Lambda Legal Youth in Out of Home Care
Denial of these practices causes significant harm to these adolescents, discourages feelings of security, and contributes to serious mental health problems and self-harm. Simply put, these protections save lives. Youth in foster care or juvenile court who are LGBTQ or living with HIV have basic rights. To learn more, click here. For help for a youth who has experienced discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression or HIV status, contact us online. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are overrepresented in foster care, juvenile justice systems and homeless facilities. These young people are at risk of neglect, discrimination and abuse by the child protection systems charged with protecting them. Inadequate housing and a lack of understanding of the needs of LGBTQ youth also put their health and safety at risk. They are exposed to physical violence, substance abuse, unprotected sex and even suicide. The system`s policies would include housing young people in accordance with their identity, the provision of gender reassignment health care, and the ability to express themselves in a way compatible with their gender identity. Lambda Legal has compiled lists of national and state resources for LGBTQ youth, both supported and unsupported. If you need help or additional information, contact Lambda Legal at www.lambdalegal.org/help. Last year, our client Catherine, a young transgender woman in the California foster care system, was evicted from her group home because of her HIV status.
The trauma, amplified by racism and queerphobia, increases the impact of criminalization on TGNC youth of color, who are among the 85% of LGBTQIA+ youth of color in juvenile detention centers. Litigation, discourse and political work around transgender rights often focus exclusively on transgender adults and transgender youth rights in schools. But transgender youth and transgender youth as a whole are disproportionately represented in out-of-home care systems. Their unique needs and experiences are often not addressed in these broader conversations. But 2015 brought good news for Catherine. Thanks to advocacy from Lambda Legal`s Youth in Out-of-Home project, Catherine was able to stay in her group home and graduate on time. In investigating their situation, we learned that the State of California allows group homes to refuse to house HIV-positive youth. We are investigating this egregious policy and will work to eliminate it over the next year. Public care systems such as foster families, juvenile detention centres and shelters ideally aim to keep young people safe and connect them to resources, services and rehabilitation support.
In 2016, the Youth in Out-of-Home Care project will continue to advocate on behalf of LGBTQ youth in foster care, juvenile court systems and homeless care systems. If you are a supervised youth who has experienced discrimination because of your sexual orientation or gender identity, please contact Lambda`s legal helpline. They have the right to be treated equally and to receive the same services and care as other young people. Adult caregivers and service providers should not treat you differently because you are LGBTQ or living with HIV. Sign up with Lambda Legal today and help us stand up for LGBTQ youth! Your membership gift will be matched dollar for dollar through the $1.25 million matching challenge from the estate of John Barham and Dick Auer. Last week, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule that would repeal existing federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity, among other things, in all HHS-sponsored programs, including foster care and adoption. Lambda Legal`s Youth in Out-of-Home Care project raises awareness and drives LGBTQ youth reform in the areas of child welfare, juvenile justice, and homelessness care. Our goal is to increase the willingness and capacity of youth organizations to prepare and support LGBTQ youth for their transition from youth to independence. We work with LGBTQ youth as well as social workers, case managers, administrators and other child welfare advocates to ensure safe and assertive child welfare services for LGBTQ youth. Finally, in New York, Lambda Legal met Soul, a young man from Mali who had traveled to the United States to study after experiencing family rejection and community discrimination in his home country. Upon arriving in the United States, Soul made it clear to his father that he was gay, who quickly disowned him.
With no degree, no money, and no home to return to, Soul relied on the kindness of a childhood friend who lived in the Bronx. After being referred to us by the NYC LGBT Center, Lambda Legal Soul helped make his friend`s brother his legal guardian and apply for special juvenile immigrant status. We hope that Soul will receive its permanent legal resident status in 2016. We are helping Soul achieve its goal of ensuring that other undocumented LGBTQ youth get the help they need by expanding education and information about this underserved population. Pennsylvania lawmakers this week are considering a discriminatory and detrimental change to the state`s Children`s Health Insurance (CHIP) program that would deny low-income transgender youth in Pennsylvania access to transition-related health services, including counseling. One of the main recommended practices is the use of selected names and correct pronouns to refer to TGNC youth. In one study, young people who were able to use the name of their choice at school, work, home and with friends experienced 71% fewer symptoms of major depression, 34% fewer suicidal thoughts, and a 65% decrease in suicide attempts than those who could not use their chosen names. Although the administrators wanted her out, Catherine did not want to leave the group home, as it would have forced her to leave an affirmative school she loved and move on to her fourth internship since joining the foster home. Significant reforms are needed to protect young TGNCs involved in these systems. In 2019, about half of U.S. states do not include gender identity as a protected class, and far fewer include gender expression.
Lambda Legal has published a series of publications addressing the challenges LGBTQ youth face in out-of-home care, providing practical advice to policymakers and child protection professionals. These publications were produced both independently and in collaboration with child protection experts and advocates. You can download our publications or order them for free. If you are a youth in foster care, juvenile justice or another foster home and you are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or questioning (LGBTQ) or living with HIV, you have the right to feel safe and treated with respect. The governors of Oklahoma and Kansas must veto these harmful child protection laws, not compete to be the first to sign discrimination in 2018, and deprive vulnerable children of loving homes. But too often, transgender youth are funneled into these systems and then denied the same positive opportunities offered to their cisgender counterparts solely because of their identity or expression, and experience physical and emotional harm in the process. While HHS appears to focus on allowing faith-based providers to refuse to serve potential LGBTQ adoptive and foster parents, the blow would be felt most acutely by LGBTQ children. This proposal for a regulation is totally absurd from the point of view of public order; Without the opportunity to be placed in a positive home or institution, these young people are inevitably pushed further into the closet and pipelines of justice, human trafficking and homelessness. Once in foster care, these teens are often cared for by professionals who, in most cases, lack training and guidance on how to serve transgender youth well.
Discrimination and bullying can lead to conflict, then increased punishment and criminalization of transgender youth, making the foster care system a pipeline to the juvenile justice system for many.