A Guide to Social Work Advocacy for Transgender Adolescents and Young Adults

This thesis uses a social work perspective to examine the preventable risks for transgender adolescents and young adults as well as presenting proposed solutions for social workers and helping professionals to implement, in an effort to improve the quality of life for this population. From a systems theory approach, it explores the major environmental challenges transgender youth and young adults face, such as barriers or failures in education, family support, community support, social norms, public policy, homelessness, and mental and physical health care. The goal is to educate helping professionals about these challenges in order to increase awareness of the gaps in resources and shortcomings of the current system. There is minimal research about the challenges faced by transgender youth and young adults, and even less on how to best address their needs. By targeting preventable risks, this paper provides guidance for social workers and helping professionals to more effectively advocate for this population. It is also incumbent upon social workers to identify solutions for each challenge area, in order to effectively advocate and take action on behalf of this under-served population so that transgender youth and young adults can achieve a better quality of life. "Building off the classic reference work, a valuable tool for social workers for over 85 years, the online resource of the same name offers the reliability of print with the accessibility of a digital platform. Over 400 overview articles, on key topics ranging from international issues to ethical standards, offer students, scholars, and practitioners a trusted foundation for a lifetime of work and research, with new articles and revisions to existing articles added regularly." Now A Consistently-updated Resource From The Nasw Press And Oxford University Press, Encyclopedia Of Social Work Provides Students, Scholars, And Practitioners With A Digital Guide For A Lifetime Of Social Service. With Revised And New Articles Added Each Month, Users Can Be Assured That They Are Accessing The Most Up-to-date Content On A Wide Array Of Topics, From International Issues To Ethical Dilemmas.