The Family Acceptance Project is a research, intervention, education and policy initiative that works to prevent health and mental health risks for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) children and youth, including suicide, homelessness and HIV – in the context of their families, cultures and faith communities. We use a research-based, culturally grounded approach to help ethnically, socially and religiously diverse families to support their LGBT children.

Although there is an increasing amount of information about the risks and challenges facing lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth with growing information about transgender youth, we know far less about their strengths and resiliency, including the strengths of families in supporting their children’s health and well-being. Even though the family is the primary support for children and youth, and family involvement helps reduce adolescent risk, there had been no previous comprehensive studies of how parental, caregiver and family reactions contribute to their lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) children’s risk and well-being. Prior to this study, little information was available to show how families respond to an adolescent’s coming out and how family and caregiver reactions contribute to health, mental health and development for LGBT young people.

Attention to family reactions is critical since increasingly, children and youth are coming out at younger ages which significantly increases risk for victimization and stress in family, school and community settings, and provides opportunities for helping to support and strengthen families. Victimization has long-term consequences for health and development, and impacts families as well as the targeted individuals. Early intervention can help families and caregivers build on strengths and use evidence-based materials to understand the impact of acceptance and rejection on their child’s well-being.

The Family Acceptance Project is directed by Dr. Caitlin Ryan at the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University and developed by Caitlin Ryan and Rafael Dìaz in 2002. It includes the first comprehensive study of LGBT youth and their families.

The project was designed to:

  1. Study parents’, families’ and caregivers’ reactions and adjustment to an adolescent’s coming out and LGBT identity.
  2. Develop training and assessment materials for health, mental health, and school-based providers, child welfare, juvenile justice, family service workers, clergy and religious leaders on helping diverse families learn to support their LGBT children.
  3. Develop resources to strengthen families to support LGBT children and adolescents.
  4. Develop a new model of family-related care to prevent health and mental health risks, keep families together and promote permanency and well-being for LGBT children and adolescents. Findings are being used to inform policy and practice and to change the way that systems of care address the needs of LGBT children and adolescents.