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Newspaper Uncovers Nightmare Scenario for Gay Teen in Foster Care
Newspaper Uncovers Nightmare Scenario for Gay Teen in Foster Care
What amounts to a nightmare for a young gay teen in foster care is chronicled in today's Miami Herald.
What amounts to a nightmare for a young gay teen in foster care is chronicled in today's Miami Herald.
The newspaper reports that when the teen (whose identity is being withheld) turned 16, administrators at the Christian school he was being sent to began to get suspicious about his relationship with his male best friend. They confronted the teen with a yes or no question: Are you gay?
He answered yes, and then things got worse. The school expelled him, he was forbidden to speak with his best friend, and the staff at the foster care shelter where he lived attempted to convert the teen to being straight.
When the conversion didn't seem to be working, the teen says administrators and other kids at the shelter mocked him. The shelter, called His House Children's Home, is accused of ending its search for a permanent adoption and kicking the teen out of a program that would have paid for his college tuition and expenses.
The teen had already had a hard life. At age 10, he entered foster care because his mother was accused of beating him. Then while in foster care, another child molested the teen and was later arrested.
The tragic story comes to light because the teen wrote to his court-appointed guardian about the experience, and the guardian called for an investigation by the Department of Children and Families in Florida. But DCF opted against pursuing it because it said neither the school or shelter had broken any laws.
