Solo motherhood and childcare: investigating the return-to-work experiences of families formed through donor insemination or IVF

Since the birth of Louise Brown in 1978, new reproductive technologies have enabled families to be created in new ways (Gurtin and Faircloth 2018). One example is families formed by solo mothers (or single mothers by choice) using donor insemination or, increasingly, IVF (HFEA 2020). Interest in the work and care practices of these new family forms is growing; however, existing research into single parent families has tended to focus on those formed through separation or divorce. This often emphasises poorer outcomes for children, primarily due to economic hardship (Amato 2005). As solo mothers are usually financially secure (Graham and Braverman 2012), this framing excludes their experiences.

My project will therefore explore the childcare choices and practices of this understudied sub-group of single parents as they return to work following parental leave.The project is positioned within the interpretivist paradigm, and will take a qualitative approach. I anticipate that my data collection method will be repeated semi-structured interviews: this approach has been used to address similar research questions (for example Graham 2018 and Bock 2000).

This multidisciplinary project sits within the ESRC research area of Education and will also draw on the fields of sociology, childhood studies and parenting culture studies. The project will have conceptual impact by contributing to understanding of policy issues related to childcare and parental leave in new family forms, and by reframing the deficit model of single parent families. This will meet the ESRC remit of producing research that makes a demonstrable contribution to society and the economy.