% Children

**There is a private clinic in the UK which prescribes HRT quickly,
including to children. You can request blockers or full HRT, even at age
12. They have prescribed full HRT to children in the past! Go to the
[GenderGP](https://gendergp.co.uk/) clinic. You do not have to go to
them physically, you can do everything over the internet, and they are
licensed doctors. If you want \*prescribed\* HRT (or just blockers, if
that's what you want, but they also will prescribe full HRT if you want
it), then this is your best bet. The NHS, by comparison, will make you
wait, and by that time you're screwed because you have breasts. Or a
beard. Or a deep voice. Or periods. Don't delay! These people are here
to help you.**

You need to self-medicate on puberty blockers, purchased on the internet
========================================================================

You will not get puberty blockers before your puberty damages you if using NHS. The only way to guarantee it is to self-medicate. The supplier that you use will ship the blockers to you quickly, usually within a week.
=========================================================================================================================================================================================================================

Go to our [HRT self-medication](hrt-internet.md) page for information about how to get HRT on the internet (also includes some advice on dosages). (also see note about GenderGP above, if you don't want to self-medicate)
===========================================================================================================================================================================================================================

If you are of puberty age, and you're trans, it's vital that you start
on puberty blockers immediately. Go on the NHS to get them, but be
warned: **you will be severely delayed in starting it, because of
underfunding and understaffing of transgender services on the NHS. You
can blame our right-wing government for that, for not having the
foresight to provide adequate additional funding for the NHS in the
UK.**

NHS guidelines say that children of puberty age should be given puberty
blockers until they are 16, at which point they can also take estradiol
or testosterone, depending on which way they're going.

### PARENTS: this is IMPORTANT!

You need to make sure that your child **DOES NOT** go through their
genetical puberty, the one that their body is programmed to go through.
It makes most trans people depressed, or worse, suicidal, especially as
they get older. If you love your child, you will let them take hormones,
including hormone blockers, as early as physically possible.

The NHS is *SLOW* and your child will likely go through most of their
puberty by the time they get blockers. You can purchase blockers on the
internet. Check out our [self-medication HRT page which shows how to
purchase hormone blockers on the internet](hrt-internet.md) - NOTE: most
private trans care providers won't see children, so you're stuck with
the NHS, and you're stuck with self-medication.

DO NOT DELAY. **You have a moral responsibility as a parent to ensure
the safety and happiness of your child as they grow up. If you allow
them to go through their genitical puberty, you could very well end up
with a dead child. Transgender people under the age of 25 are 5x more
likely to commit suicide than their non-transgender peers, according to
official statistics. This is directly related to trauma brought about by
their puberty (if they went through their self-mutilating genetical
puberty), and abuse that they might receive because of that, especially
if they start \*not passing as their desired gender\* as a result.**

**We are deadly serious about this. No child should ever be forced to
suffer body dysphoria.**

Moving on\...
=============

Most private clinics only see adult patients (17 or older, in some cases
21 or older). You will need to [come out](coming-out.md) to your parents,
because you typically need parental permission.

Book an appointment with your GP, and say that you are transgender and
wish to transition. Whether trans woman, trans man or non-binary, you
should then ask your GP to refer you to a Gender Identity Clinic.

Some GPs are assholes. Please report them. Also report the awesome ones!
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even with private care, you'll still use your GP for a lot of things
probably, including blood tests and endocrinologist referrals, unless
you get those privately too. The following external website maintains a
register of good and bad GPs:\
<http://transfigurations.org.uk/trans-friendly-doctors/>

Get a blood test BEFORE endo, and take the results with you.

A trans person in the UK who had a bad bad GP spoke to their local
elected MP and got her to write to the government. [This letter from the
UK Government's Department of Health outlines GP requirements and states
that they are required by law to immediately refer you to a gender
clinic when you request gender transitioning
services](/common/gp_letter.pdf).

When you go to that GP, regardless of whether you think it will go well
(most GPs are OK), take a printout of that letter with you just in case.

Thanks go to Gina Denham of the
[Transpire](http://transpiresouthend.org/) support group for sharing
this letter.

Going about the process
-----------------------

Here is a list of NHS gender identity clinics (for UK residents):
<http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/Transhealth/Pages/local-gender-identity-clinics.aspx>
The clinic that you choose will send you some forms to fill in. Fill
them in ***and make sure to book the earliest appointment possible***.

Children are not currently given full HRT, in the UK or even most
countries. If you're a trans woman, you might be able to get
antiandrogens (puberty blockers) which block testosterone; this blocks
your genetic puberty (e.g. they block body/facial hair development,
block voice deepening, etc). For trans men, you might get prescribed
antiestrogens which block breast development, etc.

Teenage trans children are not typically given estrogen until they're
17. Teenage trans men are not typically given testosterone until
they're 17. Testosterone is also a controlled substance in most
countries, which make it more difficult to self-medicate on it.

For non-binary children, we're not sure. You should probably take
puberty blockers to block your natural puberty, and then decide what you
want to do later. Or you might not. It's always different because there
is a lot more variance with non-binary people.

Genital surgery is not typically provided for trans children. They must
first become adults.

***We at Transit believe that children should be able to full
transition. If you're a 12 year old trans woman (12 is when puberty
usually begins in trans women, without puberty blockers), we think that
you should be able to start taking estrogen. If you're a 10 year old
trans man (10 is the usual puberty starting age for trans men, without
hormone blockers), we think you should be able to start testosterone
immediately.***

***If you're a parent of a trans child, and your child has only just
become of puberty age, it is your \*moral duty\* to make sure that they
do \*\*\*NOT\*\*\* start their genetic puberty \*\*\*AT ALL\*\*\*. For
most trans kids, this will result in extreme dysphoria which will, as
their puberty progresses and as they become adults, they will become
severely depressed and even suicidal in many cases. If you love your
child, then you should allow them to go through the puberty of their
real gender, the one that they came out to you as.***

***Parents of trans children: please read our [HRT self-medication
guide](hrt-internet.md) which describes how to purchase hormones on the
internet and how to take them at safe doses. Hormone blockers are not
enough. You need to make sure that your child transitions early,
otherwise they are going to grow up depressed (most trans kids have
gender dysphoria, a type of depression and anxiety resulting from a
mismatch in their body with their internal gender identity, which gets
worse over time). By not letting your child transition, you risk losing
your child. More than half of transgender people under the age of 25
currently commit suicide because of trauma from their teenage years, and
abuse/discrimination resulting from not passing, if they were forced to
go through their genetic puberty. If you do not let your child
transition, you risk losing your child - permanently.***

For surgery, we have a page about this. See [/surgery/](surgery.md) - for
children, surgery is not available in the UK or most countries, but you
might be able to get surgery for your child privately in another
country. We wish to research this and put information about it on the
website, but we currently have no information about this.

Sex education booklet for trans youth
----------------------
http://cdn0.genderedintelligence.co.uk/2012/11/17/17-14-04-GI-sexual-health-booklet.pdfhttp://cdn0.genderedintelligence.co.uk/2012/11/17/17-14-04-GI-sexual-health-booklet.pdf