Referrals to GIDS: big geographical differences

[RosierPosier]

It won’t surprise many to see the areas with the highest referral rates (Brighton) but also Blackpool has the highest proportion of looked after children in the country. (Cass referred to the over-representation of looked after children in referrals to GIDS in her interim report).

Some serious digging required into what is going on in these particular areas; schools certainly going to be an issue.

Share tokens not working for me this morning but there is an archive version on the Twitter thread.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/gender-referrals-for-children-three-times-higher-in-blackpool-3hznrg9qm

twitter.com/nmdacosta/status/1527876157026230273?s=12&t=99-vm9kjc0uOwNllMQODXw

Thank you for posting this. Nikki dC and TT seem to have done some good work here. I agree that schools and their resources must have to form part of the queries about what's driving disparities.

I also noticed that the LGBA has a new campaign covering the medicalisation of teens (which I'll post here though might need its own thread):

twitter.com/ALLIANCELGB/status/1527695664397922304

Children in care seeking a 'family' or 'community' and being drawn in by the influencers online?

Children in care also often (not always but this is something I’ve seen) spend a lot of time with pastoral teams in schools - more than usual, and these people are not not normally teachers but rather “well- meaning” people who would absolutely jump on anything the kids say and would rush to affirm it feeling that they were doing the right thing. Some - by no means all but a large amount - of these pastoral staff are young, not especially well-trained and not given to critical thinking. I’ve seen the harm eager pastoral staff can do and the immense value of level-headed and experienced staff who have met lots of young people and have a healthy dose of scepticism baked in!

The (surprising) proportion of looked after children in the Cass report - and the data here - will need go be understood in depth. How are those children counted? Are they counted by their home CCG area or by their looked after CCG area, if they're looked after, out of area?

Great film thanks for posting @ResisterRex

I will be able to use this with our youth groups that are questioning and discussing this.

Very succinct.

The TransgenderTrend blog post on this is now up:

www.transgendertrend.com/nhs-ccg-referral-rates-young-people-gender-dysphoria/

Children in the care system are much more likely to have been victims of sexual abuse/sexual violence/sexual exploitation than other children. Unsurprising that some choose to identify out of the sex which has led to that abuse.

Such an important point. Schools will eventually have to acknowledge that they have allowed staff with limited qualifications / insight / expertise to literally dabble in children's psychology. We sometimes see them on this board - throwing around disdain and allegations while claiming to have important roles and insight into children - while their posts demonstrate precisely the opposite.

Having said that, the responsibility remains with school senior leaders, the DfE and politicians who have ignored everything we know about child welfare and development and openly enabled political lobby groups into schools to the detriment of children.

"the responsibility remains with school senior leaders, the DfE and politicians who have ignored everything we know about child welfare and development and openly enabled political lobby groups into schools to the detriment of children."

Hear, hear. This is precisely where the responsibility lies.

I would suggest that the other big influence in the lives of looked after children are the childcare workers.

So many TRAs, who seem to be vulnerable adults in thier own right, have titles like Residential Childcare Worker or Youth Worker in thier CVs. Examples include AC and one of the witnesses in the current AB tribunal.

What role did AC have?

If I remember correctly his CV stated he was a Mentor and a Youth Worker. I know he had a voluntary role with PRISM but not sure if he had other roles/employment.

From youth worker to Reddit mod. Interesting.

Yes. In all of these situations, there is a weakening of the structures that are there to protect children/YP/women.

There always have been and always will be people who seek to exploit vulnerabilitise in systems and in people. That is never going to change.

There will always be Karen Whites. What there shouldn't be is situations where people are willing to prioritise Karen White over the women he was incarcerated with; the responsibility for the assaults in prison lies with the police, the MoJ and the people who made the decision to allow males access to vulnerable women.

There will always be the possibility for damage to be done/facilitated when there are weaknesses in the systems and processes. Whether that is the result of good or bad intent doesn't really matter; the end result is the same.

If there are lawsuits down the line I wonder if schools and youth organisations might find themselves exposed? Perhaps this could be pushed, might make them more circumspect.

Well, I think this was something Scottish schools/teachers had explicitly raised as a concern, Icake. I think it was when the last guidelines were released by the ScotGov.