I want to talk about the safeguarding gap when it come to children and young who identify as transgendered. Some of you will think the above statement is inherently transphobic. I disagree.

The comorbidity of poor mental health among this cohort of children, the high percentage with autism or who might otherwise be considered gay (very much a confounding factor here) demands we pay attention to the needs of the group. However our current referrals process fails them

At the moment, if you are a child or young person who decided that they are trans, you have several routes to the Gender Identity Service. Your GP can refer you directly, you parents can too. Even a teacher or youth worker from a voluntary organisation can.

However, crucially, a transgender identity isn’t in itself enough to trigger a safeguarding report to the local authority (your local council.) Because this would be considered pathologising. You wouldn’t refer a gay kid after all, would you? However this is a false equivalence.

If a child or young person decides that they might be gay or lesbian, then they don’t need to concretise that identity unless they choose to.

Being gay doesn’t require a new name, different clothes, a freshly revealed ‘true’ identity. At worst you might experiment sexually and decide that homosexuality isn’t for you. No harm done.

But instead a trans identity comes with a risk of taking physical steps to change your identity in ways that can be very hard to back down from. At best, you risk the mockery of your peers at school. At worst you might find yourself “affirmed” and prescribed puberty blockers.

If you’re lucky this might be though GIDS, a service flying more red flags than a Soviet May Day parade. If you have determined parents they might choose to bypass this and use an online GP service, which really ought to trigger an immediate safeguarding referral.

And crucially the extent of poor mental in this cohort should immediately be a cause for concern. Yet most social services seem blithe to the issue.

In the last five years over 12,500 children have been referred to GIDS. Yet most local authorities or their CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health) services record just one or two children under their care. The rest are left to their parents to support them as best they can.

I’m certain we face a slow-motion scandal here. As this cohort of children reaches their mid-twenties and the euphoria of transition wears off, regret and recrimination will surely follow. Yet most local authorities and health authorities seem unaware of the issue they face.