Mum who wanted to give boy puberty blockers loses custody

A bombshell family court ruling that awarded a father sole custody of his son after his mother supported him using puberty blockers could open the floodgates. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Federal and Family Court judge Andre Strum

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A bombshell Family Court ruling that awarded a father sole custody of his son after his mother supported him using puberty blockers could open the floodgates to parents against sex hormones battling for their children before a judge, an expert says.

Federal and Family Court judge Andre Strum made the unprecedented move of slamming the country’s guidelines for pediatric gender-affirming treatment during the custody battle for a 12-year-old boy, whose mother believes is gender dysphoric and wants him to be prescribed puberty blockers.

His father believes he should be allowed to simply be a child.

The judgment outlined that the focus was on the best interest of the child and not about the transgender cause.

Senior child and adolescent psychiatrist Jillian Spencer, who worked at the Queensland Children’s Hospital Gender Service, said the case would give the state’s parents the confidence to fight for their beliefs.

“Up until now the legal system would rule in favour of following national guidelines and the experts’ advice,” Dr Spencer said.

“This judgment represents the return of sanity for children with gender distress.

“We need to allow them to grow and mature and explore their identity over the course of adolescence.

“We do not want to lock children into an identity and harm them with dangerous hormonal and surgical interventions.”

Judge Strum wrote in the judgment that at this stage in the child’s life all options should be left open without any unacceptable risk of harm to the child.

Senior child and adolescent psychiatrist Dr Jillian Spencer

“As this child grows, develops and matures and explores and experiences life, the child might, with the related benefits of the passage of time and the acquisition of balanced understanding, come to identify as a transgender female and might elect to undergo some form of medical treatment, to ­affirm and/or align with that identity.

“But, similarly, with those benefits, the child might not do so, and for a variety of reasons,” the judgment said.

The court ruling comes as the Queensland government has paused cross sex hormones for children until an investigation into hormone therapies is complete.

The review was called after The Courier-Mail revealed that children at Cairns Sexual Health Service were being given cross sex hormones without proper medical support and parental consent.

The Federal Government followed soon after by launching a review of the Australian standards of care and treatment guidelines for trans and gender diverse children and adolescents.

“We know from the UK that the cessation of puberty blocker prescribing in September 2020 did not lead to any increase in suicide among adolescents with gender distress,” Dr Spencer said.

“The affirmation model was criticised in the judgment for considering children as fixed in their gender identity from a young age which is at odds with everything we know about childhood and adolescence being a time of growth, exploration and change. The judge considered that the harms of puberty blockers, such as infertility, lack of sexual function, long term physical health problems and the risk of regret were extremely serious and therefore decided that the child should no longer be permitted to attend the gender clinic,” she said.

Originally published as Mum who wanted to give boy puberty blockers loses custody