Parents opposed to their teens’ efforts to ‘change sex’ have had their children removed by social services.
When two sets of parents objected to doctors prescribing puberty blockers, they were reported by teachers at their children’s schools.
Previously hidden research on puberty blockers has recently shown them to have devastating effects.
‘Powerless’
Teachers reported the parents of a 15 year-old girl to social services for refusing to support her decision to live as a boy.
The deputy headteacher reportedly said he was “powerless to intervene” and prevent them from losing their daughter, saying: “I know she’s not a boy but she’s self-identified so my hands are tied.”
The parents of an autistic boy were similarly told he would be taken into foster care unless they agreed for him to be given puberty blockers to help him ‘change sex’.
I know she’s not a boy but she’s self-identified so my hands are tied.
‘Emotional abuse’
His parents stopped him from going to the Tavistock clinic – the NHS’s specialised gender clinic for children – fearing the potential side-effects of the drugs.
They also suspected that his autism may have been partly responsible for his sudden descison to become a girl.
The school reported the couple to social services for being ‘emotionally abusive’, and the local authority – deeming him to be at risk of ‘significant harm’ – placed him on a child protection plan.
‘Devastated’
The boy’s mother said: “I’m absolutely devastated. When I saw the report that social services wrote about us and saw the words ‘emotional abuse’, I just broke down.”
She added: “We had read that these blockers might not be reversible and there might be long-term effects for brain development.”
I’m absolutely devastated.
“All we were doing was trying to get him to pause and think about his actions.
“My biggest worry as a mum is my child gets pushed down this route, becomes a woman, goes through the surgery, then gets to 25 and says ‘I’ve made a mistake’.”
Damaging
Last week it was revealed that the Tavistock clinic had hidden bad results from its experimental use of puberty blockers on children.
Despite claims that the effect of the drugs are “reversible” and that results “have been positive”, the treatment has actually shown devastating outcomes.
This included “a significant increase” in the number of teens who said they “deliberately try to hurt or kill themselves”.
There were reportedly at least three cases of children taken into care in 2018 because parents did not support gender reassignment.