TRANSFAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES
Navigation for the Journey
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
We are dedicated to changing the status quo of Trans and GNB youth who are at high risk for suicide, homelessness, dropping out of school and bullying, and improving their emotional, mental, and physical health care needs. Our ultimate goal is to keep the youth safe ( and prevent suicide) by teaching acceptance of the Trans adolescent both at home and in the community, and strengthening the family bond. Our Family Engagement sessions combined with our growing partnerships in the community with schools, places of worship and the medical community will enable us to achieve our mission.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Essential Family Services program
This is a time of tremendous vulnerability for Transgender (Trans) & Gender Non Binary (GNB) people whose very lives are at risk, and whose rights and basic human dignity are under attack.
No one is more vulnerable than Trans youth, who are lost to suicide, murder, depression, anxiety, homelessness, human trafficking and acts of violence from discrimination and bullying.
Here are some staggering statistics:
1-Trans youth are nine times more likely to attempt suicide than cisgender youth (those identify with the assigned gender at birth)
2-47% of trans youth have attempted suicide due to the lack of support (in 2015 we lost 4 trans youth in San Diego to suicide)
3-82% of trans youth report feeling unsafe at school and therefore tend to miss more school, have lower grades and higher dropout rates
4-44% of trans students have been physically abused because of their gender expression.
5- And now in 2018, potential military careers are being denied to them creating a lack of hope for many.
TransFamily Support Services (TFSS) was created in 2015 to be a safety net for our Trans and GNB youth and their families. When a youth comes out as Transgender it is often in a crisis situation. No two families adjust to a Trans child the same or make the same journey along the exact same path. Recognizing this is the genius of TFSS. Therefore, family acceptance and understanding are the greatest contributing factors to a Trans or GNB person’s successful gender transition, no matter the age.
TFSS’s Essential Family Services program is designed with this in mind and our focus is to provide the relevant education and resources for a family to feel confident and prepared to navigate this journey, and most of all to understand and accept their child. Through our family engagement sessions which are held in the comfort, privacy and convenience of the family’s home, the caseworker is able to establish a connection and trust with the youth and their parents and is available 24/7 as needed. We have open communications with the youth and family as they progress through their medical transition.
This work accounts for 85% of what we do and to our knowledge it is not being duplicated by another organization. We counsel family members on what it means to be Transgender, what to expect during their child’s transition, where the family fits into a child’s transition, advocating for support and resources at schools, referrals of medical & mental health specialists who work with the Trans population and guidance on navigating the often daunting challenge of finding answers to insurance questions.
Our program ensures that we take care of the most critical needs and that our outcomes empower the Trans youth and family to transition with support and access to the best needed and available resources.
Since 2015, we’ve touched the lives of over 900 family members. Without our free support services many families would not be able to get access to the appropriate medical care or insurance coverage.
Proof of our success at empowering families to accept and support their Trans youth is that out of 202 families who participated in family engagement sessions, 201 families learned to accept and support their Trans child’s identity. This outcome is so important because we know that trans youth with unsupportive families have a suicide attempt rate of 58% while those with supportive families drop to just 4%. Their long-term success, wellness and happiness is possible with the acceptance of their family.
Without our services, which are free, many of the families would not be able to get access to the appropriate medical care or insurance coverage. We rely on the generosity of donor support and grants to meet the needs of local youth and their families.
Outreach and Training Support
TFSS is committed to the ongoing work of providing training for medical professionals and increasing the number who treat the trans youth population. This is critical because of the high risk factors to a child suffering from gender dysphoria and suicidal ideation. We work with them to continue and suggest best practices. Five years ago there were no local doctors treating Trans youth in the San Diego region. We have trained two pediatricians in private practice. We need to recruit more providers to serve the population because of demand. TFSS has also recruited a surgeon to perform gender confirmation surgeries locally, increasing accessibility for our low income families.
TFSS also provides training to medical providers, hospitals and community stakeholders with the goal to build a supportive and safe community. We provide training in Trans competency and awareness so that they will feel competent and confident serving our Trans youth. Our goal is to improve and increase the number and quality of service providers to the Trans youth population. Some of TFSS's most impactful work has been with Dr. Jo Olson-Kennedy of Children's Hospital in LA. TFSS hosts the two full-day training and recruits the mental health and medical providers whom we find through leveraging our network and identifying good resources.
In just under three years we have accomplished some of the following:
• Provided education for 1,023 medical and mental Health care providers
• Identified and cooperated with numerous physicians, surgeons, and pediatricians treating Trans and GNB children.
By partnering with educators and GSA clubs (Gay-Straight Alliance aka Gender Sexuallity Alliance) chapters in local schools we have:
• Trained 652 educators
• Presented to and trained 2191 students in GSA chapters
Since we began, we have worked with over 5,162 people of all ages explaining Trans and GNB issues. Very often we introduce to them, for the first time, an understanding of the Trans experience.
