A National Disgrace…

In a survey of foster youth in the Los Angeles County 11.5% gender non-conformity, 5.6% identify as transgender, and overall 19% of these youth identify as LGBTQ. Keep in mind that LGBTQ people make up only 5% of the population at large and trans-people are only about 0.5%.

The survey also found that,

Disparities in Experience.
LGBTQ youth have a higher average number of foster care placements and are more likely to be living in a group home. They also reported being treated less well by the child welfare system, were more likely to have been hospitalized for emotional reasons at some point in their lifetime, and were more likely to have been homeless at some point in their life. The significance of these findings is supported by previous scholarship that has linked multiple placements, mental health concerns, homelessness, and placements in group homes are barriers to permanency faced by all youth, and LGBTQ youth in particular.

We see this in Connecticut with Jane Doe; she is being bounced from one therapist to another and from facility to facility. She is currently in solitary confinement in a boy’s facility.

We see many children in DCF custody who “age out” of the system without a high school education. An article in the Hartford Courant about how the DCF does not track their children, the Courant said that,

The risks posed by losing track of children formerly cared for by DCF are significant. One of the concerns for child advocates, as well as DCF, is that children may become homeless if they age out at 18 without an education and family connections. With homelessness comes a raft of other issues: depression, drug and alcohol addiction, suicide.

We do not know what will happen to Jane Doe in two years when she ages out, but the odds are against her.