How Many Students Are Forced Into Homelessness Because Their Parents Violated the Law and Pushed Them Out of Their Homes, As Opponents of Parental Notification Claim?
Very few. It happens, but as the Frederick News Post reported in 2022, there were 107 unaccompanied homeless students in Frederick County (.02% of students). No data indicates how many of the 107 resulted from a family that refused to provide a home for a child presented as transgender or gender non-conforming. We asked FCPS if they had that data, and they didn’t respond. We found that the City of Frederick tracks the gender of its homeless population, and in 2022 they reported 235 homeless – 137 males, 83 women, and one transgender person.
There is data that indicates the most common causes of unaccompanied homeless minors are substance abuse by the minor or within the family environment, a violent home environment, or family issues not tied to a minor being transgender or gender dysphoric (discomfort and confusion about ones biological sex). Studies like the Trevor Project put the homeless population of Transgender minors at .037%, but we’ve found that most of the studies cited by opponents are derived from interviews with homeless minors that are never verified.
The bottom line is that the ongoing argument being made that the preclusion of parental notification is based on the avoidance of a presumed increase in minor homelessness or abuse has been proven wrong.