Updated Resources & Tools to Support LGBTQIA2S+ Communities

Show your Pride! 🌈 Across the nation, people are coming together this month to honor and celebrate lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual, and two-spirit (LGBTQIA2S+) communities. Representing about 30% of youth in foster care it is imperative for professionals to learn how to provide culturally responsive support for LGBTQIA2S+ children and youth.

We can improve the well-being and safety of this community by working to create welcoming and affirming agencies and organizations that acknowledge and support their needs. These adoption and foster care resources will help!

Help LGBTQIA2S+ individuals and couples start their foster care or adoption journey! Read and share the following resources:

• Frequently Asked Questions From LGBTQ+ Prospective Foster and Adoptive Parents
  Navigating the child welfare system can be complex, and LGBTQ+ families often face greater challenges.
  
  
• Supporting Your LGBTQ+ Youth: A Guide for Foster Parents
  Both foster parents and professionals can use this factsheet as an opportunity to learn how to be a better ally and provide the support LGBTQ+ youth need. (Also available in Spanish)
  

Download (ENG) Download (SPA) Read more in the publication,  Supporting Your LGBTQ+ Youth: A Guide for Foster Parents.	Download (ENG) Download (SPA) Read more in the publication,  Supporting Your LGBTQ+ Youth: A Guide for Foster Parents.

Now more than ever, child welfare professionals have the opportunity to engage and support LGBTQIA2S+ youth—whether inside or outside of the formal child welfare system. Use these resources to strengthen your knowledge and improve your work.

For insight into the advantages of engaging LGBTQIA2S+ families, helping LGBTQIA2S+ families overcome barriers, and supporting these families, read Working With Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ+) Families in Foster Care and Adoption.

Visit the resource collections from Child Welfare Information Gateway to learn more about how to support LGBTQIA2S+ youth and families:

•  Working With LGBTBQ+ Youth and Families
•  Advancing equality for LGBTQIA2S+ individuals
•  Resources for LGBTQ+ Youth in Out-of-Home Care
•  Resources for Families of LGBTQ+ Youth
•  Working With LGBTQ+ Families in Adoption
•  Working With LGBTQ+ Youth and Families: Behavioral Health
•  Adoption by Family Type: LGBTQ+ Families

State Statutes:

   Protecting the Rights and Providing Appropriate Services to the LGBTQIA2S+ Youth in Out-of-Home Care

Explore additional resources:

• Division X:
  • Tip Sheet on Responding to Youth and Young Adult Mental Health Needs 
    
• The Administration of Children and Families:
  • Guidance for Title IV-B and IV-E Agencies When Serving LGBTQI+ Children and Youth
    
• The National Center for Youth with Diverse Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, & Expression:
  • The National SOGIE Center website
  • Federal Guidance on Gender-Affirming Care

Learn more about programming you can bring to your agency! Download the following information sheets on LGBTQIA2S+ programs:

• AFFIRM Youth is an evidence-based eight module, manualized coping skills training intervention focused on reducing mental health issues and behavioral risks experienced by LGBTQ+ populations. Developed specifically for LGBTQ+ youth, Youth AFFIRM has been found to be efficacious with this vulnerable population across a range of settings (e.g., schools, health care centers, behavioral health clinics) and recently with young and middle-age adult populations. 
  
  
• Journey Ahead is a multi-session intervention for young people who identify as LGBTQ+. The program was created to be implemented with youth experiencing multiple life stressors or systems involvement. The program has a special focus on the intersection or race, ethnicity, and LGBTQ+ identity. Journey ahead can be delivered in-person or virtually. Virtual implementation typically spans 6 weeks. 
    
• Chosen Affirming Family Finding is a culturally adapted intervention inspired by Family Finding approaches. CAFF works with young people to:
  • Locate and engage as many family members, chosen family members, and important individuals to join a young person's child and family team as possible
  • Connect, reconnect, develop and heal relationships with family members
  • Support families to further develop their understandings of the young person's diverse SOGIE and access additional resources
  • Empower them and their "network" to lead permanency planning efforts
    
    
• AFFIRM Caregiver is an evidence informed, seven session manualized intervention to enhance affirmative parenting practices that promote the safety and well-being of LGBTQ+ youth. The AFFIRM Caregiver model emerged from Youth AFFIRM, an evidence based affirmative Cognitive Behavior Therapy intervention which has been scientifically shown to reduce psychosocial distress and improve coping skills among LGBTQ+ youth (Austin, Craig, & D’Souza, 2017; Craig & Austin, 2016). 
  
  
• The Youth Acceptance Project (YAP) is a clinical model that works with families of LGBTQ+ youth to address their fears and worries related to their LGBTQ+ child and help the family learn new and supportive behaviors to improve their youth’s well-being. 
  
  
• The Family Acceptance Project® (FAP) is a research, intervention and education initiative that was established in 2002 by Caitlin Ryan, PhD and Rafael Diaz, PhD to prevent health risks and promote well-being for LGBTQ children and youth, with funding from the California Endowment, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a range of other funders. Dr. Ryan and her team conducted the first research on LGBTQ youth and families and developed the first evidence-informed family support model that was designed to be used in prevention, wellness and care to promote well-being and reduce health risks for LGBTQ and gender diverse children and youth across systems of care. FAP’s family support model provides an opportunity to prevent and ameliorate multiple negative outcomes that disproportionately impact LGBTQ young people with a single approach: family intervention and support.