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Minority Stress for Care Experienced Young Queer People: A Case Study
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Minority Stress for Care Experienced Young Queer People: A Case Study

Lynne McPherson, Kathomi Gatwiri, Nadine Cameron and Janise Mitchell
Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, Vol.15, pp.501-510
09/2022
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-021-00420-7
PMID: 34804326
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Minority Stress for Care ExperiencedView
Published (Version of record)Free to Read,  Open

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#3 Good Health and Well-Being
#5 Gender Equality

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Abstract

Counselling, wellbeing and community services Community services not elsewhere classified
Young people who are placed in out-of-home care are amongst the most vulnerable in our community. Removed from or rejected by their families, they must learn to live with carers who may be strangers. They may have experienced the trauma of abuse or neglect. Post care, they may experience further social isolation and marginalisation due to limited social capital. These challenges are compounded for queer young people placed in out-of-home care. This study adopted a case study approach to explore the lived experience of two young adults growing up queer in and out of out-of-home care in Australia. Our investigation was framed by two complementary theoretical frameworks. The first, a model of minority stress, is informed by queer perspectives and enabled an exploration into the adverse impact of enduring stigma and prejudice associated with homophobia and transphobia on young people’s capacity to thrive. The model of social capital was then employed to inform an analysis of relationships between queer young people in out-of-home care and trustworthy adults. The findings suggest that queer young people growing up in out-of-home care experience minoritised stress, with lasting negative implications. The presence however, of trustworthy adults who challenge dominant heteronormative assumptions and work to support queer young people can be experienced as stabilising and restorative.

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