Worst Decision Ever Made

When our child questioned their sexuality in their early teens, we  explained that it was part of growing up and they would come to their  own conclusions. We were so proud that they felt able to share their  feelings with us. Our child had a relationship with a friend and the  mother’s reaction was to banish them and to tell other parents that  their child would not go to parties etc. if ours did. Our child quickly went from having hordes of friends round and lots  of parties to none, literally within a couple of weeks, and then, soon  after, they identified as trans. We agreed to a CAMH appointment; it was  the worst decision we have ever made as they immediately led our  14-year-old to believe their life would be improved with medical  transition. On top of this we found that the school had been calling our  child by a different name and pronouns. We arranged meetings with the  school and the school safeguarding officer said “we have to give them  options.” Options don’t start with the suggestion of drastic  interventions. We went from having a child who we argued with once a year to one  having utter meltdowns including with knives and pills. We don’t blame  my child, we blame the doctors and the psychologists who didn’t give  appropriate care to my vulnerable child. We also blame the schools and  mental health professionals who went along with it. If my child had been anorexic or taking illegal drugs the treatment,  they and we would have received would have been so much different, we  would have been supported. There is a huge failure in the system and it  permeates throughout. We will never trust the NHS, Schools, Safeguarding, and many people we used to call friends. It has broken us to my core, the fact that so many people are  complicit in starting a perfectly healthy child on a lifetime of  medication and surgery.