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Where are we in building new families?

Precongress Course 4


SIG Ethics and Law SIG Psychology and Counselling   Special Interest Groups Ethics and Law and Psychology Counselling 

 

Course coordinators
Mariana Moura Ramos (Portugal) and  Nicola Williams (United Kingdom)


Course type
Advanced


Course description

Jointly organised by the SIGs in Psychology & Counselling and Ethics & Law, the course combines demographic insights, ethical debate, legal overviews, and practical counselling approaches. Topics include unregulated donation, surrogacy, age-related considerations in gamete use, and the psychosocial needs of both patients and staff navigating complex patient scenarios. Participants will gain an evidence-based understanding of diverse pathways to parenthood and critical insight into how to address patients’ common needs within this context. The course aims to enhance participants’ ability to provide competent and sensitive care to patients making parenthood decisions in new family contexts


Educational needs and expected outcomes 

New family structures are evolving and increasingly encountered in clinical and legal practice. There are still gaps in knowledge regarding non-traditional family formations (e.g., same-sex parenting, transgender parenthood, polyparental families, surrogacy, postmortem reproduction, and unregulated gamete donation), particularly about what kind of support do patients need and their preferences regarding different medical and psychosocial approaches. 

After attending the course, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the current landscape of family diversity in assisted reproduction, based on demographic, legal, and cultural aspects.
  • Identify the psychosocial needs and motivations of individuals and couples pursuing alternative paths to parenthood.
  • Apply inclusive, evidence-based counselling approaches to patients from diverse family backgrounds.
  • Critically assess legal and ethical frameworks concerning surrogacy, donor anonymity, postmortem parenthood, and cross-border care.
  • Engage in professional dialogue across disciplines to support responsible, equitable family-building practices.

 

Innovative aspects of the course

We hope this course will equip healthcare professionals with the necessary knowledge and practical skills to help them better integrate and offer high-quality, patient-centred care to patients in emerging new family-building contexts formed through third-party reproduction. The course will encourage participants to reflect on how principles of reproductive justice can be meaningfully applied in daily practice when supporting diverse pathways to parenthood.


Target audience
Psychologists, counsellors, ethicists, physicians and other health professionals involved in assisted reproduction

 

Programme



Sunday 05 July 2026

Session 1: Where are we now?
Chairs
Chairperson to be announced
Chairperson to be announced
09:00 - 09:30
Families in the 2020s: a demographic overview
Speaker to be announced
09:30 - 09:45
Discussion
09:45 - 10:15
What do people need to start a family?
Mariana Sousa Leite, United Kingdom
10:15 - 10:30
Discussion
10:30 - 11:00
Coffee break
Session 2: Ethics and family formation: spotlight on post-menopausal and post-mortem conception
Chairperson to be announced
Chairperson to be announced
11:00 - 11:30
Ethical and legal challenges posed by post-humous reproduction
Sara Fovargue, United Kingdom
11:30 - 11:45
Discussion
11:45 - 12:15
Ethical challenges in fertility care for older women
Giulia Cavaliere, United Kingdom
12:15 - 12:30
Discussion
12:30 - 13:30
Lunch break
Session 3: Challenges for staff working with diverse family formations
Chairperson to be announced
Chairperson to be announced
13:30 - 14:00
Preparing staff to support trans people in family-building
Damien Riggs, Australia
14:00 - 14:15
Discussion
14:15 - 14:45
Supporting staff in managing emotions, personal values and professional boundaries
Fabiola Fedele, Italy
14:45 - 15:00
Discussion
15:00 - 15:30
Coffee break
Session 4: The future of the family
Chairperson to be announced
Chairperson to be announced
15:30 - 16:00
Accessing treatment for diverse families in europe – challenges and policy recommendations
Doris Leibetseder, Switzerland
16:00 - 16:15
Discussion
16:15 - 16:45
Future reproductive technologies and the diversification of the family
Stephen Wilkinson, United Kingdom
16:45 - 17:00
Discussion