Sexual Minority Youth in
Out-of-Home Settings:
State 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
Key Terms
• Sexual Minority: Person who identifies as
non-heterosexual
• GLBTQ: Gay, lesbian, bisexual,
transgender, or questioning sexual
orientation
What We Know About GLBTQ Youth in
Out-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
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)
SSA
D
OSA
SL
SSC
OSC
Sexual Identity Development Among
Sexual Minority Youth (cont’d)
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
Sexual Identity Development as
a Non-Linear Process
• The process of self-labeling one’s sexual orientation and/or
gender identity is on-going during a young person’s
development
• As youth continually discover and define their sexual and
gender identity, they may have multiple instances of selflabeling 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 selflabels; circles indicate a quick change in self-label)
Example of Multiple Self-Label (SL)
Milestones for Sexual Minority Youth 27
16
15
14
13
12
PARTICIPANT
11
10
9
8
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
AGE
12
13
14
SL
15
16
SL2
17
18
SL3
19
20
21
GSL
GLBTQ Youth’s Experiences in the
Child 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
Pathways to the Child Welfare
System for GLBTQ Youth
(2) Disclosure or
discovery of
sexual identity or
gender identity
leads to rejection
from family of
origin.2
(1) Same as
straight youth,
then later
become aware of
their sexual
minority identity
while still in state
custody.2, 3
(3) Chronic
truancy issues
resulting from
harassment &
victimization at
school based on
their sexual or
gender identity.3
Child
Welfare
System
(4) Verbal,
emotional &
physical abuse
lead many GLBT
youth to live on
the streets rather
than remaining
with unsupportive
& abusive adults.3
(5) Youth may be
erroneously
labeled as sexual
offenders for
engaging in
consensual
same-sex
conduct .3
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 outof-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
Health & Psychosocial Risks
for 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
Health & Psychosocial Risks
for GLBTQ Homeless Youth (cont’d)
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
Recommendations
The following are recommendations for
• Child welfare researchers
• Foster parents and other caregivers
• Child welfare workers & professionals
Recommendations for Child
Welfare Researchers
• Continued and improved research on GLBTQ youth in out-ofhome 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
Excerpt of Sample Life History Calendar
for GLBTQ Out-of-Home Youth 27
Calendar Year
Month
Age / Birthday
Semester
Year in School
LANDMARKS
2007
2008
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Spring
Holidays & Celebrations
Jobs or other
FAMILY & LIVING SITUATION
Living situation
CW experiences
Important Relationships
SEXUAL IDENTITY MILESTONES
1st Female Attraction
1st Male Attraction
1st Female Sexual
Contact
1st Male Sexual Contact
1st Self-label
Other Self-label
1st Disclosure
Other Disclosure
Sum
Fall
Spring
Sum
Fall
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
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
Recommendations for Child Welfare
Workers & Professionals (cont’d)
• 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 parent’s beliefs about GLBTQ
youth and boundaries around religious proselytizing
in the home
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
Summary of Research &
Recommendations (cont’d)
• Sexual minority youth in out-of-home care have unique
experiences that require special attention by child welfare
professionals
• Specifically, GLBTQ youth report experiencing sexualorientation 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
Summary of Research &
Recommendations (cont’d)
• 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 youth’s unique service needs and take
active steps to ensure safe and supportive placements for
this population
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
References
1
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2 Mallon,
G. P. (1998). We don’t exactly get the welcome wagon: The experiences of gay and lesbian
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3 Wilber,
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4
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12
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13
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14 Van
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16
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19
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27
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