Texas politics leave transgender foster youth isolated — during and after life in state care

It was near midnight just a couple days before Thanksgiving 2020 when 17-year-old Kayden Asher arrived at yet another temporary home during his yearslong tumble through Texas’ chaotic foster care system.His caseworker had given him just two hours to pack his bags before they drove into the night from a short-term shelter in South Texas to a nondescript building in Austin where foster kids in need of emergency shelter can live temporarily. When Asher arrived, the staff pulled him aside to ask some questions.“What are your pronouns? Do you feel safe talking about being trans around your caseworker?” Asher recalled them asking.After his father effectively disowned him years earlier for being transgender, Asher shuffled between caseworkers and temporary guardians. Many of them also refused to accept his identity — until he moved to Austin.“It was the first placement where I felt accepted, and I felt I belonged,” said Asher, now 20.But in the years since Asher entered and exited the state’s care, LGBTQ+ foster kids have lost the little protections and affirmations once afforded to them as Texas’ top leaders waged statewide battles that riled public panic about queer people.Studies show LGBTQ+ kids are more likely to become wards of...