Contemporary Adoptive Families Study (CAFS)

Third Round of Participant Recruitment is Ongoing!

The Contemporary Adoptive Families Study (CAFS) led by Dr. Rachel Farr (PI) is a longitudinal study that includes lesbian, gay, and heterosexual adoptive parents and their children. It is one of the few long-term studies that includes information from all members of the family in survey, interview, and observational formats. Families respond to questionnaires, talk about their experiences, and even work to resolve family disagreements together (such as how to divvy up household chores). In this next follow up (CAFS Wave 3), participating children are now adolescents, making their narratives especially important as the voices of youth who are adopted and who have with LGBTQ+ parents are still sorely underrepresented.

Previous research from CAFS has been covered in the news previously (linked below) and even cited in amicus briefs (and many others) that supported the federal marriage equality decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015! Check out some of the links below for more information on some of the results from CAFS.

Some of the news sites that have mentioned CAFS include the Huffington Post (and HuffPost Canada), the New York Times, CBS News, Psychology Today, Science Daily, LGBTQ Nation, Logo.NewNowNext, Buzzfeed, and Bustle just to name a few!

If you have questions about this study, please reach out to adopt.family.study@gmail.com!