Since being appointed in 2017, the Commissioner for Children and Young People has met with and heard from Gender Diverse children and young people, their families and advocates. The Commissioner has heard that there are a number of obstacles that Gender Diverse young people encounter that others may not, she has heard how systems such as education and health often find it difficult to know how to best support diversity in a way that encourages acceptance and wellbeing. Children and young people identified issues that have been in relation to seeking support, consent, medical treatment and other health services and talked about the impact that this has had on their lives.

We wanted to better understand the improvements that needed to be made to the medical and health systems to better support trans and gender diverse children and young people, and their families. 

In 2019, the Commissioner held further discussions with children and young people, their families and stakeholders.  A discussion paper to obtain a broad range of perspectives and was published. This explored recommendations made from the perspective of trans and gender diverse children and young people.

In November 2019 the Commissioner published her First Port of Call Report calling upon the state government to prioritise the health care needs of South Australian trans and gender diverse children and young people.

The report made four recommendations ranging from increased visibility of trans and gender diverse children and young people, to provision of better information and training for health care professionals, as well as more gender affirming services. 

Read the media release here
Read the full report here