some LGBTQ+ people and families hid their love, relationships or family life because society made visibility unsafe. Their hiddenness was not proof of shame. It was often a way of surviving in a world that did not yet know how to respect them.
9. When Teasing Hurts - Bullying, Families and School Responsibility.
Core message:
No child should be teased, mocked, excluded or bullied because of their family. Schools, adults and friends all have a responsibility to protect children’s dignity, respond clearly and make sure every child can feel safe and included.
10. Questions Children Ask About Same-Sex Parents.
Core message:
Children’s questions about same-sex parents can be answered honestly, kindly and safely. Curiosity is normal, but every question should protect the dignity and privacy of the child and family being discussed.
11. Words That Welcome - Respectful Language About Families.
Core message:
Words can make children and families feel included, respected and safe. Respectful language is not about being perfect. It is about making room for real people, repairing mistakes and speaking with care.
12. Families Around the World - Culture, Tradition and Change.
Core message:
Families are shaped by culture, tradition, religion, history, migration and change. Different societies may understand family in different ways, but every child deserves dignity, safety, respect and belonging.
People may hold different religious or cultural views about family, sexuality, marriage and parenthood, but every child deserves safety, dignity, kindness and respect. Respectful coexistence does not require everyone to agree. It requires that no child is shamed, bullied or made unsafe.
Books, films, television and online stories help children imagine what families can be. When different families are shown with care, children can feel seen, and others can learn to understand lives beyond their own.
Law does not create love, but it can help protect children, parents and carers by recognising who has responsibility, who can make decisions, and how a family is seen in everyday life.
Surrogacy can help families begin, but it must be discussed with ethical seriousness. The child, the surrogate and the intended parents all have dignity, needs and rights that must be respected.
17. Birth Stories - How Families Tell Children They Were Wanted.
Core message:
Every child deserves a birth story told with truth, tenderness and respect. Being wanted is important, but children should not be made to feel they must be grateful, perfect or silent because adults worked hard to bring them into the family.
Children need roots, mirrors and belonging. Roots help them understand where they come from. Mirrors help them see themselves reflected with dignity. Belonging helps them feel safe enough to grow into who they are becoming.
Children should never feel forced to explain or defend their family. If they choose to talk about their family, they deserve simple words, privacy, confidence, support and the right to stop the conversation.
20. What Teachers Should Know About Family Diversity.
Core message:
Teachers do not need to know every private detail of every child’s family. They need to create classrooms where different families are recognised, children are protected from shame or bullying, privacy is respected, and every child can learn without having to defend where they come from.
21. Myths About Same-Sex Parents and What Evidence Can Tell Us.
Core message:
Myths about same-sex parents often come from fear, stereotypes or old assumptions rather than careful evidence. Research does not show that children need parents of different sexes in order to grow well. What matters most is safe, stable, loving, responsible care.
22. Queer Love as Care, Commitment and Responsibility.
Core message:
Queer love is not only about identity, attraction or visibility. At its best, it is care, commitment, honesty, responsibility, dignity and the daily work of loving another person well.
23. Privacy, Secrecy and Shame - Knowing the Difference.
Core message:
Privacy protects dignity. Secrecy can sometimes protect people, but it can also become harmful when it is built on fear or control. Shame tells children that something about them or their family is wrong. Children deserve privacy without shame, truth without exposure, and support when secrets feel too heavy.
When different families become visible, children can feel less alone, schools can become safer, language can become kinder, and myths can be challenged. But visibility must never be forced. Children and families need recognition with privacy, dignity and choice.
25. A Future Where Every Child’s Family Is Respected.
Core message:
A better future is one where every child’s family is treated with dignity, safety and respect. This future is not built by slogans alone. It is built through language, law, schools, care, truth, privacy, representation, anti-bullying action and everyday kindness.