Looking for ideas to help support a child in your care? Here are a few good places to start:
• PFLAG – Attend a local meeting of PFLG to learn more about resources and make connections with parents of LGBTQ youth (https://pflag.org/find-a-chapter)
• Freed Hearts – This site is tailored specifically to religious families wanting to be more open to LGBTQ issues (https://www.freedhearts.org/)
• Humans Right Campaign (HRC) has a whole program dedicated to making child welfare more accepting and lots of free webinars related to various issues in supporting LGBTQ youth in care ( https://www.hrc.org/resources/all-children-all-families-webinars )
• Explore Family Acceptance Project’s (FAP) website -FAP has worked over the years to study risk and protective factors for LGBTQ+ youth and family support is overwhelmingly the biggest protective factor in terms of reducing drug addiction, mental health struggles, suicidal ideations, etc. Some of this work was based in the Mormon faith and helping families understand the impact of their family rejection and teaching them how to best support their child ( https://familyproject.sfsu.edu/publications)
Amara’s Supporting LGBTQ+ Youth in Foster Care Workshop – We offer training designed for caregivers to learn more about creating a safe and affirming environment for LGBTQ+ youth in their homes. https://amaraputskidsfirst.org/event-series/supporting-lgbtq-youth/
• More Resources-For a more extensive LGBTQ resource list, please visit Amara’s LGBTQ Youth and Families webpage: https://amaraputskidsfirst.org/lgbtq-youth-families/