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FOR PARENTS

Looking for a mental health or medical provider in South Dakota?  Click here to fill out our request form.

Resources

Suicide Prevention

https://sdsuicideprevention.org/specific-populations/lgbtq/

Letters to Advocate :  A public PDF from the ACLU version that students and parents can print or email when advocating for themselves with schools.  

Schools in Transition: A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools: This first-of-its-kind guide publication for school administrations, teachers, and parents about how to provide safe and supportive environments for all transgender students, kindergarten through twelfth grade. 

Gender Odyssey: An organization that hosts conferences and other means of support for transgender children and their families.

Gender Spectrum: An organization that provides education, resources and training to help schools, health care providers, and family service agencies create a more gender sensitive and supportive environment for all children including gender variant and transgender youth.

TransFamilySOS:  TransFamily Support Services guides transgender/non-binary youth and their families through the gender transitioning process to help make it the most positive experience possible.  We provide family coaching, assistance with healthcare and insurance issues, help navigating the legal system, and support at schools All services are provided at no fee.

The Family Acceptance Project does research on how family acceptance or rejection impacts the long-term outcomes for LGBT kids. Everything they've done points to family acceptance as the single most important factor for these young people.

TransYouth Family Advocates: A coalition of parents, friends and caring adults dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the medical and cultural challenges faced by children with gender variant and gender questioning identities and the families who love them.

Gender Diversity: This organization provides family support, works with schools, and provides community-building services to improve the well-being for people of all gender identities and expressions.

Video: Kat Blaque on pronouns and misgendering: Kat Blaque is a trans YouTube vlogger and in this video she explains what it feels like for her when someone uses male pronouns to refer to her. Adjusting to new pronouns is often so hard for parents that they just give up on trying, and this is a good primer on why they really need to work through that and use their child’s pronouns.

The Gender Quest Workbook   The man who wrote the book is a psychology professor at Rhodes College and a trans man himself who studies suicide among trans and gender nonconforming people. This is a book parents and their trans kids can read together. 

Let's Talk About Intersex

General Employment Rights

Click Here

 

Federally Protected Employment Rights

Click Here
 

Healthcare Specific Rights

Click Here
 

School Specific Rights

Click Here

Why Sex is Not Binary

Click Here

The 'two-spirit' people of indigenous North Americans 

Click Here

Summer Camp for transgender and gender diverse children:

Camp Aranutiq, NH (scholarships available)  www.camparanutiq.org

Pride Camp, Iowa   www.pridecamp.org  

 

Book Recommendations for Parents
 

Trans-Gender: Theology, Ministry, and Communities of Faith

· Justin Sabia-Tanis

Parenting Beyond Pink & Blue: How to Raise Your Kids Free of Gender Stereotypes

· Christia Spears Brown

Transforming: The Bible and the Lives of Transgender Christians by Austin Hartke

Families in Transition

· Arlene I. Lev & Andrew R. Gottlieb

Thriving Through Transition: Self-Care for Parents of Transgender Children

· Denise O'Doherty

Transitions of the Heart: Stories of Love, Struggle and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children 

· Rachel Pepper

Trans Kids and Teens: Pride, Joy, and Families in Transition

· Elijah C. Nealy

Gender Identity: Beyond Pronouns and Bathrooms

· Maria Cook, Alexis Cornell

Transgender Profiles: Time for a Change

· Linda Defruscio-Robinson

Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family

· Amy Ellis Nutt

My Princess Boy

· Cheryl Kilodavis, Suzanne DeSimone

Red: A Crayon’s Story

· Michael Hall

Parts and Hearts: A Kids (and Grown-Ups) Guide to Transgender Transition

· Jenson J. Hillenbrand

Sid Doesn’t Feel Like a Boy or a Girl!

· Dylan Greenberg

The Sign Around My Neck

· Lucas Hasten

Who Are You?: The Kids Guide to Gender Identity

· Brook Pessin-Whedbee, Naomi Barduff

A Practical Guide to Understanding Gender Variance: Including Intersex, Trans, Non-Binary & Gender Fluid Individuals

· Helen Dale

Trans Voices: Becoming Who You Are

· Declan Henry, Stephen Whittle

The Transgender Child: A Handbook for Families and Professionals

· Stephanie A Brill, Rachel Peppe

The Transgender Teen: A Handbook for Parents and Professionals Supporting Transgender and Non-Binary Teens

· Stephanie Brill, Lisa Kenney

Helping Your Transgender Teen, 2nd Edition: A Guide for Parents

· Irwin Krieger

How to Understand Your Gender

· Alex Iantaffi

Raising Rosie: Our Story of Parenting an Intersex Child

· Stephanie & Eric Lohman

God Doesn’t Make Mistakes: Confessions of a Transgender Christian

· Laurie Suzanne Scott

Being Jazz: My Life as a (Transgender) Teen

· Jazz Jennings

Two Spirits, One Heart: A Mother, Her Transgender Son, and their Journey to Love and Acceptance

· Marsha & Aiden Aizumi

This is How it Always Is

· Laurie Frankel

Becoming Eve: My Journey from Ultra-Orthodox Rabbi to Transgender Woman

· Abby Stein

What Does God Think?: Transgender People and The Bible

· Cheryl B. Evans, Colby Martin

Through the Door of Life: A Jewish Journey between Genders

· Joy Ladin

My Parenting Journey with a Transgender Child

· Cheryl B. Evans

The Daughter We Didn’t Know We Had: The Tears, Fears, and Joys of a Mother of a Transgender Child

· Marilyn Phillips

He’s Always Been My Son: A Mother’s Story about Raising Her Transgender Son

· Janna Barkin

Raising Ryland: Our Story of Parenting a Transgender Child with Strings Attached

· Hillary Whittington

I Promised Not to Tell: Raising a Transgender Child

· Cheryl B. Evans

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