Guidance for children and young people’s services on the inclusion of transgender including non-binary young people

This guidance was updated in August 2026.

Introduction

This guidance aims to support care services for children and young people to enhance the inclusion of transgender including non-binary young people.

We have developed it because services have approached us to ask how they can best support transgender including non-binary children and young people. We are aware that this is a subject that generates a great deal of controversy. At the present time, there is no consensus about the best way of responding to an increasing number of children and young people who are questioning their gender identity. As acknowledged by the Cass Review, the tone of the debate currently, in which views are very strongly felt and often polarised, can make life even more challenging for children and young people and the staff who are caring for them. Every day, while that debate continues, those staff must, and do, find ways of helping children and young people feel supported, loved, valued and respected.

We have based this document on current good practice guidance, referred to throughout and detailed in the ‘Useful Resources’ section at the end. We updated the document in August 2026 and will update it again as and when available guidance changes.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the stakeholders who provided feedback on an earlier version of this guidance; this feedback has been taken into account to strengthen the content. We would like to thank LGBT Youth Scotland for its support in developing the earlier version. We are very thankful to the young people and services who took the time to share their experiences with us; this guidance has been informed by their input and lived experience. To protect young people’s anonymity, we have not named the services we refer to as examples in this guidance.

Definitions

There is a glossary of terms we use at the end of this guidance.