The Los Angeles LGBT Center commends today’s unanimous passage by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors of a breakthrough motion that supports LGBTQ+ youth in the County’s foster care system.
Authored by supervisors Hilda Solis and Sheila Kuehl, the motion—Responding to the Immediate Need to Support Foster Youth Who Identify as LGBTQ+—calls for programs and services that minimize family rejection; dedicated programs and support services for LGBTQ+ foster youth; and the implementation of culturally competent trainings and support for the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Department of Probation specific to the needs of LGBTQ+ foster youth.
“For nearly 15 years, we have been advocating for dedicated programs, services, and funding for LGBTQ+ youth in L.A.’s foster care system. LGBTQ+ youth, who comprise 20 percent of the youth in our county’s care, desperately need such programs and services.
We are relieved that the Board has now put into motion tangible steps to address the disparities our youth in foster care experience. For too long, LGBTQ+ youth in the county’s foster care system have languished without adequate resources.
For many, support comes too late,” said Los Angeles LGBT Center CEO Lorri L. Jean. “This motion mandates that county departments heads take ownership of this issue and finally begin to address the systemic injustice our youth experience. We are encouraged by this step and will continue to advocate for the well being and success of LGBTQ+ youth.”
According to the Center’s RISE Program study, conducted by the Williams Institute, LGBTQ+ youth are significantly overrepresented in the Los Angeles foster care system. Approximately 19 percent of foster youth in Los Angeles County are LGBTQ, which is about 1.5 to 2 times their numbers in the general population.
Of this number, 11 percent identify as gender nonconforming and 5 percent as transgender. Nearly 13 percent report being treated poorly while in the foster care system, compared to less than 6 percent of non-LGBTQ foster youth. A recent paper in the journal Pediatrics, suggests the number of LGBTQ youth in foster care in California exceeds 30 percent.
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ+) youth have long been considered an invisible population in systems of care. Since developing the RISE Program nearly a decade ago, The Center has continued to provide direct services to local youth, their caregivers in the foster care system, their caregivers, and the providers who serve them using the intervention developed under the federal grant.
RISE has also continued to provide capacity building support to hundreds of public and private agencies at a local, state, and national level as the only federally evaluated, evidence-informed program of its kind.