Sexual Minority Youth in Out-of-Home Settings: State of the Literature and Future Directions

1
Sexual Minority Youth in Out-of-Home
SettingsState of the Literature and Future
Directions

• Adam Leonard, MSW/MPH Student
• Colleen Fisher, Ph.D.
• University of Minnesota
• School of Social Work
• Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare

2
Key Terms

• Sexual Minority Person who identifies as
  non-heterosexual
• GLBTQ Gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or
  questioning sexual orientation

3
What We Know About GLBTQ Youth inOut-of-Home
Settings

• An invisible population very little empirical
  research 1
• Much of what we know comes from just a few
  samples of youth
• Existing research primarily focused on practice
  guidelines for workers and policy suggestions for
  child welfare organizations

4
Sexual Identity Development among Sexual Minority
Youth

• Sexual identity development (SID) is an ongoing
  process that generally includes the following
  milestones 19
• same-sex and/or opposite-sex sexual attraction
  (SSA/OSA)
• same-sex and/or opposite-sex sexual experience
  (SSC/OSC)
• self-labeling as non-heterosexual (SL)
• disclosure to others (D)

5
Sexual Identity Development Among Sexual Minority
Youth (contd)

• The SID process includes important contextual
  factors including
• It is not a linear process some youth follow
  different sequential order of milestones over
  time while others experience multiple milestones
  in close order 19, 20, 27
• It is an ongoing process many youth will change
  their self-label over time and chose to disclose
  to different people at different times 21, 22, 27
• Because of fear of family rejection, many young
  people will first disclose to a friend or other
  safe person rather than a parent 21
• The context of this process can have negative
  health impacts, including risky sexual behavior,
  mental health problems, suicidal ideation, and
  increased substance use 23, 24,25, 26

6
Sexual Identity Development as a Non-Linear
Process

• The process of self-labeling ones sexual
  orientation and/or gender identity is on-going
  during a young persons development
• As youth continually discover and define their
  sexual and gender identity, they may have
  multiple instances of self-labeling as a sexual
  minority or transgender person
• The following slide graphically illustrates the
  history of multiple self-labels (SL1, SL2, SL3)
  and gender-identity self-labels (GSL) among a
  sample of youth
• Note how some youth experience multiple labels in
  short spans of time while other youth experience
  them over many years (red arrows illustrate long
  time periods between different self-labels
  circles indicate a quick change in self-label)

7
Example of Multiple Self-Label (SL) Milestones
for Sexual Minority Youth 27
8
GLBTQ Youths Experiences in theChild Welfare
System

• While many sexual minority youth in out-of-home
  care report positive encounters with the child
  welfare system, many others report a range of
  negative experiences,1, 4 including
• Verbal harassment and victimization 5, 6
• Inadequate care, exposure to reparative therapy
  and abuse by homophobic foster parents 5, 7
• Child welfare staff who often fail to act on or
  participate in harassment and abuse 5, 6, 8
• Multiple and unstable placements and lack of
  positive permanency outcomes 9, 10, 11

9
Pathways to the Child Welfare System for GLBTQ
Youth
10
The Child Welfare Homelessness Connection

• For some youth, homelessness is both an
  experience that leads to and results from
  involvement with the child welfare system
• In one study, 26 of families whose children were
  in out-of-home care experienced eviction, 42
  reported living in a doubled-up situation, and
  29 reported experiencing homelessness 12
• In 1997, nearly two-thirds of all young people
  accessing federally funded youth shelters had
  been in the foster care system 13

11
Health Psychosocial Risksfor GLBTQ Homeless
Youth

• Compared to their heterosexual homeless
  counterparts, GLBTQ homeless youth are more
  likely to
• Use alcohol and illegal substances, including
  Injection Drug Use (IDU) 14
• Report suicidal ideation and suicide attempts 15
• Experience mental health problems and specific
  risk of conditions associated with both
  internalizing and externalizing behaviors 16
• Experience physical abuse and sexual assault
  while living on the street 17

12
Health Psychosocial Risksfor GLBTQ Homeless
Youth (contd)

• Compared to their heterosexual homeless
  counterparts, GLBTQ homeless youth are more
  likely to
• Engage in high risk sexual behaviors than
  increase STI and HIV infection rates 16
• Report participating in non-sexual criminal
  behavior to survive 17
• Participate in exchange sex (trading sex for
  food, money, shelter, drugs or other resources)
  as a survival strategy 18

13
Recommendations

• The following are recommendations for
• Child welfare researchers
• Foster parents and other caregivers
• Child welfare workers professionals

