The family next door
Julia and Ingmar could easily be mistaken for any other small family: mother and father walking with their daughter in a stroller. But they were never a couple. Julia lives in a shared apartment in Leipzig and has a boyfriend, while Ingmar lives with his husband in Berlin. And yet, they have a child together.
They’ve been close friends for 15 years, meeting at parties and attending protests – eventually sharing the desire to become parents. “Co-parenting” is what it’s called when people raise a child together without being in a romantic relationship. In the bathroom of Julia’s flatshare, Ingmar prepared the sperm injection; in the second cycle, fertilization was successful. On July 15, 2024, their daughter Verle was born.
Their story is one of family as chosen kinship – built on trust, responsibility, and a deep bond beyond traditional roles.
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