Publication
Loss at a distance, fatherhood rewritten: Perinatal bereavement and subsequent cross-border surrogacy arrangements in gay couples and single fathers
Carone N, Tracchegiani J, Cruciani G · LGBTQ+ Family: An Interdisciplinary Journal · 2026
Surrogacy is an increasingly used—yet unevenly accessible—pathway to parenthood for gay couples and single men. This qualitative study examined how fathers experience and navigate perinatal loss in cross-border surrogacy, and how they reenter surrogacy arrangements and parent following a subsequent live birth. Forty-seven Italian fathers (36 from 18 gay couples, 7 single gay fathers, and 4 single heterosexual fathers) took part in in-depth semi-structured interviews. Reflexive thematic analysis yielded six themes: perinatal loss as a rupture in the fatherhood journey; coping with grief: couple dynamics versus solitary struggles; fear and vigilance in subsequent surrogacy attempts; reframing fatherhood identity through resilience and meaning-making; relationships with the surrogate after loss; and disclosure of perinatal loss to children, families of origin, and friends. Integrating lenses of ambiguous/disenfranchized grief, minority stress, reproductive governance, and continuing bonds, grief emerged as both hyper-real (data, scans) and unreal (thin ritual), making recognition work central after loss in cross-border surrogacy. Fathers framed information cadence and pacing agreements as “trust prosthetics” that enabled progress amid uncertainty. Family psychologists can normalize asynchronous coping, offer father-inclusive loss groups, validate softer masculinities, scaffold single-father supports, and design post-loss pathways with triadic debriefs and time-zone-aware care. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)
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