Post submitted by Kimmie Fink, Welcoming Schools Consultant

HRC is proud to participate again this year in the 12th Annual Blogging for LGBTQ Families Day. This annual event, which was started by Mombian.com founder Dana Rudolph, is an opportunity for LGBTQ-headed families and allies to show their support for LGBTQ families. You can join in by sharing photos, experiences, videos and stories using the hashtag #LGBTQFamilies on social media.

HRC is taking part today by highlighting two of our many programs that support LGBTQ families: Welcoming Schools and All Children - All Families.

Welcoming Schools is the nation’s premier elementary-school program that is LGBTQ and gender inclusive. One of program’s professional development modules is focused on helping educators to be inclusive of family diversity. Through recommended picture books like And Tango Makes Three and The Different Dragon, the Welcoming Schools approach ensures that all children feel welcome by seeing family structures that reflect their own. Interactive lessons like “What Is A Family?” promote understanding and celebrate diversity through the lens of families.

All Children - All Families (ACAF) is a project promotes that LGBTQ cultural competency among child welfare agencies. ACAF assists foster and adoption organizations in meeting its Benchmarks of LGBTQ Cultural Competency. The goal is to provide agency staff with the knowledge and skills to both serve the specific needs of LGBTQ youth in foster care as well as tap the resource of potential foster and adoptive parents within the LGBTQ community. LGBTQ parents are raising four percent of all adopted children in the U.S. With more than two million LGBTQ people interested in adoption, ACAF fills a vital need by ensuring that children find loving homes and creating LGBTQ families.

For more information on these programs and to learn how to bring a representative to your school or foster/adoptive agency, please visit the websites for Welcoming Schools and All Children - All Families.