Abstract
Facing the deep changes in the visibility and recognition of experiences of non-heterosexual parenthood in Italy, and the growing attention research has been devoting to them, this article proposes a sociological contribution to a needed reflection about dilemmas and responsibilities regarding the definition of the object of research, and the frames provided in the training of workers and volunteers in addressing these experiences. Prompted by an experience of training on family diversity in Torino, these reflections focus on how to recognize and avoid the risks of a categorising approach. The perspective of family practices is proposed as a possible analytical strategy to give account of the plural and situational ways by which actors give sense to their doing family in everyday life, without refraining from dealing with the symbolic and institutional weight of this term.
