All children and their families deserve to thrive, living in communities that promote their safety, health, and happiness. We must remember that we owe all of our children this level of care and support and to achieve this we have to reimagine policies and programs in ways that center and support gender expansive and LGBTQ+ children, youth, their families and communities. This requires recognizing, engaging, affirming, and loving our young people—in short, it requires us to getREAL about what they need to thrive.
CSSP President and CEO Leonard Burton and Senior Fellow Bill Bettencourt met to discuss the importance of showing up for LGBTQ+ youth and working on all fronts to create safe and affirming spaces for them. We invite you to watch this new series of short videos and listen as they underscore why we need Pride at all times, highlight the groundbreaking getREAL initiative for LGBTQ+ youth in the child welfare system, and call for critical supports and a focus on community to ensure our young people can grow into healthy adults, loved, and respected for all that they are.
Learn more about this work, watch all the videos, and access additional resources here: https://cssp.org/why-we-getreal/.