Transitions: Experiences of Transgender and Gender Expansive Foster Care Alumni in Los Angeles County

Background and Purpose:

Recent research indicates that LGBTQ young people are overrepresented within the child welfare system, constituting 19% of youth in foster care; the majority are also youth of color. However, the rates at which transgender and gender expansive youth, specifically, exist within the system have not been disaggregated within this data. Transgender youth face some of the most egregious mistreatment within the child welfare system, however, little to no research exists looking at the unique barriers they face. What little scholarship does exist tends to be situated within legal journals and focuses on legal analyses as opposed to an in-depth understanding of the experiences of transgender youth. Some of the specific obstacles faced by transgender youth within the child welfare system include difficulty accessing gender affirming medical services, sex segregated facilities that place youth based upon the sex they were assigned at birth, and mistreatment ranging from chronic environmental and interpersonal microaggressions in which youth are misgendered, to explicit violence and harassment by peers, foster parents, and workers within the system.

 Methods:

This paper illuminates the experiences of transgender youth in the foster care system by drawing upon a subset of data from a research study with LGBTQ foster care alumni in Los Angeles County. From Our Perspectives is a Community Based Participatory Research Study (CBPR) that used qualitative interviewing and photovoice methodology to better understand LGBTQ youth’s experiences within the foster care system and upon aging out. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 LGBTQ former foster youth, 18 of whom also participated in a second phase of the study using photovoice. The research process was facilitated by a Community Advisory Board composed of practitioners, advocates and LGBTQ former foster youth. All participants were between the ages of 18-26. Thematic content analysis was used to explore the specific experiences of the seven participants, from among the larger sample, who identified as transgender or gender expansive.

 Findings:

Five themes emerged from the data: 1) increased placement disruption as compared to LGB youth 2) chronic misgendering and other forms of mistreatment by peers, foster and biological families 3) lack of worker and caregiver competency 4) barriers to accessing gender-affirming medical care 5) distinct barriers to housing, education, and employment that contribute to engagement in the underground economy and 6) resilience through identity and self actualization. 

 Conclusions and Implications:

This research sheds some light on the experiences of transgender youth in foster care, with whom almost no research has been conducted. Practice, policy, and research implications include: training of workers, foster parents, and family court judges in working with transgender youth, implementation of policy related to gender affirming medical treatment, implementation of gender affirming placement guidelines, and expanded research with this population.