National SOGIE Center

Keywords: Best Practices; Child Welfare; Policy 

In the summer of 2023, the National SOGIE Center commissioned a national scan of policies and practices on serving LGBTQ+ youth within child welfare systems. The scan included an assessment of over fifty LGBTQ+ child welfare policies from across the country, in which policies were ranked from most inclusive to least inclusive. Further, eight essential elements emerged from the scan. These essential elements should be included in all policies for this population. 

1. Nondiscrimination Protections 

2. Disclosure & Confidentiality Protocols 

3. Data Collection and Documentation Safeguards 

4. Affirming Mental Healthcare & Medical Healthcare Standards 

5. Guidance for LGBTQ+ Affirming Family Engagement 

6. Guidance for Congregate Care 

7. Guidance on Staff Interactions 

8. Incident Reporting Guidance 

[Summary from resource] 

File : pdf with 0.16 MB in size

National SOGIE Center’s Model Policies and Practices Scan. (2023)