Rainbow Families Inc is the peak organisation supporting LGBTQ+ parents and their children. As a charity, registered with the ACNC, Rainbow Families works to reduce discrimination and disadvantage faced by children of LGBTQ+ parents so they can thrive and shine and is a support network for parents and carers, as well as future parents and carers.
Rainbow Families Inc has Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status from the Australian Tax Office which means that donations of $2 or more are tax deductible. This will help us grow our funding base so we can provide more support to Rainbow Families.
Our Purpose
The purpose of Rainbow Families is to build a community that fosters resiliency by connecting, supporting and empowering LGBTQ+ parents and their children.
What makes a Rainbow Family?
A Rainbow Family is a same-sex or LGBTQ+ parented family. At Rainbow Families, we define a Rainbow Family as any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer person who has a child or children; or is planning on having a child or children by way of donor insemination (known or unknown), surrogacy (altruistic or commercial), foster care, fostering to adoption, adoption (domestic or international), opposite sex relationship, co-parenting or other means.
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What do we do?
We provide support and resources to members of the LGBTQ+ community so that they and their families can live their best and most colourful lives. We host events that connect LGBTQ+ families, particularly those that are feeling isolated because of social pressures, financial difficulty or where they live. We advocate on behalf of our community and are a strong and consistent voice for NSW LGBTQ+ families to address discrimination, raise awareness and promote acceptance. We collaborate with similar organisations from other states to push for change across the nation.
New Rainbow Families are always welcome. Come along, say hi and connect with like-minds at one of our events or find out how you can get involved.
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The Rainbow Families Story: Together we sparkle
Like many grassroots organisations, Rainbow Families started with a humble kitchen meeting, wine & pizza, and lots of passionate parents.
Of course, LGBTQ+ people have been parents for ages, but recent years has seen an increase in opportunities available to us to have a family. Some of this has been increased access to clinics, changes in adoption laws, support for fostering, and having more parent role models in our community. There have been lots of parent social groups, but despite the growth in our community, NSW lacked from a strong peak, a professional community organisation was missing.
Rainbow Families has its origins in two separate New South Wales same-sex parenting social groups: Rainbow Babies and Kids, which supported predominantly lesbian mums, and Gay Dads NSW that supported predominantly gay dads.
Both these organisations wanted to better support the LGBTQ+ community as a whole, and it became clear that the best way forward was to band together. In 2016, the committee incorporated to become Rainbow Families (you can find our constitution here).
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Since then, we’ve continued supporting and being a voice for LGBTQ+ parents and families. Some of our successes that we’ve fronted or played a significant part in include:
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Holding Australia’s first LGBTQ+ antenatal class;
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Creating the ‘Love Makes a Family’ report on issues our community faces when accessing NSW State Government services;
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Facilitating Australia’s only LGBTQ+ playgroups;
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Successfully advocating for changes to passport applications to be more inclusive of same-sex parents;
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Being part of the winning marriage equality campaign;
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Consulting with the NSW Government to make the NSW Blue Book more inclusive of LGBTQ+ families;
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Developing a range of resources and educational groups for parents;
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Establishing a children’s resilience program.
Rainbow Families will continue building a resilient, inclusive network of LGBTQ+ families. We’re very excited to keep growing our community; here’s cheers to our future wins!
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