Parents take on councils who allow children to change gender

COUNCILS are increasingly getting involved in disagreements with parents over the gender they are assigning to their children, a charity has revealed.

Christian Concern is dealing with four cases in which parents are opposing decisions taken by schools and social workers to let children transition from girl to boy, or vice versa.

A cluster of disputes has emerged over the past 12 months despite no similar cases in previous years, suggesting they are a new phenomenon.

Andrea Williams, of Christian Concern, which funds legal support for families, said more disputes involving transgender children were arising as public opinion becomes more accepting of gender reassignment.

In two cases being dealt with by the charity, parents of multiple children have clubbed together to oppose a school’s decision to let a pupil take steps towards transitioning, such as changing their name and using the opposite sex’s toilets and changing rooms.

Ms Williams said: “People are raising genuine concerns about this but they feel very frightened to do so because they don’t fit the public or school agenda. What we’re seeing is things like children getting confused and even finding themselves in trouble at school if they get a kid’s name wrong.

“I would say what needs to happen is that children need to be helped and given psychiatric advice to help them come to terms with what they are. We very much want the welfare of the children. So long as we in society continue to push the issue it will lead to an increase in these cases.”

In another case a family is challenging a local authority for backing their 14-year-old daughter’s attempts to adopt a boy’s name as a step towards changing her gender.

The parents will meet teachers and social workers in November to decide whether the girl will be known at school by a boy’s name.

The family’s lawyer, Michael Phillips, told The Sunday Times he feared the girl could go into care if the family did not follow social workers’ guidance.

News of the case emerged after Mr Justice Hayden criticised social workers for letting a mother raise her sevenyear-old boy as a girl because they were in thrall to transgender equality. The judge said the mother had imposed a belief structure on the child.

The mother of the 14-year-old girl said she believed her daughter was too young to make her own decision.

She said: “The rights of parents in the UK are being eroded, especially those who have traditional Christian values. It is leaving parents to feel fearful, vulnerable and intimidated.”

She said pressure had been placed on her and her husband. “We were told by the psychiatrist that CAHMS [Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services] said that if the name change does not happen, then she would be a high suicide risk.”

The CAHMS did not respond to requests for comment.

‘People are raising genuine concerns but they feel very frightened because they don’t fit the public agenda’