“It wasn’t the priority”: Non-binary Children Experiences and Professional Discourse on Public Service Care During the First Wave of COVID-19

Abstract

Abstract Introduction The lockdown associated with COVID-19 has had a different impact on LGBTI people compared to their heterosexual and cisgender peers, with an even greater impact on children and youth. This study aims to identify the level of satisfaction amongst non-binary children with the attention received from the main social actors during the first wave of the pandemic in Spain, analyse the role of key people, levels of trust, and children’s main concerns and needs. Furthermore, it also aims to understand professional responses to the challenges presented by non-binary children and young people during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods A mixed design has been applied to the collection of quantitative and qualitative data during 2022. A survey of children aged 9 to 17 ( n = 1216, in which there were 32 non-binary children) as well as 30 interviews with professionals in the sector were used during the academic year 2021–2022. Results The results of the study show how non-binary children and young people have significantly less satisfaction than their peers who identified as a boy or a girl with respect to the care received, how gender identity played a fundamental role in their experiences during the lockdown and how professional responses have not had the proper tools to adequately address the challenges that non-binary children and young people posed to services and resources. Conclusions Adversities such as pandemics reproduced and intensified patterns of invisibility, discrimination and social exclusion in most walks of life for children who are outside of the dominant sexual and gender logic. Policy Implications This piece of work allows us to highlight the needs of non-binary children and young people as well as those of psychosocial care professionals in order to support sexual and gender diversity in post-pandemic conditions.