Strengthening the Workforce to Support Youth in Foster Care who Identify as LGBTQ+ through Increasing LGBTQ+ Competency: Trainers’ Experience with Bias

This article discusses the LosAngeles LGBT Center’s Recognize, Intervene, Support and Empower (RISE) Initiative’s training evaluation; trainers’ experiences with bias, and the impact that participant bias had on the delivery of the training intervention. This article also discusses ways in which the Outreach and Relationship Building (ORB) personnel mitigated risks, and how the short-term outcomes were interpreted in the context of the experiences of bias. This article proposes that, after initial training on youth who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ), staff need coaching and follow-up training to effectively address and reduce the mistreatment of this population in child welfare settings and decrease anti-LGBTQ+ bias.