- New guidance in Scotland claims children as young as 12 can come out as trans
- It states they should access puberty blockers and be referred to specialist clinic
Scotland’s social care watchdog has said children as young as 12 should be allowed to consent to trans-affirming medical care – including puberty blockers.
The advice doled out by the Care Inspectorate has already raised eyebrows following concerns about the ethics of childhood transition – with more detransitioners coming forward.
The guidance recommends staff should use children’s preferred pronouns and chosen names, as well as refer them to the Sandyford Clinic, The Telegraph reports.
The Sandyford, based in Glasgow, operates a gender identity development service for youths in Scotland in much the same way as London’s soon-to-close Tavistock Centre did for England.
The advice, written for staff working in child services, also outlines that sex segregated toilets are merely organised in such a way due to ‘social convention’.
It states that young trans people should share bedrooms with other youngsters who ‘share their gender identity’, provided risk assessments are carried out.
The document also relates a story of a young person in care who was ‘supported’ in getting a mastectomy.
It adds: ‘A young person aged 12 and over is presumed to have sufficient capacity to make decisions about medical treatment, although we recognise this may not always be the case’.
The guidance fails to acknowledge the interim Cass review of gender services in England, which identified a number of failings in the management of the Tavistock centre, as well as pointing to a lack of evidence to support the use of puberty blockers.
The 22-page report instead leans heavily on material published by the Scottish government and pro-trans organisations such as Stonewall and LGBT Youth Scotland – the latter of which helped write the guidance.
Consultant David Bell, who was among the whistleblowers at Tavistock, described the advice as a ‘significant failure of safeguarding’ by the Care Inspectorate.
He said: ‘There is considerable evidence that just affirming children is harmful and this guidance seems to ignore all the emerging medical evidence.’
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