Family Stories

Jessica and Aundrea Dybing-Jorgensen - Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Jessica and Aundrea Dybing-Jorgensen live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, with their five-year old twin daughters, Morgan and Mitra.

Jessica gave birth to the girls while she was in a relationship with a man, but later the girls’ biological father dropped out of their life. Aundrea immediately felt very connected to the girls and spent a lot of time with them. The couple realized they needed to legally protect their family and ensure that both Jessica and Aundrea were recognized as the girls’ mothers. As Jessica explains, “We've gone through a lot of battles to get our family to the place where we are now.  Though we have never felt our family was any less important when we first met, we feel that we've had to jump through hoops for society and the law to accept our family, even though it still isn't looked at equally compared to a family with a mom and a dad.”

Read more >

Carrie and Lisa - North Carolina

From the minute Carrie and Lisa met, they knew that they wanted to expand their family together. Lisa already had two sons from a previous marriage, so it made sense for Carrie to be the one to get pregnant. In the midst of planning for the arrival of their daughter, Zoë, Carrie and Lisa never questioned that they would both be Zoë’s parents. But after talking to friends who had also had children, the couple realized that their options were limited in North Carolina.

Read more > 

Tell Your Story

Foster children waiting for adoption into loving, forever homes. Children denied legal ties to both their parents. Children denied access to parents’ health insurance coverage, quality child care, and early childhood education programs.  Children wrongly separated from their parents in cases of divorce or the death of a parent. Families denied basic government aid and safety net programs, Social Security Survivor benefits, inheritance, and more. Loving families who face social stigma and discrimination.

Has your family faced any of these barriers? Share your story and help us advocate for common-sense policy solutions to tackle these challenges.

Take Our Family Survey