LGBTQ Children, Even More Miserable Foster Care, and Suicide

A recent study using California’s school health survey (CHKS) found that about 30.4% of youth in foster care identified as LGBTQ, even though less than 1% of the sample was in foster care; this means LGBTQ youth were about 2.7 times more common in foster care than you’d expect from their share of the general youth population.

• Once in care, LGBTQ+ youth face more placements, more instability, and higher risks of homelessness, mental-health struggles, and suicide attempts than non-LGBTQ youth in care.

This Star Tribune article shares Foster Advocates reporting that one third of youth 14-26 in MN foster care identify as LGBTQ.Some of these youth are “Isolated for their safety in foster group homes”. Few LGBTQ fosters have access to resources or cultural connections.

“Making Google (from the article) their only teacher about their own sexual identity” is terrifying for a child. Being taken from the only home they have ever known and brought to live with people they’ve never seen before is traumatizing.

Imagine being removed from your home as a child and how alone and anxious you would feel in a strange place with people you don’t know. Add to that the scarieness of knowing your gender identification is frightening to you.

Recent surveys by the Casey Foundation and the NY Administration of Children’s Services show that about a third of kids in NY’s foster care identify as LGBTQ and nationally, about 24% do.  40% of homeless kids in NY City identify as LGBTQ and 42% of them had been in foster care.

40% of LGBTQ youth ‘seriously considered’ suicide.

12% of all LGBTQ+ youth attempted suicide in the past year.​

This NY Times article focuses on how hard life is for them.  Many of these youth and children are in foster care because their parents rejected them. Many are homeless, depressed and leading dysfunctional lives.

Every year about 12,000 children aged 5-14 years old are admitted to psychiatric hospital units for suicidal behavior. This and all the information following are PRE COVID. Post COVID data will likely be a multiple of this number as the pandemic lockdown increased stress, anxiety and domestic violence all across the country.

Young children who have attempted suicide are up to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide again in adolescence (Tishler, 2007, p.812). Many studies suggest that the number of children who die by suicide is higher than the reported figures

There is no data for destructive behaviors like cutting or apparent attempts for serious self-harm among foster children.

If you know at risk children, this information may help you save a life. Suicide is the 4th leading cause of death among children between the ages of 10 and 14.

Alaska has the highest rate of teen suicides.

In the past 45 years, the WHO says, suicide rates have increased by 60 percent worldwide and it predicts these deaths will rise to 1.5 million per year by 2020.

• Adolescents who had been in foster care were nearly two and a half times more likely

• to seriously consider suicide than other youth (Pilowsky & Wu, 2006).

  Adolescents who had been in foster care were nearly four times more likely

• to have attempted suicide than other youth (Pilowsky & Wu, 2006).

  • Experiencing childhood abuse or trauma increased the risk of attempted suicide 2- to 5-fold (Dube et al., 2001).
  • Among 8-year-olds who were maltreated or at risk for maltreatment, nearly 10% reported wanting to kill themselves (Thompson, 2005).
  • Adverse childhood experiences play a major role in suicide attempts. One study found that approximately two thirds of suicide attempts may be attributable to abusive or traumatic childhood experiences (Dube et al., 2001).

Suicide is a real issue in foster care and one we should not dismiss lightly. This is not a matter we are willing to discuss until we read stories of foster children like Gabriel Myers, a seven-year-old Florida boy who hung himself in his foster parent’s house.

Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in New York for children 5-15 years old

Teen Suicide have increased 56% since 2007. Children in foster care suffer far more self-harm and suicide than other children.

What would you say to the 12 year old foster child who told you how he plans to suicide by cop?  Or to the mother of the young girl you speak for in court that told her child “I wish you’d never been born”? Kendrea Johnson was 6, Gabriel Meirs was 7

and Zakiah Satterfield was 9 when they suicided.  These are just a few of many attempts.  We only know about the successful attempts.

Words don’t come easy.

This survey of 12,000 LGBTQ youth identifies the extreme stress, anxiety, rejection and overwhelming feeling of depression and danger these children grow up with.

• 70% of them have been depressed and felt hopeless in the last few days &
• 95% of them have trouble sleeping.
• 74% of them do not feel safe in the classroom
• 5% say their teacher are supportive of the LGBTQ community.
• The vast majority of them report family members saying bad things about LGBTQ people

At least 22 transgender people have been murdered in 2019 (their stories) & about 250 have been murdered since then.

Check out KARA’s Library of LGBTQ child abuse articles & research in the READ MORE

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This article submitted by Raeann Fetcho, Bay Path University,

Acceptance and understanding of the LGBTQ+ community have greatly increased in recent years. In 1970, only 13 percent of Americans believed that people could be born homosexual. By 2019, that number increased to 49 percent (Salam, 2019).

Although this shift is worth celebrating, LGBTQ+ youth continue to face extreme adversity through parental rejection and abuse, homelessness, bullying, mental health concerns, and anti-LGBTQ+ policies and laws.

• Parental Rejection and Abuse

Sexual minority adolescents were found to be 1.3 times more likely than their heterosexual counterparts to be physically abused by a parent (Friedman et al., 2011).

