Kids as young as FOUR referred to reassignment experts as ’50 kids a week’ visit GP about gender
Kids being sent to NHS-run Gender Identity Development Service rises 24 per cent in just six months
AS many as 50 children a week are now being referred to gender change doctors — including some as young as four, it has been reported.
Figures suggest a record number of kids now believe they were born in the wrong body and are being sent for controversial treatment.
Children aged 11 and older may be given powerful hormones to stunt their puberty before they undergo full gender realignment when they are older.
The shock stats, obtained by , show a 24 per cent rise in kids visiting the Gender Identity Development Service, or GIDS.
The NHS-run service saw 1,302 referrals in the past six months — including two children aged four, four five-year-olds and 17 six-year-olds, the paper said.
Prof Ashley Grossman, who backs gender dysphoria kids receiving puberty-blocking drugs, said: “This is a massive increase."
Dr Polly Carmichael, GIDS director and clinical psychologist, said while there was no single explanation for the rise, "there has been significant progress towards the acceptance and recognition of transgender and gender diverse people in our society".
But Prof Miroslav Djordjevic, a critic, said: "To say a girl of five is transgender is impossible. At the minute it’s something like a fashion.
“And of course there is a danger children could regret having treatment."
Mum Michelle Dyason, whose eight-year-old child was born as a boy but identifies as a girl, said it's "not just a phase".
Tegan, born Tom, dresses in a skirt for school and wears pigtails.
Michelle said the number of children wanting to change gender may be much higher.
She said: "I have spoken to a lot of parents but the majority are on waiting lists to get in to clinics".
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