More Australian Kids Than Ever Are Seeking Gender Confirmation Treatment

The amount of children seeking gender confirmation treatment in Australia has reached a record high, according to new public hospital figures.

By the end of this year it is expected that at least 300 kids will have been referred to the Gender Service at the Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne—a program that “aims to improve the physical and mental health outcomes of children and adolescents who are trans or gender diverse”, and which has seen a 200 percent patient increase over the past 10 years.

Gender Service director Michelle Telfer suggested that the upswing is indicative of a global trend, with more and more children around the world requesting to undergo treatment.

“What’s really interesting is that it’s just not the Royal Children’s Hospital,” she told ABC News. “It’s very similar and mirrored really by other services internationally.”

The hospital became so inundated with prospective patients that at one point waiting times increased to 14 months. Nurse consultants and junior doctors perform the initial assessments, and kids must be given paediatric and psychological approval before they can begin taking puberty blockers followed by hormone therapy.

As of last year, though, a Family Court ruling declared that children and teenagers no longer needed court approval to begin gender affirming hormone therapy. The hormones used in the treatment are also covered under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Nonetheless, Associate Professor Telfer insists there are still obstacles to be overcome before the Australia-wide population can have easy access to adequate gender confirmation services. Currently, each patient who goes through the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Gender Services program costs Victorian taxpayers $5000-a-year. Telfer suggests that Commonwealth funding would help to alleviate some of that weight and take the strain off hospital resources.

Beyond that, Telfer also says that more hospitals need to start considering the offer of “top surgery” for adolescents going through the change. While below the waist gender reassignment surgery is still not considered safe for children and teenagers, there is growing evidence to suggest that surgical work to reduce breast size can be beneficial from a mental health perspective.

“We’ve come a long way in terms of gender care in Australia in quite a short period of time,” she said. “I think that everyone needs to be ready for further change, so it’s something that we are thinking about.”