Many same-sex couples want children, but of course there are issues.  One woman can’t get another pregnant, whilst cis men at least, can’t get pregnant at all.  The answer is surrogacy in one form or another, including sperm donation.

Artificial insemination enabled several of my ‘Saltbury’ families.  Anonymous donors are the route of choice for many woman, but couples may want both of them to be as closely related as possible to their child: almost as closely as a straight couple might be.  This means help from a near relative and I have two such couples in my stories, with five children between them.  There are three fathers involved, each of which comes to have a very different relationship with their offspring.

Martine Fauld was the birth mother of my main character, Hazel, and her older sister Roisin.  Their biological father was Robert Stewart a first cousin and close friend of Martine’s wife, Debbie.  But although Rob was a favourite ‘uncle’ when the sisters were little girls, he played little part in their upbringing.  In fact they didn’t even know he was their father until they reached their early teens.  This wasn’t neglect on Rob’s part.  It was just what Martine and Deb wanted, and he really was a pretty doting uncle.

Years later, a new fertility treatment allowed Deb to fulfil her life-long yearning to have a baby herself.  Rob obviously wouldn’t do for that one.  Instead, Martine’s older brother, Leo, acted as donor.  Things were different this time, though.  Leo also longed for children, but his wife was opposed, so this was his opportunity as well as Deb’s.  Their two children, Sofie and Danielle, were thus a compromise that suited all parties and although Leo lives in Warrington, many hours’ drive from Saltbury he was “Dad” to the girls from the start and a lot more of a ‘hands-on’ parent.

We also know that Tina and Carol will eventually have a little girl called Millie.  I’m not going to tell you yet who her father is.  You’ll find out in my next but one book, ‘Wyeburn Station’, but let’s just say he’s a lot closer to home, which might come to cause issues.

For a male same-sex couple, adoption or a surrogate mother are the options.  But in ‘Debbie’s Gift’ we have a slightly different slant in which lesbian, Debbie acts as gestational surrogate for a straight couple: two of her most treasured friends.