As 2022 comes to a close, I’ve been riveted to Fleishman Is in Trouble, the terrific television series based on Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s provocative novel. Watching the resonant struggles and humanity of the characters, I’ve come to think of the story as a perfect metaphor for the surrogacy, LGBTQ, and adoption highlights of 2022.
Like discovering changing points of view in Fleishman Is in Trouble, actively embracing alternative paths to parenthood formed the 2022 surrogacy, LGBTQ, and adoption highlights.
The narrative centers on Toby and Rachel Fleishman, who are in pain, struggling to come to terms with their recent divorce. Just when the audience is ready to embrace Toby as the victim and revile Rachel as the villain, the point of view switches from husband to wife, and we learn Rachel’s side of the story.
The Fleishmans’ anger, sadness, and bafflement echo the reaction of those facing challenges to becoming parents or being recognized as parents in 2022. Whether because a couple was same-sex, infertile, unable to use gametes due to inheritable disease, single, or vulnerable after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and questioned same-sex marriage – my clients felt angry, sad, and baffled. Yet most were able to change their point of view from feeling like paralyzed victims to moving forward with optimism and resilience.
A discouraged couple languishing on an adoption agency waitlist met with me to explore private adoption. After I encouraged them to seek assisted reproduction and surrogacy as alternatives, they pivoted to surrogacy, an option that they had not explored. Another couple who had given up a on a second adoption, stayed in touch with the birth mother of their first child, when they heard from her that she was pregnant again and wished them to adopt the second child. Many married LGBTQ clients proactively solidified their rights to their children through parentage and adoption proceedings in New York and New Jersey.
Like discovering changing points of view in Fleishman Is in Trouble, actively embracing alternative paths to parenthood formed the 2022 surrogacy, LGBTQ, and adoption highlights.