TOMORROW! Thursday, May 11, 2-3:30 p.m. ET
Co-facilitators: Stewart Adelson (he/him) & Alice Miller (she/her)
Presenters: Jama Shelton (they/them), Jordan Blair Woods (he/him), Lisa Fortuna (she/her) & Bianca Wilson (she/her)
This 90-minute webinar will map current research on the needs, issues, and structures facing LGBTQ+ youth in the child welfare system, as well as the possibilities and challenges for future research, improved care, and evidence-based advocacy to ensure LGBTQ+ youth have the material and emotional care to survive and thrive in natal or new family settings. This work necessarily engages anti-racist and intersectional perspectives, as well as historical contextualization, across race, gender, sexuality, and poverty in understanding the child welfare system, its role and functioning, and its impacts, including the historical and present undue surveillance, control, and separation of children and families – particularly Black families. Panelists will discuss inequities affecting LGBTQ+ youth within child welfare systems, key advocacy issues, barriers, and interventions for improving outcomes.