Child Welfare System

Trans youth are an often-ignored group in child welfare research and services. Yet, research has shown these youth are overrepresented and experience disparities in the child welfare system, warranting a specific focus on their needs, experiences, and outcomes. Facilitating and supporting transitions from out-of-home care (also known as foster care) to permanent safe and loving homes is the ultimate goal of child welfare agencies. Several factors affecting permanent placements into homes (i.e., “permanency”) have been studied. A high proportion of youth in out-of-home care face various risks to achieving permanency, including mental health issues, trauma, homelessness, and involvement with state-level institutions such as the juvenile justice system. Many studies find sex/gender are not strong predictors in achieving permanency, although they also find that sex/gender affect ...