We’re handling 700% more calls, says kids’ transgender charity

RISING numbers of children are seeking help from a charity as they are confused about their gender.

Mermaids, which is Britain’s only nationwide charity for transgender and ‘gender diverse’ children, says it has seen a nearly 700 per cent rise in calls and emails in three years.

Calls to and from children and their families have leapt from 199 a year to more than 1,700, according to the charity. Emails sent in have risen from 296 to more than 2,200. It comes as growing numbers of young people are sharing their stories of changing sex on websites such as YouTube – leading others to question their own gender identity.

A training manager at Mermaids, who did not want to be named, said at a conference held by the Royal Society of Medicine last week: ‘Children are accessing YouTube channels and they are self-identifying at a much younger age.

‘Now young people are recognising someone, hearing what they are saying – they are able to say, “That’s me, that’s who I am”.’

The figures from Mermaids include phone calls both to and from the charity. The numbers mirror the rise in numbers of children being sent to specialists because of gender confusion. Almost 2,000 have been seen by doctors in the past year, according to the Gender Identity Development Service. Children aged just three are getting specialist help, with those aged 11 being allowed to take powerful hormones to prevent them going through puberty.

Dr Bernadette Wren, a consultant clinical psychologist at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, the only facility specialising in child gender identity, has attributed the rise to ‘greater recognition of transgender and gender-diverse people’.

But she also raised concern that social media often featured discussions about treatment such as hormones, which might not be appropriate for all young people seeking help.

Despite soaring number of enquiries about ‘gender dysphoria’, it is thought relatively few actually get to the stage of having medical treatment.

Experts believe that while some children are ‘trapped’ in the wrong body, many are simply confused about their sexuality and identity during the turmoil of puberty.

A Mermaids spokesman said the increase in calls could be attributed to a number of factors, including ‘increased media coverage, availability of information, and society becoming more accepting of gender non-conforming’.