This paper focuses on the many issues faced in the field in providing quality residential interventions for youth of sexual diversity, including sexual orientation and gender identity. For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and two-spirit (LGBTQI2-S) youth in residential care, open expression of sexuality or gender identity can be a significant challenge, with many barriers faced both within the program and in the community at large. This paper provides guidelines and strategies for serving and supporting LGBTQI2-S youth, building on the efforts of programs that have successfully created “sexual and gender minority-positive” cultures.
American Association of Children’s Residential Centers (2014)
This resources offers best practice guidelines for supporting gay and lesbian adoptive parents.
Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (2011)
FAP is a research, intervention, education, and policy initiative targeting families of LGBTQ youth and young adults to prevent health and mental health risks and promote well-being. FAP has developed a research-based family intervention model to help diverse families learn to support their LGBT children to promote permanency and reconnect LGBT youth and families. FAP produces multilingual family education materials and videos that are “Best Practice” resources for LGBT youth, with assessment tools, key practice guidelines, and training for human service workers and families. FAP’s model provides services and supports for LGBT youth in the context of their families, cultures, and faith communities.
Dr. C. Ryan, San Francisco State University
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.
Cognitive Behavior Therapy that has been adapted to ensure (a) an affirming stance toward LGBTQ+ identities, (b) recognition and awareness of LGBTQ+-specific sources of stress, and (c) the delivery of CBT content within an affirming, developmentally relevant and trauma-informed framework. AFFIRM helps clients to identify and challenge internalized stigma and negative core beliefs in a safe and supportive clinical context.
Shelley L. Craig, Ashley Austin, Edward Alessi
This toolkit offers practice time and information to ensure that LGBTQ youth in child welfare and juvenile justice system receive affirming support and services while engaged in out-of-home care.
Child Welfare League of America & Lambda Legal (2013)
Green Chimneys was a transitional living program that operates in the state of New York. No longer operating in New York City, the program provided beds to homeless or at-risk LGBTQ youth between the ages of 17 to 21.
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)
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)
This brief reviews two methods for providers to collect sexual orientation and gender identity from parents.
The Fenway Institute (2012)
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.
This brief reviews resources and best practices for supporting LGBTQ youth and their families in-home settings.
National Resource Center for In-Home Services (n.d)
This fact sheet reviews the experiences of transgender youth in the child welfare system. It offers a brief overview of national legislation and best practices for agencies.
National Center for Child Welfare Excellence (Sikerwar & Rider, 2015)
This resource will help parents recognize when and how conversion therapy is promoted, provides information about the dangers of the practice, and offers guidance to parents regarding practices that promote their child’s health and well-being.
Human Rights Campaign Foundation (2017)
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.