Children aged three get transgender therapy on NHS: Pre-school infants among 167 youngsters aged 10 or under who received treatment last year

• e-mail

Children as young as three have been referred to an NHS clinic that helps those who believe they were born the wrong gender, it was revealed yesterday.

The three pre-school infants are among 167 children aged ten or younger who received transgender treatment on the health service in the past year, a number which has nearly doubled from 87 in the previous 12 months.

The youngsters were referred to the Tavistock and Portman Trust, which has clinics in London and Leeds and specialises in helping young people with gender issues, the BBC reported.

Children as young as three have been referred to an NHS clinic that helps those who believe they were born the wrong gender, it was revealed yesterday

Critics said that offering gender transition treatment to very young children was a result of adults projecting their own opinions on to toddlers.

They warned that youngsters may suffer long-term damage if persuaded by adults to live in a way they regret in later years.

A spokesman for the trust said it was unusual for children under five to be referred, adding: ‘All of the children and young people we see here are on a journey which doesn’t have set outcomes and certainly doesn’t always result in the decision to transition to the opposite gender.

‘If children, young people or families are being seen here it is because something is going on in their lives that needs addressing.’

The growth in the numbers of children being referred for treatment – revealed by the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme – goes alongside a tenfold increase in gender transition referrals among under-18s in the past five years. 

Some 1,013 children were referred to the trust between April and December last year, compared to 97 in 2009-10.

The Tavistock Trust Gender Identity Development Service has said there is no one explanation for the increase but added that more people are aware of the services available and young people seem to be ‘more interested in exploring gender’.

JESSICA, NINE, WAS BORN A BOY BUT HAS GONE TO SCHOOL AS A GIRL 

Nine-year-old Jessica was born a boy but has gone to primary school as a girl since 2014.

The transgender child is being brought up by her mother Ella and her partner Alex – who is in the process of changing sex to become a man.

Although she is still a ‘typical nine-year-old girl’ who likes to sing along to Rihanna and play with dolls, Jessica still has ‘ups and downs’. 

Nine-year-old Jessica was born a boy but has gone to primary school as a girl since 2014

The youngster worries about one day growing a beard or a moustache and has already started requesting drugs that will prevent it.

Ella told the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme: ‘She has been having nightmares – that she is going to die a man, that she is going to have a beard.’

A second girl who was born a boy, identified by the BBC as Lily, is seven and went to school wearing a skirt for the first time a year ago. 

Consultant psychologist Polly Carmichael, service director at the trust, said: ‘The conversation here should really focus on what this means for early years provision: how society at large addresses the binary context we operate in and how we make adjustments to early years and education services. Critically also... is how we allow children to fully explore options, over time, as they grow and mature.’

But Simon Calvert, of the Christian Institute think-tank, said: ‘The fact that children as young as three are transitioning gender proves this is to do with adult political ambitions and not with what is best for the children.

‘There is no way that a three-year-old is capable of making such a life-changing choice.

‘What we will see in years to come are young adults whose lives have been ruined because their parents and doctors who should have known better told them they needed to transition gender when they were just going through a childhood phase.’