FOR THE RECORD

Any topic that is off limits to questioning becomes a space in which aversion to naming risk can become a fertile ground for harm or exploitation. If there is fear in putting our skills into practice, all the more reason to ask - turning away is the worst thing to do.

The Cass Review also recommended a follow up to the 2000 children already prescribed puberty blockers through GIDS in England since 2014: There was no long-term follow up of the health outcomes for these children who will now be young adults. We still don’t have this data and my view is that it would be unethical to give these drugs to more children when we have limited information about the long term affects of their use.

Social transitioning, changing a child’s name, pronouns, and social role to reflect a cross sex identity, is often presented as a neutral or reversible act. Developmental evidence suggests otherwise.

Jane Fenton Professor of Social Work at the University of Dundee presented on two key areas of her research. Firstly, with 400 Gen Z female students at the University of Dundee. This research uncovered shockingly low levels of well-being and a very negative and oppressed mindset within this sample of young women:

"in too many cases, the systems meant to safeguard them have been infiltrated by individuals and organisations projecting their own ideological views about gender and identity onto children, without adequate checks, evidence-based guidance, or the presence of strong and independent safeguarding voices."

I am worried that the social work profession has been silent on the impact of gender identity issues on our work,