Governor Newsom: make home a safe space for all youth

OPINION – Home is where we are supposed to feel our most safe. It’s supposed to be the place where we can truly be ourselves, where we can relax and not care about the pressures of the outside world. As a former foster youth who is also transgender, finding a home where I felt safe was a struggle for most of my life. Governor Newsom has a chance to ensure that youth who are transitioning out of foster care have the safety of a home where they can be themselves by signing a bill headed to his desk, AB 2802 by Assemblymember Brian Maienschein (D-San Diego).

California’s programs to help older foster youth and young adults, called Transitional Housing Placement (THP) Programs, were set up with outdated, binary rules in mind. Men must live with men and women must live with women. Such inflexibility goes against the programs’ goal as a secure housing setting where people transitioning out of the child welfare system can learn to live independently and practice self-sufficiency. Our society doesn’t operate under that binary anymore, and neither should our laws.

When I entered a THP program at age 20, I was legally recognized as a male, but hadn’t had any surgeries to align my body with my identity. Given the lack of spaces in the program, I was advised to take a space in a women’s program. Faced with the possibility of being homeless, I reluctantly accepted. What followed was a very unsettling six months full of unwelcome sexual advances, being misgendered and feeling unsafe.

My experience is not uncommon for transgendered people in THP programs or the child welfare system writ large. Research indicates that LGBTQ+ and gender expansive youth are overrepresented in both California’s homeless youth population and the child welfare system. These youth also face higher rates of congregate care placement and lower odds of finding a permanent home. And the issue isn’t limited to California. A survey of LGBTQ+ foster youth in New York found that 78 percent had been removed or had run away from placements due to hostility towards their Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Expression, with 70 percent reporting that this tension led to physical violence.

AB 2802, which has no opposition and only minor costs, would give transgender teens and young adults some agency and security in what is already a perilous time. As they move from the child welfare system and learn to live as adults, having a safe place to come home to is critical. After all, how many of us can be productive at work or school without having a comfortable place to sleep every night?

But this legislation isn’t only about transgender youth, it would address a range of circumstances youth face as we transition out of foster care. For instance, parenting foster youth could live together, even if one of them wasn’t in the THP program and siblings of different genders could stay together. AB 2802 preserves families, which has long been a goal of the child welfare system.

It’s also the goal of so many of us who have been through the system. I was in and out of foster care from the time I was four years old. My parents had addiction issues, and my extended family couldn’t or wouldn’t care for me properly. My home life was turbulent until I finally secured my own apartment at the age of 21. I don’t want that for the children and youth who are coming after me.

All youth should be able to feel secure in their homes, whether that means living their true gender identity, being surrounded by their brothers and sisters, or learning how to parent with their partner alongside them. If our goal is to prepare people to live successfully as adults, then Gov. Newsom should sign AB 2802 and give them the tools and flexibility to do so.

Levi Nuñez is a former foster youth and currently works at Penny Lane Centers, a multi-service organization that serves 3500 children, youth and families. He is also pursuing a degree in psychology.