LGBTQ+ Care Leavers: Professional Perspectives on Current Support Provision in the United Kingdom

Until now, there has been a dearth in research examining professional perspectives on service provision for LGBTQ+ care leavers in the United Kingdom. This study was coproduced with a team of three LGBTQ+ young people with recent experience of leaving care and a fostering engagement manager. Professional perspectives were examined using a survey, from which quantitative data concerning services for care leavers across the United Kingdom was derived and analysed using SPSS, and a thematic analysis was utilised for qualitative data, adopting a thematic analysis located within a queer family theory framework. Professionals reported insufficient organisational policy, training and support to meet the particular needs of LGBTQ+ young people leaving care. The findings of this exploratory study are used to provide practice recommendations that are relevant to international multidisciplinary professionals who seek to implement policy and practice changes to address cisgenderism and meet the specific needs of LGBTQ+ care leavers. Future policymaking should attend to the direct/overt as well as the indirect/hidden ways in which cisheteronormativity enact devalue of care‐experienced LGBTQ+ young people.