A Place of Respect: A Guide for Group Care Facilities Serving Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Youth

This guide offers group care facilities information and tools to provide transgender and gender non-conforming youth with appropriate and informed care. It  describes laws requiring facilities to protect these  youth from harassment and abuse and to provide them with appropriate medical care. This publication assists staff in understanding the experiences and concerns of transgender and  gender non-conforming youth, and responding to these youths’ safety,  programmatic, and health care needs.

National Center for Lesbian Rights and Sylvia Rivera Law Project (2011)

CWLA Best Practice Guidelines: Serving LGBTQ Youth in Out-of-Home Care

This easy-to-use resource contains the first-ever set of comprehensive professional guidelines for how child welfare and juvenile justice professionals can best serve LGBT youth in state care. The Best Practice Guidelines for Serving LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care developed out of recommendations from the Model Standards Project, a collaboration between Legal Services for Children and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Child Welfare League of America (2006)

Fight for Our Girls: Introduction

Through this series, Fight for Our
Girls, the Center for the Study of
Social Policy’s Alliance for Racial
Equity in Child Welfare seeks to radically shift the narrative surrounding girls of color and status offenses from a focus on delinquency and misbehavior to structural discrimination, trauma and youth well-being. This is an introduction to a series of briefs that will promote programs, policies and initiatives aimed at developing a trauma-informed approach to addressing status offenses and supporting the ability of girls of color to thrive.

Guidelines for Managing Information Related to the Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity and Expression of Children in the Child Welfare System

This publication was developed in conjunction with the Putting Pride into Practice Project (“P4”), a three-year effort undertaken by Family Builders by Adoption, in partnership with the California Department of Social Services, to implement CWLA’s Best Practice Guidelines for Serving LGBT Youth in Out of Home Care in several county child welfare systems in California. The project provides training and technical assistance to build agency capacity and improve organizational competency through leadership and policy development, community and constituency engagement, and recruitment, training and support of placement resources.

Family Builders, Legal Services for Children, National Center for Lesbian Rights, Center for the Study of Social Policy (2013)

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth within in welfare: Prevalence, risk and outcomes

The purpose of this study was to estimate the population of sexual minority or LGB (lesbian, gay and bisexual) children and youth involved with the child welfare system, and to compare their health, mental health, placement and permanency outcomes to those of non-LGB youth. Data were drawn from the Second National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW-II), a nationally representative sample of children who were referred to child welfare due to a report of abuse or neglect over a fifteen month period.  Results indicate that approximately 15.5% of all system involved youth identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual, and that lesbian and bisexual females, and LGB youth of color are both overrepresented within child welfare systems. Although no substantive difference in risk factors, permanency and placement were found between LGB and Non-LGB youth, LGB youth were significantly more likely to meet the criteria for adverse mental health outcomes. Implications for child welfare practice and policy are presented, along with recommendations for future research in this area.

Model Anti-Harassment and Nondiscrimination Policy for Child Welfare or Juvenile Justice Agencies

This model anti-harassment and non-discrimination policy is for child welfare and juvenile justice agencies who wish to adopt a policy that would prohibit all forms of harassment, create a safe environment for all youth and service providers, and ensure that all youth have equal access to all available services, placement, care, treatment, and benefits provided by the agency.

National Center for Lesbian Rights (2006)

Safe Havens: Closing the Gap Between Recommended Practice and Reality for Transgender and Gender-Expansive Youth in Out-of-Home Care

This new report offers the first comprehensive analysis of the troubling lack of explicit laws and policies in most states to protect transgender, gender-expansive and gender non-conforming (TGNC) youth in the child welfare, juvenile justice, and runaway and homeless youth systems (“out-of-home care systems”). The report is co-authored by Lambda Legal, Children’s Rights and the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

Lambda Legal, Children’s Rights and the Center for the Study of Social Policy.

 

Sexual and Reproductive Health of Youth in Out-of-Home Care: A Policy and Practice Framework for Child Welfare

For the past several years, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP) has been working to bring attention to the unmet needs of youth in foster care who are expecting a child and/or parenting. This document is the cornerstone of a three-part compendium of sexual and reproductive health guidance and resources for child welfare jurisdictions. This document is intended primarily for child welfare leadership and policy makers. The document briefly explores the urgent need for comprehensive sexual and reproductive health care for youth in out-of-home care and lays down nine fundamental principles for action. It provides extensive guidance for jurisdictions as they consider the policies and practices they should have into place to better serve adolescents in or leaving foster care.

Sharing Our Lived Experiences: 22 Tips for Caring for Two-Spirit and Native LGBTQ Youth in the Child Welfare System

This resource is dedicated to Two-Spirit and American Indian/Alaska Native LGBTQ children and youth whose lives are impacted by the child welfare system, and to the child welfare professionals, foster and adoptive parents, caregivers, and community members who strive to support them. The tips contained are meant to support child welfare workers, foster and adoptive parents, and caregivers in working with and caring for Two-Spirit and LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning) American Indian/Alaska Native children and youth involved with the child welfare system. These tips may also be helpful to tribal community members that wish to be allies to their young relatives.

Sharing Our Lived Experiences: Eight Tips for Understanding the Two-Spirit/LGBTQ Journey for Native Youth in the Child Welfare System

This fact sheet is intended to assist and support Native youth who may be Two-Spirit and/or LGBTQ (lesbian/ gay/ bisexual/ transgender/ questioning). Native youth in child welfare placements can experience many challenges, including feelings of abandonment, guilt, shame, disconnection from extended family, and many feelings related to unresolved grief and loss due to multi-generational historical traumas.
The goal of this document is to strengthen families in achieving wellness and stability by assisting youth in feeling connected to resources and communities. It is also meant to support healthy identity, healthy development, reduce the risks of suicide and substance abuse, and strengthen ICWA (Indian Child Welfare Act) compliance.

Supporting the Sexual and Reproductive Health of Youth in Out-of-Home Care: A Guide for Caseworkers

This document is one of three in a compendium of sexual and reproductive health guidance and resources for child welfare jurisdictions from a national work group convened by the CSSP. The goal of this document is to provide information and resources to workers to help them effectively support youth (ages 10 to 21) on sexual and reproductive health issues. The other two documents in this series include a policy and practice framework for child welfare leaders and policy makers and practical guidance meant specifically for use by the youth themselves. Both this document and the one designed for youth are aligned with the recommendations on current best practices around sexual and reproductive health policy and practice contained in the policy framework. Includes LGBTQ+ considerations and resources.