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)

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)

Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People

Psychologists who work with transgender or gender nonconforming people should seek to provide acceptance, support and understanding without making assumptions about their clients’ gender identities or gender expressions, according to practice guidelines adopted during the American Psychological Association’s 123rd Annual Convention.

American Psychological Association (2015)

I Want to Be Like Nature Made Me: Medically Unnecessary Surgeries on Intersex Children in the US

In this report, based on interviews with intersex adults, parents of intersex children, and medical practitioners working with intersex people, interACT and Human Rights Watch document the fall-out from that medical paradigm, and the failure of the medical community to regulate itself effectively. There have been changes in practice in recent years, with many doctors now advising against surgery on infants and young children. But even so, surgery continues to be practiced on children with atypical sex characteristics too young to participate in the decision, when those procedures both carry a meaningful risk of harm and can be safely deferred.

Latinx LGBTQ+ Immigrant Youth: A Provider Fact Sheet

This Each Mind Matters fact sheet was created as a resource for service providers, including nonprofit staff, community-based organizations, health care professionals, and other providers. It provides an introduction to the unique challenges faced by Latinx LGBTQ+ immigrant youth, relevant resources, and best practices. In English and Spanish.

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.

 

Safe Schools Program for LGBTQ Students: Guidance for Massachusetts Public Schools Creating a Safe and Supportive School Environment

All students need a safe and supportive school environment to progress academically and developmentally. Administrators, faculty, staff, and students each play an important part in creating and sustaining that environment. This guidance is intended to help school and district administrators take steps to create a culture in which transgender and gender nonconforming students feel safe, supported, and fully included, and to meet each school’s obligation to provide equal educational opportunities for all students, in compliance with G.L. c. 76, §5 and the state regulations. The guidance sets out general principles based on the law, and addresses common issues regarding transgender and gender nonconforming students. It offers case studies based on experiences of schools and students in Massachusetts, and reflects the need to consider issues on a case-by-case basis. The list of issues is not exhaustive, and the examples are intended to be illustrative, not prescriptive.