14
Recommendations for Child Welfare Researchers

• Continued and improved research on GLBTQ youth in
  out-of-home care as it relates to service needs,
  experiences in the system, and long-term outcomes
• New studies utilizing larger and more
  geographically diverse samples, longitudinal
  designs when possible, and innovate assessment
  tools such as the Life History Calendar (see next
  slide)
• Exploring different ways to document the
  experiences of GLBTQ youth suggests that tools
  like the Life History Calendar can help
  researchers learn important information about the
  needs of this population

15
Excerpt of Sample Life History Calendar for GLBTQ
Out-of-Home Youth 27
Calendar Year 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Age / Birthday                                                
Semester Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring Sum Sum Fall Fall Fall Fall Fall Spring Spring Spring Spring Spring Sum Sum Fall Fall Fall Fall Fall
Year in School                                                
LANDMARKS                                                
Holidays Celebrations                                                
Holidays Celebrations                                                
Jobs or other                                                
Jobs or other                                        
FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION FAMILY LIVING SITUATION                                  
Living situation                                                
Living situation                                                
CW experiences                                                
CW experiences                                                
Important Relationships                                                
Important Relationships                                                
SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES                                  
1st Female Attraction                                                
1st Female Attraction                                                
1st Male Attraction                                                
1st Male Attraction                                                
1st Female Sexual Contact                                                
1st Female Sexual Contact                                                
1st Male Sexual Contact                                                
1st Male Sexual Contact                                                
1st Self-label                                                
1st Self-label                                                
Other Self-label                                                
Other Self-label                                                
1st Disclosure                                                
1st Disclosure                                                
Other Disclosure                                                
Other Disclosure                                                
16
Recommendations for Foster Parents Other Care
Givers

• Receive comprehensive training on sexual identity
  development and how it influences the needs of
  sexual minority youth in out-of-home care
• Undergo ongoing training and evaluation of
  compliance with agency policies and guidelines as
  it pertains to creating supportive environments
  for GLBTQ youth free from discrimination and
  violence

17
Recommendations for Child Welfare Workers
Professionals

• Partner with homeless youth organizations and
  GLBTQ advocacy organizations to institute
  trainings and practices that enable service
  delivery and system design to be GLBTQ-affirming
• Pay special attention to the unique needs of
  these youth as they pertain to permanency
  planning and aging out of care in an effort to
  better prevent homelessness and improve the
  transition to independence

18
Recommendations for Child Welfare Workers
Professionals (contd)

• Ensure that all foster parents, direct care staff
  and other providers are adequately trained in the
  experiences of GLBTQ youth and what the agency
  guidelines are for appropriate and quality care
• Monitor the placements of sexual minority youth
  to safeguard against sexual orientation or gender
  identity based discrimination, paying particular
  attention to foster parents beliefs about GLBTQ
  youth and boundaries around religious
  proselytizing in the home

19
Summary of Research Recommendations

• GLBTQ youth are an often overlooked population
  within the Child Welfare System
• The sexual identity development process for GLBTQ
  youth is on-going and should be continually
  assessed to inform case planning
• Some GLBTQ youth enter the child welfare system
  because of events unrelated to their sexual
  orientation or gender identity
• Other youth enter out-of-home care because of
  stress, violence and instability associated with
  parental rejection of their sexual minority
  status

20
Summary of Research Recommendations (contd)

• Sexual minority youth in out-of-home care have
  unique experiences that require special attention
  by child welfare professionals
• Specifically, GLBTQ youth report experiencing
  sexual-orientation and/or gender-identity
  motivated bias on the part of other youth, foster
  parents or care givers, and child welfare workers
  while in out-of-home care
• These experiences contribute to multiple and
  unstable placements and can affect permanency
  planning

21
Summary of Research Recommendations (contd)

• GLBTQ youth in out-of-home care often have
  experiences with homelessness, either before
  involvement with the child welfare system or
  after it
• Sexual minority youth who are homeless are at
  increased risk for a variety of physical and
  mental health problems, drug use and criminal
  activity as a survival tool
• People in the child welfare field need to be
  adequately trained on GLBTQ youths unique
  service needs and take active steps to ensure
  safe and supportive placements for this population

22
Additional Resources

• The Family Acceptance Project
• http//familyproject.sfsu.edu/
• Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network
  (GLSEN)
• http//www.glsen.org
• Gender Spectrum Education and Training
• http//www.genderspectrum.org/
• Child Welfare League of America, GLBTQ Practice
  Guidelines
• http//www.cwla.org/programs/culture/glbtqpubs.htm
  

23
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24
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