Leicestershire County Council has been ordered to pay a transgender teen almost £5,000 after they revealed his new identity to his parents.
The teenager, identified only as PD, expressed that he wanted to be a boy in 2014 and was referred to the Tavistock Gender Identity Clinic with gender dysphoria.
He later changed his name by deed poll. However his parents, who adopted PD when he was six, struggled to come to terms with his decision and called him by his previous name.
PD no longer wished his parents to be involved in his life or receive any information about him, his assessment or any possible treatment. Their relationship deteriorated so dramatically that PD left home and moved to a local authority unit.
In August 2015 PD took his case to the Family Division of the High Court in London, using Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights to argue that he had the right to privacy for his medical treatment.
His parents, who lived in the hope they would one day be reconciled with their son, asked to receive quarterly updates on PD’s life and welfare. However the judge disagreed with their request.
At the beginning of this year an official at Leicestershire County Council revealed PD’s male forename and his transgender status to friends of his adoptive parents, in breach of the court ruling.
In a judgment last month Justice Keehan stated: “P’s mental health was very severely compromised: he made a number of suicide attempts and there were several cases of self harm.”
The judge acknowledged the situation is extremely difficult for everyone involved and said he felt extreme sympathy for both sides.
A spokesman for Leicestershire County Council, which has been ordered to pay £4,750 in compensation to the teenager, said: “We accept the findings of the court and we have made a full and unreserved apology to PD, who we continue to support.”
