Human Services for Low-Income and at-Risk LGBT Populations: Highlighting Prevention-Related Needs and High-Priority Research Projects

The social and legal environment for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in the United States continues to change rapidly and presents unique challenges for policies and federal programs that were created without these populations in mind. Existing research suggests that LGBT people, like many other minority groups, may continue to face disparate risks of poverty, childhood maltreatment, and homelessness than their non-LGBT peers. Unique experiences and circumstances of LGBT people may warrant tailored human services to help address the challenges and risks that they face. However, substantial research gaps and limited empirical evaluation impede the ability of policy makers and federal staff to adopt and adapt policies and programs to serve low-income and at-risk LGBT populations.

This paper will summarize an exhaustive assessment of human service-related disparities that LGBT populations may face and priorities for future research. We conducted an extensive review of the literature, secondary analyses of nationally-representative data sets, and multiple consultations with an expert panel, federal government staff, and human service providers at the state and local levels. The results are a comprehensive appraisal of what is known, and what needs to be learned next, related to the human service needs of low-income and at-risk LGBT populations.

The paper will focus on three specific human service areas. First, with regard to income support programs, multiple nationally-representative analyses demonstrate that low-income LGBT individuals and families have disparate poverty outcomes in comparison with their non-LGBT counterparts. Adjustments in how programs like TANF and SNAP interact with families, or unique interventions for LGBT low-income individual or families, have not been evaluated: this paper will explore and discuss possible next steps.

Second, LGBT individuals may face differential outcomes when interacting with the child welfare system – both as young people in foster care and as foster and adoptive parents. A  lack of empirical research presents unique challenges to understanding how policy and direct service interaction could be adapted to better serve LGBT individuals. Results from studies reviewed, as well as ideas for next-step evaluations, will be explored.

Lastly, LGBT youth face higher risks of homelessness and may be disproportionately represented among runaway and homeless youth populations. Although empirical research is lacking on effective ways to prevent LGBT youth homeless or intervene when it occurs, results from four case studies of local programs (conducted as part of this project) highlight recommendations for working with runaway and homeless youth The paper will discuss these approaches in the context of a global assessment of LGBT youth risk of homelessness and future research directions.