ABSTRACT

Providing safe and stable placements is a primary focus of the child welfare system in the United States. There are often challenges with finding successful placements for foster youth who identify as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender for reasons related to lack of appropriate placements and resource availability and accessibility. For LGBT foster youth residing in rural placements these issues could be especially true and pose additional hardships. The purpose of this article is to provide child welfare practitioners a framework to assist in the service of LGBT foster youth and considers implications for rural placements. Challenges associated with LGBT foster youth are highlighted, followed by suggestions for future research, policy, and practice approaches to increase successful outcomes for these youth.

摘要

提供安全稳定的安置是美国儿童福利系统的主要关注点。由于缺乏适当的安置以及资源可用性和可访问性，为被认定为女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别者的寄养青年寻找成功的安置往往存在挑战。对于居住在农村安置点的 LGBT 寄养青年来说，这些问题可能尤其严重，并带来额外的困难。本文的目的是为儿童福利从业者提供一个框架，以协助为 LGBT 寄养青年提供服务，并考虑对农村安置的影响。强调了与 LGBT 寄养青年相关的挑战，然后提出了对未来研究、政策和实践方法的建议，以增加这些青年的成功成果。