Jamie Doward for The Guardian writes:
Britain’s only NHS gender identity service for children is reviewing its operations amid claims made by a senior member of staff that it is failing to examine fully the psychological and social reasons behind young people’s desire to change gender.
The views are shared by a group of parents of transgender children, who have raised their own concerns that the Tavistock Centre’s gender identity development service (GIDS) in London is “fast-tracking” young people into life-altering decisions without fully assessing their personal histories.
The parents claim that the huge increase in numbers of children seeking referrals, which has risen from 97 in 2009 to 2,519 in the year to April, is placing great demands on the clinic, with potentially negative consequences for children.
