GLBT&Q Research

The following are links to available GLBT&Q youth, adoption and family research. If you cannot find what you're looking for here, please use our search engine to find related or additional research. If you're still not able to find what you are seeking, please contact us for research assistance.

This section changes regularly so please visit often. If you know of search that we should include here please let us know.

• GLBT&Q individuals make up between 5 – 10% of the US Population
• According to current reports, it is estimated that up to an estimated 24,000 GLBT adolescents over the age of 11 are in out-of-home care
• In WA, F.L.O. estimates that there are approximately 1,000 GLBT&Q youth in foster care; currently living with a foster family
• 78% of gay youth, and those thought to be gay report being teased or bullied in school
• School faculty intervene to stop the abuse on average, only 3% of the time
• 28% drop out of H.S. due to verbal and physical abuse suffered at school
• Half, 50% of families still reject their children after disclosing they are GLBT(Q); 26% of them are forced by their own family members to leave

In 2008 a survey of current foster youth was conducted here in WA and released in September of that year. Among the many things DSHS learned about being a foster kid, directly from the foster youth, we all also learned the following: (write on flip cart or use Power Point):

• 93% of the youth reported they knew what their sexual orientation was
• 14.5% of them reported being gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered or not sure what they would call their own gender identity
• Approximately 7% reported they were still questioning their orientation

This same survey found that these youth reported knowing their sexual orientation at the following ages:

• 13% by the time they were 5 years old
• 43% between the ages of 6 - 12
• 43% between the ages of 13 - 17

Available Research and Studies:

• Coming Out the Hard Way: Nonconsensual Disclosure of Sexual Orientation During the Adoption Process
• GLBTQ Issues in Foster Care & Adoption: Contemporary Research, Policy & Practice
• American Psychological Association

Data Resources:

• Demographics of the Gay and Lesbian Population in the United States: Evidence from Available Systematic Data Sources, 2000; John C Gonsiorek & James D Weinirch, The Definition and Scoppe of Sexual Orientation, in homosexuality, 1991; Youth in the Margins, A report on the Unmet Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Adolescents in Foster Care, 2001; it is however nearly impossible to provide a concrete percentage.
• Youth in the Margins, A report on the Unmet Needs of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgendered Adolescents in Foster Care, 2001
• F.L.O. estimates this number based upon conversations with WA state placement workers, adolescent and non adolescent social workers, foster parents and the number of inquiries received for assistance with GLBT&Q WA foster youth.
• Safe School Coalition
• WA State Foster Youth Survey, 2008
• 2000 U.S. Census, The Changing American Family article, see handout
• Adoption and Foster Care by Gay and Lesbian Parents in the United States, March 2007 The Williams Institute and the Urban Institute
• Child Welfare League of America
• The American Psychological Association
• Daddy & Papa Documentary
• Developmental Psychology