As queer families across the U.S. continue to grow and diversify, one often-overlooked role is finally getting the support it deserves: queer stepparents or “bonus adults.”
A new Pittsburgh-based program, Building Blended Bonds, launched this year to provide virtual coaching and community support for queer adults who are helping raise children they didn’t biologically parent. The program is designed for people who may not hold a traditional “parent” title, but who are showing up with love, care, and responsibility in blended and chosen family structures.
Created by Pittsburgh-based queer trauma therapist Lauren Steele, the program grew out of personal experience. When Steele became a stepparent to her partner Kyrie’s child, she quickly discovered that few resources existed that reflected her identity or the complexities of queer family life.
“Joining a family as a stepparent can feel like starting from a deficit,” Steele said. “For queer stepparents, that often means doing so without access to affirming tools, resources, or community.”
Building Blended Bonds offers a trauma-informed, queer-affirming curriculum focused on communication, boundary-setting, co-parenting dynamics, and healing within blended families. The program is entirely virtual and includes both individual coaching and group-based sessions. A free weekly newsletter complements the core offerings, where Steele shares reflections from her own journey navigating stepparenthood in a queer, nontraditional family.
The program also embraces sliding-scale pricing, making it accessible to a wider range of participants. Those with greater financial flexibility are invited to contribute at a higher rate to help subsidize costs for others, reflecting the program’s values of mutual care and collective access.
For Steele and Kyrie, who co-parent an 8-year-old together, the work is both professional and personal.
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“Building Blended Bonds is the program I went looking for and couldn’t find,” said Steele. “Where queer stepparents do not have to explain themselves or navigate the journey alone.”
While mainstream parenting support often centers cisgender, heterosexual couples and nuclear family models, Building Blended Bonds offers a space where family is expansive, roles are flexible, and care is the central principle.
The initiative joins a growing movement of queer-led parenting resources that challenge traditional narratives and affirm diverse family structures. In Pittsburgh and beyond, queer families are redefining what parenting looks like through intentionality, community, and everyday acts of love.
Building Blended Bonds is a queer-affirming coaching program and community space for stepparents and “bonus adults” in blended and chosen families. Rooted in trauma-informed care and queer liberation values, the program supports participants in building inclusive, authentic family dynamics. It was created by Lauren Steele (she/her), a trauma therapist and stepparent, and her partner Kyrie (she/her), the biological parent of their child.