Historically, the needs of LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare systems have mostly not been addressed or, worse, have been invisible to those charged with caring for them. Caregivers who have provided LGBTQ+-affirming living environments have often been deemed to be enabling of this “deviance,” and children have been removed from their homes as a result.
Firsthand accounts have underpinned the historical understanding of the issues and the experiences faced by LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare systems. These historical accounts provide insight into social workers’ discriminatory attitudes and beliefs in seeing LGBTQ+ youth as “deviant” or sinful. These stigmatizing beliefs and the subsequent administrative actions punished caregivers for being open about their identities and beliefs. Such practices led to the marginalization of this population based on exclusionary placement practices.
The result is that LGBTQ+ youth often remain hidden and invisible in residential systems because they have determined that many of the out-of-home systems where they live are not safe places. If they do come out, they often are not provided with the same quality of out-of-home care that is extended to their heterosexual/cisgender counterparts.