Parenting Transgender and Gender Diverse Children and Young People: Implications for Holistic Family Intervention

Dr Zalia Powell will present emerging findings from a current study ‘Parenting Through Transition: Lived Experiences of Parenting Transgender and Gender Diverse Children and Young People’. In recent years, children and young people who experience gender incongruence between their birth sex have been the focus of media attention, policy and practice changes, and multidisciplinary research. Due to their disproportionate risk of self-harm, depression and suicidality, increasing family support of gender diverse youth has become a key focus of intervention. Despite growing community awareness of the needs of this vulnerable group, gender diverse youth and their families continue to navigate a complex myriad of challenges, including at an individual, family, community and societal level. Current knowledge suggests that the parenting role is likely influenced by a child/young person’s change in gender identity, however, little is known about how this experience is perceived and navigated by parents, with most research exploring the experience from the gender diverse person’s perspective only. Using qualitative photovoice methodology, this presentation shares findings about the experience of raising a gender diverse child from the parent perspective. Findings suggest a complex interplay of psychosocial impacts on parents, their private and public lives, social roles and relationship with their gender diverse child which informs future practice, policy and research for working with gender diverse families and responding to the critical mental health vulnerabilities of many transgender and gender diverse children and young people.