Congratulations to Prince William and Kate on the birth of their baby boy, but they are not the only ones who are becoming parents this summer.

We’ve spoken to three sets of parents, a gay couple, a lesbian couple and a single gay man, who are readying themselves to look after the next generation.

We teamed up with New Family Social, a UK support network for gay and lesbian parents, to look for prospective adopters.

Eve and Gail, 37 and 42, are a couple from Worcestershire who will be adopting a boy aged 0 to three.

Together for 22 years, Eve described it as the next stage of their relationship.

‘The time was right,’ she said. ‘We’ve wanted one for a long time. ‘

The couple was recently approved at panel and are hoping to get their baby boy in the next couple of months once a match has been found.

They are 18 months into the process and cannot wait to adopt their son.

‘We’re extremely excited,’ Eve said. ‘But we have to be patient. When you get pregnant, you can count down the months. Obviously, we’re still not sure exactly when ours is coming.

‘But just to think that he’s out there, in foster care at the moment, and yet we don’t know who he is, is really exciting.’

Jeffrey, 38 from Camden in London but originally from Oklahoma, is in the final stages of the process and will meet his four-year-old son James on 22 July.

He said: ‘The existence of this real person has been very new. So since then it’s been bit more of a rush of emotion, wanting to know everything about him and what he’s like.

‘It’s not like it’s just becoming a parent to a baby, it’s becoming a parent to an already formed person with likes and dislikes and opinions.’

Paul and his partner Roger, a couple of 10 years from Neath Port Talbot in Wales, have had their three-year-old son Jay for only nine days. They are the first same-sex couple to adopt where they live.

‘A lot of our peers told us it would change our lives and some have said it would ruin your life!’ Paul joked.

‘But it’s actually been lovely. Yes, it is a challenge and there are times when it’s kind of frustrating. But I can honestly say ever since we had him it just feels right and it becomes part of your life and you can’t imagine your life without him.’

All three sets told us the adoption process was an incredibly positive one, even if it was a bit intrusive at times. Paul said it was even cathartic, learning more than he thought he knew about his civil partner of five years.

Eve told us they had suffered no discrimination at all, saying: ‘It’s as if they hadn’t even really noticed we were a same-sex couple in there. It felt like they hadn’t changed any of the training to accommodate us.

‘They still referred to parents as being mum and dad and things like that, and it just made us feel comfortable really.’

A common theme between the three lots of parents was at least one of them had worked with children before deciding to adopt.

Jeffrey thought sometimes LGBT people, especially gay men, do not think they can become parents so shut off the idea in their minds.

‘I kind of never did as I worked with children as a profession for my whole professional career; my whole adult life has been working closely with children. I never stopped thinking about it because they were always there,’ he said.

‘Whenever I talk to gay men who aren’t at all thinking about it, a lot of them start thinking about it! Right after we talk, they have this eye-opening moment of, like, this really is possible because someone else is doing it. I know that’s the experience of other adopters that I know.’

Paul said he was under ‘no illusion’ the prejudices are still there and his son will have to confront them as he grows up.

‘There will be moments when we have to help him through that,’ he said. ‘But I very much hope it becomes the norm.

‘We belong to New Family Social which is a great help. What it does is it puts you through to people in your own situation and it’s rather gratifying to know there are lots of same-sex adopters out there.

‘In a way, I feel we are the pioneers in the 21st century.’

We asked all of the prospective (and current) parents as same-sex marriage has become legal, and the royal baby is born, what do they hope the UK will be like for gay rights when Kate and William’s child is 18?

Eve said she hoped when the future king or queen is an adult, adopted children have the right to become a monarch. At the moment, it is only the first born through a blood line.

‘[Adopted children] should be treated equally,’ she said. ‘After the initial three months they become legally yours and you become their guardian. It should be no different really. They should have equal rights.’

Jeffrey said as more and more gay people become parents, he hoped society would become more diverse.

‘One of the things they find in studies about children of gay parents was kids find themselves able to take on professions that are gender non-normative, like a girl fire-fighter or a boy nurse. Children of gay parents are more likely to see that as not unusual,’ he said.

‘The more gay people that adopt, the more trans people that adopt, queer people adopt and so on, the more diverse society will be.’

Paul believes the best way LGBT people can be accepted in society is by just proving they are normal and can raise healthy, happy children.

He said: ‘The best way to break down barriers, and breaking up prejudices is just to do it, just to live it and show people there’s nothing to fear, there’s no harm. Our little boy will just be as normal as any other little boy or girl with a mum or dad or a single dad or a single mum.

‘Family exists and is not defined by who the sex is of the guardians or the people looking after them, it is about the love you receive and the support you get growing up and that is what shapes you through society.’

(Note: Some names have been changed to protect the identity of the children)