Over 70 percent of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth experience a form of rejection from their parents (Richter et al., 2017).

One study of lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults found that those with higher levels of family rejection were…

• 4 times more likely to attempt suicide
• 9 times more likely to experience depression
• 4 times more likely to use illegal drugs
• 4 times more likely to have unprotected sex (Ryan et al., 2009).

• Homelessness

Despite making up only about 7 percent of youth in the United States, 40 percent of youth experiencing homelessness are LGBTQ+. In fact, LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their non-LGBTQ+ counterparts (True Colors United, 2022).

Over one in four LGBTQ+ identifying youth are kicked out of their homes after coming out (True Colors United, 2022).

Physical and mental health concerns, violence, substance use, and early death are just some of the increased risks associated with youth homelessness (Morton, 2018).

• Bullying

According to a national 2021 survey of LGBTQ+ youth…

• 1 percent experienced in-person verbal harassment
• 2 percent of experienced physical harassment
• 7 percent experienced sexual harassment

…at school, based on their sexual orientation, gender expression, or gender (GLSEN, 2022).

Bullying is associated with feelings of rejection, exclusion, isolation, low self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, as well as diagnoses of Acute Stress Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. In the long term, being bullied can lead to interpersonal violence, substance use, sexual violence, poor social functioning, and poor performance (Warner, 2021).

• Mental Health Concerns

According to a 2022 national survey, 73 percent of LGBTQ+ youth reported experiencing symptoms of anxiety and 58 percent reported experiencing symptoms of depression (Trevor Project, 2022).

In 2022, almost 1 in 5 transgender and nonbinary youth attempted suicide, and 45 percent of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide (Trevor Project, 2022).

Sixty percent of LGBTQ+ youth who wanted mental health care in 2022 could not receive it (Trevor Project, 2022).

• Anti-LGBTQ+ Policies and Laws

‘Don’t Say Gay’ Law: Classroom discussions on gender identity and sexual orientation are banned in the state of Florida (Pendharkar, 2023).

Anti-Transgender Bathroom Bills: These bills prevent transgender students from using bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity (Thoreson, 2016).

Restricted Access to Gender-Affirming Healthcare: These policies prevent transgender youth from receiving hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgeries. As of March 2023, access to gender-affirming care has been lost or is currently under threat for approximately 146,300 transgender youth (Redfield, 2023).

Transgender Sports Bans: Transgender girls and women are banned from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity at federally supported schools and colleges (Freking, 2023).

References

Freking, K. (2023, April 21). House approves trans athlete ban for girls and women’s teams. AP News. Congress transgender women sports ban athletes 1c58c20cac2b191e323e4376d7949a2d (apnews.com)

Friedman, M. S., Marshal, M. P., Guadamuz, T. E., Wei, C., Wong, C. F., Saewyc, E. M., & Stall, R. (2011). A meta-analysis of disparities in childhood sexual abuse, parental physical abuse, and peer victimization among sexual minority and sexual nonminority individuals. American Journal of Public Health, 101(8), 1481–1494. Ajph.2009.190009 (doi.org)

GLSEN. (2022). *The 2021 national school climate survey *. GLSEN. NSCS 2021 Executive Summary EN (glsen.org)

Morton, M. H., Dworsky, A., Matjasko, J. L., Curry, S. R., Schlueter, D., Chávez, R., & Farrell, A. F. (2018). Prevalence and correlates of youth homelessness in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Health, 62(1), 14–21. J.jadohealth.2017.10.006 (doi.org)

Pendharkar, E. (2023, April 19). Florida just expanded the “don’t say gay” law. Education Week. edweek.org

Redfield, E., Conron, K. J., Tentindo, W., & Browning, E. (2023, March). Prohibiting gender-affirming medical care for youth. Williams Institute. Bans trans youth health care (williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu)

Richter, B. E., Lindahl, K. M., & Malik, N. M. (2017). Examining ethnic differences in parental rejection of LGB youth sexual identity. Journal of Family Psychology, 31(2), 244–249. doi.org

Ryan, C., Huebner, D., Diaz, R. M., & Sanchez, J. (2009). Family rejection as a predictor of negative health outcomes in white and Latino Lesbian, gay, and bisexual young adults. Pediatrics, 123(1), 346–352. Peds.2007 (doi.org)

Salam, M. (2019, June 18). Americans’ shifting attitude on gay rights. The New York Times. Americans lgbt opinions (nytimes.com)

Thoreson, R. (2016, March 24). Anti-transgender bathroom bills: Common sense and nonsense. Human Rights Watch. Anti transgender bathroom bills common sense and nonsense (hrw.org)

The Trevor Project. (2022). 2022 national survey on LGBTQ youth mental health. The Trevor Project. Trevor01 2022survey final (thetrevorproject.org)

True Colors United. (2022, June 27). Why LGBTQ youth homelessness?. True Colors United. truecolorsunited.org

Warner, M. (2021, March 12). The impact of bullying on mental health. McGovern Medical School. The impact of bullying on mental health (med.uth.edu)

This article by former CASA guardian ad Litem Mike Tikkanen