2SLGBTQ+ identities and child welfare

Due to absent or insufficient data collection, it is unclear how many young people involved in Ontario child welfare identify as 2SLGBTQ+. However, data from other jurisdictions indicates that 2SLGBTQ+ young people are overrepresented in child welfare:

• 19.1% of youth in out-of-home care identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and/or questioning (according to a report of the Los Angeles Foster Youth Study, a survey conducted in 2013 with a random sample of youth living in foster care in Los Angeles County)
• 15.5% of young people ages eleven and older and involved in child welfare identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (based on a report on data from the Second U.S. National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, a nationally representative sample of young people who had been referred for a child protection investigation resulting from a report of child abuse or neglect between February 2008 and April 2009)
• 18.5% of former foster youth identified with a sexual orientation other than completely straight (based on interviews conducted with participants in the Midwest Study, a longitudinal study following a sample of young people from Iowa, Wisconsin, and Illinois as they transition out of foster care into adulthood. Interviews were conducted between October 2010 and May 2011 when most study participants were 26 years old)
• 12% of youth with experience in government care identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual (according to report of the 2008 British Columbia Adolescent Health Survey)

While limited, the available data suggests that 2SLGBTQ+ young people involved in child welfare are more likely to identify as female and racialized. Although data on other intersectional identities (e.g. relating to disability status, class, religion) is not available, initial demographic data from programs and initiatives in Ontario similarly underlines the importance of recognizing and affirming intersectional identities:

• In 2018, the Ten Oaks Project launched Camp Lifting Leaves, a camp for children and youth from 2SLGBTQ+ communities who are involved with Ontario child welfare. To date, approximately half of campers have identified as Black/African Canadian, Indigenous, or racialized (50% in 2018 and 44% in 2019, respectively)
• 2018 was also the year of the first Power Up! Symposium for Black/African Canadian youth in care. Approximately 30% of youth attending identified with a sexual orientation other than straight (16% identified as bisexual and 14% chose “prefer not to answer”)