Where we work
External reviews
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of families served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
LGBTQ people
Related Program
Essential Family Services program
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
We have identified the following goals to fulfill our mission:
1) SAVE LIVES: Expanding our work through extensive outreach working with middle and high schools in addressing the needs of students as well as the medical, religious and other community stakeholders to provide training and resources for the Trans adolescent.
Goal Measurement: 100% suicide prevention.
2) FAMILY SERVICES: By providing more access to our complementary Family Engagements sessions we want to help more Trans and GNB adolescents and their families. We also know that with knowledge comes family acceptance. As a result, the depression and suicide attempt rates decrease
exponentially. Our success rate with this is nearly flawless, with 201/202 families learning to accept and support their Trans child.
Goal Measurement: Increase Family Engagement Sessions
3) AWARENESS: Increase the awareness and cultural sensitivity of the Trans population so that the community changes their negative perceptions and behavior toward Trans people.
Goal Measurement: 4- Events, 5-Religious Partnerships, 12- Trainings.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
TFSS has a two-fold strategy at this time. We anticipate that we will expand this as our organization and resources grow.
First, we must continue to make the public more aware of our organization, our passion and our success at saving lives, reducing other risk factors of transgender people and strengthening the family bond. This will enable us to reach more potential transgender youth and their families and more individual and corporate philanthropists who support our mission.
Second, we need to build our brand awareness in order to reach the community we serve and the philanthropic community who will partner with us tp fulfill our mission. For example,
-Reach more Transgender people
-Build more partnerships in our community ( places of worship, schools, youth programs) and with elected officials to support LGBT legislation
-Medical professionals
-Increase our donor base, community funding sources and corporate relationships
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
TFSS is meeting unmet needs of families and transgender youth to navigate this complex journey . Since it's creation in 2015, TFSS has experienced consistent growth in both reach and impact.
Without our services, which are free, many of the families would not be able to get access to the appropriate medical care or insurance coverage. Our work is funded through grants, private donors and sponsorships. We will continue to develop and diversify our revenue streams.
Kathie Moehlig, our founding Executive Director, is known in both the community and the world as a transgender youth expert. As such she often is invited to speak and bring trans awareness and competency to hospitals, doctors practices and corporations on how to better serve the trans population. Kathie effectively collaborates with other professionals and organizations to better serve our community and for this, she was awarded the Spirit of Stonewall Award, Friend of Pride in recognition of her exceptional contribution in the community.
Assisting Kathie is a board of 9 members who are a diverse professional, socio-economic and racial make-up. With a limited staff, we have to leverage the skills of our volunteer network of 30 who must possess a great deal of cultural sensitivity and competency in order to be good ambassadors of our organization and continue our good work.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
On a daily basis we make an immediate difference in the lives of our Trans youth and their families by addressing their emotional, mental and physical health care needs. Since 2015, we've touched the lives of over 900 family members. Without our free support services many families would not be able to get access to the appropriate medical care or insurance coverage.
We estimate that there are 5,442 youth in San DIego who potentially are or will identify as either Trans or GNB. (Based on San Diego county's population data and the UCLA Williams Institute 2017 demographic data). We know that we are only reaching and serving a fraction of the population of our trans youth, allies, pediatricians, educators and places of worship.
Since 2015 TFSS has assisted over 325 families in Southern California and are growing at a rapid pace. We are proud of our impact that 201 out of 202 families who participated in family engagement sessions have
learned to accept their Trans child's identity. This outcome is so important because we know that Trans youth with unsupportive families have a suicide attempt rate of 58% while those with supportive families drops to just 4%. Their long-term success, wellness and happiness is possible with the acceptance of their family.
We are proud of our accomplishments in just three years:
* Conducted 202 family engagement sessions
* Counseled and helped 132 families navigate the process of receiving medical treatment and exploring other
healthcare options
* Assisted 175 families navigate their health insurance and if needed through the appeals process
* Conducted biweekly and monthly support groups for Trans youth and monthly groups for parents
We also provide training to medical providers and community stakeholders to build a supportive community:
* Provided education for 1,023 medical and mental health care providers
* Identified and cooperated with numerous physicians, surgeons, and pediatricians treating Trans and GNB children.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
TRANSFAMILY SUPPORT SERVICES
Board of directorsas of 01/16/2023
Kate Budd
Kate Budd
Owner - KBMS Consulting
Kathleen Pearson
CHRO - Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
Joan Irving
Retired Artist
Laura Gonzalez-Garcia
Bi-Lingual Parent Liason
Mike Dilaway
Retired
Aubin Cawthon
Peer Educator
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
Transgender Identity
Sexual orientation
No data