Family Should be a Safe Haven for LGBTQ+ Youth with Shawn Mitchell and Currey Cook

In this episode, Tecoria and Elliott open the door to a real and vulnerable conversation about the importance of LGBTQ+ youth inclusion. They talk to Shawn Mitchell, a Youth Contributor to the Safe Haven project, and Currey Cook, a Senior Counsel and Youth in Out-of-Home Care Project Director at Lambda Legal. This conversation touches on the Thriving Families, Safer Children guiding principles of addressing issues of disproportionality, specifically for LGBTQ+ youth, and emphasizing upstream strategies for prevention, health promotion, and well-being. They focus on what it’s like to be an LGBTQ+ youth in the foster care system, what is needed, and how professionals and family members can affirm and honor LGBTQ+ youth. Listeners will learn about the data that highlights the overrepresentation of LGBTQ+ foster youth and how the lack of inclusion and repeated rejection harms young people. They end with practical solutions to support and protect LGBTQ+ youth within their families, community, and in foster care.