Growing up LGBTQ in foster care in England: Young People's perspectives

Introduction This paper will report on findings from a research study titled ‘An investigation of the experiences and identity development of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) young people in care - and the... [ view full abstract ]

Introduction
This paper will report on findings from a research study titled ‘An investigation of the experiences and identity development of lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) young people in care - and the services to support them’ which is being funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council from 2014-2016.

Research design and methods
The study is mixed methods and includes the following elements:
• A national survey of local authorities in England of policy and service provision to identify services available to LGBTQ young people in care of leaving care
• Semi-structured interviews with 25 foster carers with experience of caring for LGBTQ young people
• 40 narrative interviews with young people who identify as LGBTQ and who have experience of living in public care
• Multi-agency focus groups with practitioners who work with LGBTQ young people in care.

This paper focuses on the young people’s narrative interviews, analysing their experiences of growing up in the care system in England and how they negotiate their identities. Interviews with forty LGBTQ young people, aged between 11 and 26, provide life stories of their pathways from birth families through the care system. Attention is focused on the individual meanings that the young people ascribe to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity and how this relates to their experiences in care. The interviews are being analysed using narrative analysis, with a focus on intersectionality between LGBTQ and care identities. This approach attempts to remain open to young people’s ways of describing their experiences and identities rather than imposing a particular set of assumptions about sexual orientation or gender upon them, thus ensuring that the analysis can also incorporate other aspects of identity that young people make relevant in the interview, such as ethnicity and religious affiliation. The research team includes young researchers who identify as LGBTQ and have experience of living in care. They have been involved at all stages of the research process including the analysis, to encourage a more sensitive and diverse reading of the data.


Findings
The narrative analysis takes an intersectional approach. Emerging findings include:
• For several young people the intersection of being LGBT and their ethnic, cultural and religious backgrounds created specific challenges and resources.
• Some young people felt that being in care had catapulted them into thinking hard about who they were in adolescence and that this had given them space to explore sexuality in a way that might not have been possible if they had remained in their birth families.
• For these young people ‘coming out’ requires multiple strategies as they make decisions about who to tell in their families (foster care and birth) about their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, and how open to be with professionals working with them. Coming out strategies are also employed in the decisions they make about how open they are about being ‘in care’.
• Because of previous experiences some transgender young people were wary of counselling. This wariness could hinder access to gender identity services run by the National Health Service in England.

Implications for policy and practice will be discussed.