Support groups & playgrounds
Peer- and professional-led groups provide opportunities for LGBTQ+ parents and caregivers and prospective parents to meet, explore shared concerns, and build resilience through giving and receiving support. Culturally affirming childcare and refreshments/ dinner always provided with pre-registration.
Support Groups
What:
Our peer support groups meet on a weekly, biweekly, or monthly basis, and provide opportunities for LGBTQ+ parents, caregivers, and prospective parents to meet, explore shared concerns, and lend one another a sympathetic ear in a safe space which centers their experience.
Some are peer-facilitated, some are facilitated by experienced OFC staff, and some are facilitated by therapists from the community. All offer an informed space for community members to strengthen their networks of support, build resilience, and become connected to valuable community resources.
Check out the support groups available this month:
Where:
We hold support groups at our San Francisco and Oakland spaces, as well as at partner locations (in past years we've met in such places as Habitot in Berkeley, Bananas in Oakland, and in San Francisco the Children's Council and the Children's Creativity Museum).
Prospective & Expectant Parent Support Group
All prospective and expectant LGBTQ+ identified parents. This group provides opportunities for people to meet and network with fellow LGBTQ+ prospective and expectant parents on the often long, complicated, trying (and ultimately rewarding) journey of queer family-building.
Queer & Trans BIPOC Parent Support Group
A group by and for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color parents, co-parents, and caregivers who identify as queer, trans, &/or same gender-loving people. Issues and ages of kids range widely, brought to the group each time by participants, but the baseline is a space where we BIPOC families are centered.
Trans & Gender Nonconforming Parent Support Group
All trans and gender nonconforming parents, prospective parents, and co-parents connect and share what’s on their minds. From the workplace to trans activism, transition to temper tantrums, discuss whatever you’d like to in a safe space with friendly, supportive people. Newcomers welcome! Attendance is free. Refreshments provided. Child care provided upon request.
Biweekly Community Drop-In Support Group
All LGBTQ+ identified parents and caregivers connect and share what’s on their minds in an informal, drop-in group. Issues addressed vary based on what community members bring, but the focus is always on how we can support one another as we do what we can to help our families thrive.
Playgroups
What:
Our playgroups offer developmentally-enriching and fun opportunities for parents and children to interact, in spaces where our families are centered and celebrated.
We organize them by age of child, often running special multi-week educational opportunities within the group (such as Infant Massage, Music and Movement, and more).
Where:
We hold them at our SF and Oakland spaces, as well as in area parks. Group field trips – to fire stations, urban farms, or Fairyland – extend the social space into the community at large.
Baby & Me Parent-Infant Playgroup
Ages 0-18 months
Join us for this fun interactive group for LGBTQ+ parents/caregivers, allies and their infants. Parents and caregivers build community while strengthening their children’s psycho-social development and their parent-child bonds.
Toddle with Me Music & Movement
Ages 18 months to 5 years
Songs, dances, stories and more: kids shake the sillies out and sweep the boredom away, whilst strengthening gross motor development and social-emotional learning. Their adults deepen bonds with their children and establish vital connections to community.
Workshops and Trainings
WORKSHOPS
Topical workshops offer a 1-2 hour, usually interactive opportunity to gather support and resources on both LGBTQ+ specific and general parenting topics in an LGBTQ+ friendly environment.
They’re held both at our San Francisco and Oakland offices, and at spaces at partner organizations, all amenable to public transport. Every adult-focussed program includes free childcare and a meal or refreshments for every advanced registrant.
Past workshop topics have included:
Check out the support groups available this month:
Legal rights and protections for non-traditional families
Positive parenting practices
Family-building, including:
- adoption & foster-to-adoption
- alternative conception
- surrogacy
DIY
second-parent-adoption
Coming out to your children
Talking with children about their biological origins
Child development
Check out the support groups available this month:
Trainings
In addition to one-time workshops, we also offer multi-week courses in positive parenting.
For many years we’ve offered Triple P: Positive Parenting Program. For twelve weeks, a small group (usually less than ten participants) is facilitated by extensively trained staff. All curricular material, as well as childcare and a warm meal, is provided as part of the program, which is offered free of charge.
As with all our work, we ask that participants who are able consider donating what they can to enable us to continue to offer these vital resources to those who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford them.
Participants in these series find them an invaluable place to build community among fellow parents and caregivers, and an extremely rare, safe space in which to talk about parenting fails and foibles.
The curriculum is evidence-based and focuses on strengthening the parent-child bond, deepening understanding of early childhood social and emotional development, and proactive means by which adults can help teach – or later, coach – young people in developing effective self-regulation.
Major Yearly Events
Referrals
Policy & Advocacy
Our advocacy is focussed on increasing visibility and equity for all LGBTQ families.
Education
We believe that schools should be a positive place to learn where all students are invited and encouraged to be their full selves.