Life-Saving Support for Former LGBTQ+ Foster Youth

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

East LA San Fernando Valley South Bay Long Beach Antelope Valley County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

According to the LA Co. Commission on Human Relations, from 2022 to 2023 anti-LGBTQ+ crimes rose 48% and hate crimes motivated by the victim’s perceived transgender identity increased by a staggering 125%. Imagine being an LGBTQ+ teen in foster care or newly exiting care without support in this environment. The Trevor Project found that LGBTQ+ youth attempt suicide at higher rates than their non-LGBTQ+ peers, and they are disproportionately represented in the foster care system and among homeless youth. This is largely because they have been kicked out, abandoned or forced to run away due to their LGBTQ+ identity, especially if they are transgender or nonbinary. Life can become so toxic that youth choose to leave, preferring homelessness to staying with un-affirming families. Making matters worse, increasing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rhetoric at the national and local levels have engendered fear and uncertainty. Many LGBTQ+ youth feel unsafe or unwelcome in their communities.

Penny Lane Centers (PLC) has been serving LGBTQ+ youth in LA County for more than 50 years. In March 2022, PLC was invited to participate in a pilot project with the Dept. of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to provide LGBTQ+ Tailored Services to Youth (TSY) in service areas 1 and 7. TSY is a mentorship program that improves outcomes by strengthening connections for youth (and their caregivers when available) to LGBTQ+ affirming services and supports. TSY provides critically needed case management and affirmation that directly contribute to improved mental health, reduced isolation and greater self-acceptance. Peer navigators with lived experience are the primary service providers. When our contract began, PLC served both youth with active cases in the foster system and those whose DCFS cases have closed.
Two service areas were added to our program (2 and 8), but tragically, in June of 2024 the DCFS criteria for TSY changed so that only youth with active DCFS cases are eligible for services. Former foster youth are no longer eligible. This resulted in a drastic drop-off in services. Many former and potential clients have gone unserved in LA County. In fact, it is when youth exit the foster care system that they are at the highest risk of becoming homeless, particularly if they are LGBTQ+. TSY previously provided contiguous support during this uncertain transition. But now, when a youth’s case is closed or they age out, all supports stop, including LGBTQ+ services.

In the short term, LA2050 funding will enable PLC to return to serving the hundreds LGBTQ+ youth who were cut out of the program at the time of the rule change, and those who have exited out of foster care since that time. This means peer advisors with lived experience will once again be assigned as mentors to former LGBTQ+ foster youth. Countywide, hundreds of young people will receive urgently needed LGBTQ+ affirming support during a hazardous time. On top of their histories of systems-involvement, these young people are facing food and housing insecurity, healthcare barriers, threats to their physical safety and a multitude of additional uncertainties. LA2050 can provide temporary relief.
However, the grant will also galvanize long-term transformation. If Penny Lane can demonstrate one more year of success, the organization will have time to advocate for TSY and show county officials, DCFS and organizations system-wide how this public-private partnership can save lives.