Over the past decade, 382 youngsters aged six and under referred to the NHS Tavistock and Portman Trust's Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), according to a fresh report by Tavistock highlighted by the Daily Mail, the international V4NA news agency reports.
The clinic currently has no lower age limits when it comes to referrals.
Between 2010 ans 2020, 12 three-year-olds were referred to the clinic, along with 61 four-year-olds, 140 five-year-olds and 169 six-year-olds.
The number of young kids referred to the clinic shows the rapid spreading of the belief and ideology that even preschoolers can suffer from "gender identity disorder."
In 2010-11, the number of youngsters referred to the clinic stood at 136. A decade later, their numbers reached 3,585.
Explaining the numbers, the NHS trust that runs GIDS stressed that although they did see some kids as young as three at the clinic, no three-year-olds have received "treatment." They said staff would normally hold a "one-off discussion" with either the parents or the carers to "provide support and advice."
Tavistock has a scandalous history and will soon be closed down after
thousands of families took legal action against them for misdiagnosing their children, in many cases causing irreversible damage, including by performing surgery on teenagers and prescribing puberty-blockers to some children after just one consultation.
As V4NA has highlighted in an earlier article, the closure of the clinic – the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation and Trust – does not mean that services for alleged gender dysphoria will not be available to children in the UK. Plans are afoot to open new, "regional centers at existing children’s hospitals where minors can undergo their sex change procedures through closer contact with mental health services and the use of appropriate medication. Additionally, these new centers will be able to collect data and monitor the effects of puberty blockers, which Tavistock has not done for under-16s.
The review of Tavistock's services was led by Dr. Hilary Cass, a pediatrician and former president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health. According to Ms Cass, the current evidence for the efficacy of puberty blockers to treat gender dysphoria is "insufficient," so she could not make "any firm recommendations" for their use in young people.
In her report, Ms Cass points out that the clinic was "not a safe and viable long-term option" and that the gender identity conversation and push to treatment "overshadowed" other mental health issues that children who ended up at Tavistock were suffering from. She added that the new clinics will be required to have "'established academic and education functions' to monitor evidence on children who are put on hormone therapy,"
In 2021, Tavistock was found to have a waiting list of nearly 5,000 children who were seeking access to gender treatment.
However, the Daily Mail also points out that NHS chiefs are considering the introduction of a seven-year minimum age limit for any future referrals, as younger children cannot meaningfully communicate with doctors about their desire to identify as the opposite sex. A new consultation by NHS England also acknowledges that young boys' interest in girls' clothes or toys, or vice versa, is "fairly common" and "not usually indicative of gender dysphoria".
Cover photo: The symbol of transgender individuals (Source: Twitter/SammysAmiga)
