LGBTQ Youth Over-Represented Across Juvenile Justice System, Experts Say
March 4, 2014 | by Elly Yu | Juvenile Justice Information Exchange
When Fabian Gomez-Miller was 14 years old, he told his adoptive parents he was gay. He was promptly disowned and put into the foster care system. Fending for himself in group home after group home, Gomez-Miller ended up with a felony conviction and spent nine months incarcerated in various juvenile detention centers. Gomez-Miller is not alone; a disproportionate number of LGBT youth come into contact with all aspects of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems with very little navigational support.
When Fabian Gomez-Miller was 14 years old, he told his adoptive parents he was gay. He was promptly disowned and put into the foster care system. Fending for himself in group home after group home, Gomez-Miller ended up with a felony conviction and spent nine months incarcerated in various juvenile detention centers. Gomez-Miller is not alone; a disproportionate number of LGBT youth come into contact with all aspects of the child welfare and juvenile justice systems with very little navigational support. This Juvenile Justice Information Exchange article explores Gomez-Miller’s personal story and turns to Angela Irvine, NCCD’s director of research, for facts and figures about system-involved LGBT youth.
Learn more about the NCCD Children’s Research Center here and our LGBT youth projects here.