Gender-diverse youth are at risk in government-involved systems, report says

Trans, non-binary and gender-diverse (TNGD) youth often experience harm in child welfare programs, the justice system and homeless services. That’s according to a new national report by Lambda Legal that the Portland-based Unicorn Solutions helped inform. The report focuses on how these youth fare in government-involved systems, and the policies that are needed to help them thrive. We talk with Elliott Hinkle, a former foster youth who founded Unicorn Solutions and who coordinated the contributions of TNGD youth from across the country.

Note: The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer.

Geoff Norcross: This is Think Out Loud on OPB. I’m Geoff Norcross, in for Dave Miller. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer youth thrive when their identities are respected, they are safe from abuse and they have access to support programs. That’s especially true for young LGBTQ people who are in the child welfare or juvenile justice systems, or who are homeless. However, trans, nonbinary and gender diverse youth in those situations often don’t have that level of support. That’s the key finding of a new report by the organization Lambda Legal. It’s called Safe Havens II. And as the name suggests, it’s a follow up from a similar report released in 2017.

Elliott Hinkle helped inform that report. They’re the founder of the Oregon-based Unicorn Solutions which provides support for LGBTQ youth, especially in the child welfare system. Elliott Hinkle joins us now. Elliott, welcome to Think Out Loud.

Elliott Hinkle: Hey, happy to be here.

Norcross: It’s great to have you. This report that you collaborated on and helped create was national in scope. And as we suggested, it’s an update from an earlier report in 2017. Broadly speaking, how have things changed for LGBTQ youth in these systems? Is it better or is it worse?

Hinkle: Yeah. I mean, somewhat of a hard question to answer. I think in pockets, things have gotten better, but I think nationally in general, be it in systems or not, things have gotten harder for young people in the United States. When we think about anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans laws, they really have had an impact on young people both tangibly and even in data reported by the Trevor Project – it’s impacted their mental health. So things are better in the ways that people are trying to show up and intentionally do work, but there is a lot of work to be done still.

Norcross: And in many cases, they’re working against new laws that have come online since 2017. Is that what I’m hearing you say?

Hinkle: Absolutely. I think in 2017 there were some anti-LGBTQ laws, but there is a significant increase when we look at the different graphs, especially in 2021 to ‘24 now. This year alone, I think we’ve been tracking up to 642 anti-LGBTQ bills in the United States versus maybe 20 to 35 years ago. So it’s a huge increase.

Norcross: You included the voices of actual trans, non-binary and gender-diverse youth. In this report, you highlighted their experiences and their recommendations. Without giving away a lot of details, can you give us examples of the kinds of challenges and harms that they’ve encountered in these systems?

Hinkle: Yeah, absolutely. I had the great pleasure of working with our youth contributors that are sort of all over the US. And talking with them, they shared both the good and the hard. For some of them, their experiences were being in residential placement facilities, and being sort of in danger in that own facility, and staff keeping them in the facility. Young people outside the facility wanted to stone them because they didn’t like the young person’s trans identity.

Other young people were navigating situations where their placements just weren’t affirming or that they lost their biological and even their foster families when they came out and were themselves, when they were their authentic true selves. And others found – and I think this is critically important – that they also had experiences that were positive when they had at least one supportive adult in their life, be it a professional or an ally that stuck with them and supported them. Even if they didn’t get it, one of the key things that all of these young people mentioned in this report when we talk to them is that they at least had an adult supporter or champion, who made sure that they had what they needed and helped get through the hard times.

Norcross: It sounds like I’m hearing you say that, of course, going through these systems – the foster care system or the juvenile justice system – is hard anyway, but just being LGBTQ just makes it worse.

Hinkle: Yes, I think these systems are already overburdened and struggle to meet the needs of the families that come into them. And many families don’t necessarily choose to come into these systems. So they’re unfortunately bringing them into a system that can’t even fully support their needs, even just before we get to their specific identities. For young people to come into a system that says, hey, we’re going to take care of you because maybe your family was struggling, they’re met with, actually we’re not good at that either and you might experience more harm than before you were in care.

[It’s] a travesty that it’s happening because that’s not necessarily the goal of most staff that come to do work like this. But when we don’t have enough capacity and there’s an overburdened system, and then you meet that with folks’ own personal beliefs impacting their ability to do their jobs, it means that young people are sort of in the crosshairs of that and can end up harmed just for being themselves.

Norcross: This report also details the disproportionate poor health outcomes of nonbinary and gender diverse people compared to their cisgender peers. Can you give us a sense of the kinds of outcomes that this population experiences?

Hinkle: I think the outcomes that we see – again, I really looked at the Trevor Project on some of their data – young people who are trans, non-binary or gender-diverse have higher rates of attempting suicide or completing suicide. And that only increases when we think about youth of color who are also trans and gender diverse. They experience more bullying, they experience family rejection and that means that’s going to impact their mental health. I think we know, too, from research that also can impact your physical health and well being. That shouldn’t be happening when we’re thinking about a system that should be caring for people. But instead there is harm that’s occurring.

Norcross: This work is personal for you, isn’t it?

Hinkle: Absolutely. I grew up in foster care in Wyoming. I’m a trans person. And so it’s personal in the sense that I experienced harmful conversion therapy growing up in Wyoming. I moved to Oregon, and knew that I could be myself there, and could learn who I was and explore that safely, get the care that I needed. I’ve just moved back to Wyoming to help there because I don’t want young people to experience what I experienced. But that’s true for me in Oregon, Wyoming and across this country.

Norcross: Is there a reason for optimism? Did you detail anything in this new report that makes you have hope?

Hinkle: Yeah, we did want to make sure that we highlighted that while some policies in states aren’t great, there are states who are doing things that do have protections. More states could use detailed guidance about their discrimination policies and practices. But there are states that have ombudsmen for young people so that they can report things that are happening to them. I have had the good pleasure of meeting just many individuals across the country who are dedicated to this work, regardless of administration or funding. It is personal for them too.

I think the other thing that gives me a lot of hope is the young people. These youth contributors, but even other young people just like them, they’re really hopeful, they are resilient. They’re exhausted in their resilience, but they’re resilient and they have hopes and dreams for their futures, and wanting to make things better for their peers. And that gives me hope that it’s not a lost cause and that people don’t feel defeated even when things are incredibly hard, that we’re going to continue to do this work to make sure that you have good futures and outcomes.

Norcross: We have about a minute left. This report has a number of recommendations. Can you drill down on one or two that you would like to see implemented?

Hinkle: I think a big one is that we have been doing work in this country to reduce families coming into the child welfare system and some of that focus has been really good around race equity. But we would hope that that would also increase around race equity and the intersection of being a Person of Color who is LGBTQ. There should be protections for them as well. There should be nondiscrimination policies in states and in systems. And again, that there’s a detailed policy of what folks should do when they run into an instance of this.

I think one that’s really important is that there’s accountability with teeth, that if I call and say something has happened, that it’s not just that I reported it, but that you actually do something about it. And federally, we need protections. We need protections that are clear and explicit. So passing legislation like that would be incredibly helpful, not just for youth in care, but for LGBTQ people in this country.

Norcross: Elliott Hinkle, thank you so much.

Hinkle: Thank you.

Norcross:  Elliott Hinkle is the founder of Unicorn Solutions.

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