Caring for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Youth

Care for transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) children and adolescents sits at the centre of growing political and epistemological disputes, in contexts marked by the erosion of rights and systematic attacks on research-based knowledge. This workshop engages with this topic, presenting findings from a qualitative exploratory study conducted at a specialised gender health centre in southeastern Brazil (2023–2024), based on 28 in-depth interviews — with family members of TGD youth (aged 5–17) and healthcare providers — and participant observation. In the first part, we examine the social elements that facilitate or hinder affirmative family trajectories, with emphasis on the social mechanisms and community dynamics that push families towards corrective practices, and the elements that can favour shifts towards affirmative parenting. In the second part, we discuss how stigma impacts care decisions within a tension between affirmation/support of TGD identity and invisibility/anonymity as a strategy in the face of pervasive violence. Implications point to the centrality of peer support building and alliances between health services and family organisations in moving from individualized to community "care".

Júlia C. Pontes is a Clinical Psychologist, with experience serving trans communities in Brazil (Public Health System — Primary Care). She is PhD Candidate in the Public Health at the University of São Paulo, Brazil, and was an International Visiting Graduate Student at the SBHS, DLSPH, University of Toronto. She has been collaborating with transgender and gender-diverse people and their families through research on gender-affirming care, health equity. Her doctoral research applies a socio-anthropological lens within qualitative health research to explore care experiences among families of transgender and gender-diverse youth.

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Host or Publisher Reséau D'Expertise en Santé 2S/LGBTQ+ Health Hub