Aotearoa Support
Aotearoa Support is a group of parents from New Zealand whose child is experiencing gender distress or identifies as transgender. According to the group’s own description, the parents connected with one another online in early 2021 because they had questions about the affirmative and medical pathway being offered to their children.
What you can find
The site contains stories from parents, a list of resources, ten tips for parents and a sign-up form for parents seeking contact with others in the same situation. The group focuses on mutual support and sharing information.
Background
According to the group, it modelled its approach on the British Bayswater Support Group and, like that group, is cautious about medical solutions for young people. The site presents the perspective of these parents; other parents and healthcare professionals in New Zealand take a different view. Information on how care is organised there can be found under gender care in New Zealand. More context is available under policies by country.
How it works
The group operates as a network of parents supporting one another. Parents sign up through a form. They are then put in contact with other parents, including through one-to-one phone calls. The group is run by volunteers and donations. The site features three stories from parents, including that of a mother whose sixteen-year-old son came out as trans in September 2020, during lockdown. The Bayswater Support Group, which served as its example, was established in late 2019.
The ten tips
The page with ten tips refers to material from Bayswater. The tips advise parents to listen first, familiarise themselves with the evidence on medical interventions and monitor internet use. Parents are advised to take an active role at school, set their own boundaries and teach their child to think critically about sex and gender. Other tips concern paying attention to mental health and developmental issues such as autism or trauma, taking a long-term view, maintaining an ordinary family life and looking after the parent’s own wellbeing. A Dutch-language leaflet with practical guidelines for parents is available from cryforrecognition.nl.
Recommended sources
The list of resources refers to the New Zealand site Fully Informed on puberty blockers, the report Another Unfortunate Experiment by Jan Rivers and Jill Abigail, the interim report of the Cass Review and organisations such as Transgender Trend, Post Trans, Genspect and the Canadian Gender Dysphoria Alliance. The group also mentions the Swedish documentary The Trans Train, the four-part series Dysphoric and the podcast Gender: A Wider Lens. All the sources mentioned are critical of medical transition for young people. Sources defending the affirmative approach are absent. The site of Resist Gender Education deals with lessons on gender identity in New Zealand schools.