North Bay LGBTQI Family Formation Symposium

Join us for the 1st Annual LGBTQI+ FAMILY FORMATION SYMPOSIUM IN SANTA ROSA, California. This is a FREE, child-friendly conference for existing NORTH BAY LGBTQI+ families and parents-to-be. Join us for the day, or stay for an hour. This community building and educational event includes expert presentations, a lively and fun panel discussion, and a FREE screening of the feature documentary, A Womb of Their Own, made possible by funding from Community Foundation Sonoma County, followed by a Q&A Session with Director Cyn Lubow and the featured families. Limited Child Care is available - free Child-Friendly Event Lunch Provided by generous donors Community Building for LGBTQI+ Families Also appropriate for LGBTQI+ youth, as well as social services, health care providers and teachers serving queer parents and families in the NORTH BAY. ASL and Spanish Interpretors available upon request INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING? SIGN-UP HERE: https://goo.gl/forms/vxpOAHkqA8cC0lqE3 [https://goo.gl/forms/vxpOAHkqA8cC0lqE3] PRESENTATION: Special Considerations in Queer FAMILY BUILDING Sara Flores, Certified Nurse Midwife and Nurse Practitioner in Women & Transgender Health PRESENTATION: Building Families Legal Seminar and Q&A Session Kinna Crocker, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY The availability of new and innovative medical technologies has created options for people who want to become parents and start families. People are creating families in varieties of ways. Some use egg donation, sperm donation, or embryo donation. Some inseminate at home, some in a clinic under the supervision of a physician. Some use a surrogate and some adopt. It is important that our families are protected, by securing a legal connection between the parent and child. It is not enough to be listed on the child’s birth certificate. This seminar will discuss the various methods of securing necessary legal rights between parents and children. PANEL DISCUSSION: Our Unique Families Facilitated by Renata Moreira-Bilella, Interim Executive Director of Our FAMILY COALITION A panel discussion featuring unique families. The panel will include ALICE RUBY, MPH, MPPM, Executive Director of The Sperm Bank of California, as well as diverse representation of families, to allow a lively and informal question and answer session. Families represented will be: Solo Parent By Choice, Intentional Co-Parents, Foster-to-Adopt, IVF, Surrogate, Trans Parent, DIY Legal Matters, 3-Parent Families, plus Sara Flores and Kinna Crocker joining the panel. A diversity of families will inspire prospective parents, provide role models, identify potential obstacles and present effective solutions that worked for each FAMILY. FREE DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AND Q&A WITH DIRECTOR CYN LUBOW A Womb of Their Own -- a feature documentary. 85 minutes. www.seriousplayfilms.com How do people who don’t experience themselves as simply female or male handle a culture that offers only these two identities? A Womb of Their Own introduces a charismatic, funny, thoughtful group of masculine-of-center-identified people who experience pregnancy. Each individual and couple navigate gender expectations even from the LGBT community that don’t fit their experience of themselves. Follow their stories as they establish their own unique gender, develop their definition of FAMILY, grow a baby in their bodies, and birth, chestfeed and parent their children as non-binary masculine people. SCHEDULE (presentation times may be re-arranged): 10:30am-11:00am: Welcoming and Opening Remarkings 11:15am-11:45pm: Special Considerations in Queer FAMILY BUILDING 12:00pm-12:45pm: Building Families Legal Seminar and Q&A Session 12:45pm-1:15pm: Lunch Break 1:30pm-2:30pm: Our Unique Families Panel Discussion 2:45pm-4:15pm: Screening of A Womb of Their Own--a feature documentary. 85 minutes. 4:15pm-5:00pm: Question and Answer session with AWOTO Director5:15pm-6:45pm: Salsa Dance Lesson and Open Dance with Instructor Geno Russo7:00pm: Dinner and After Party at Brew Coffee and Beer SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR SPONSORS: Positive Images: Fiscal Sponsor (http://posimages.org [http://posimages.org]) Community Foundation Sonoma County: Funder (http://www.sonomacf.org [http://www.sonomacf.org]) Social Advocates for Youth: Venue Donor (www.saysc.org) SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS: Crocker Law Sperm Bank of California Our Family Coaltion Reclaim Midwifery Services Santa Rosa Birth Center Serious Play FilmsLGBTQ Perinatal Wellness AssociatesOrganize. By the People. For the People. SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR DONORS:Moustache Baked GoodsBrewPortraits To The People - Professional PhotographyLa Rosa RestaurantGaia's GardenFrozen Art Gourmet Ice CreamGeno Russo Dance Instructor