In his proclamation for National Child Abuse Prevention Month, rather than addressing real threats to children like the federal government should do, United States President Donald J. Trump focused almost exclusively on attacking supporters of transgender youth. He declared broadly defined “gender ideology” as “one of the most prevalent forms of child abuse” and labeled gender-affirming care as “evil”.

Gender-affirming care is recognized as the gold standard of medical care for transgender youth by major medical associations. This care consists of social practices (changes to one’s name, wardrobe, etc.) to mental health counseling to medical interventions, such as puberty blockers and hormone therapies. In all, the care emphasizes a personalized, multidisciplinary, and gradual approach. Studiesdemonstrate that youth receiving this care experience 60 percent lower odds of depression and 73 percent lower odds of suicidality, with approximately 98 percent of youth continuing this care into adulthood.

Contrary to the proclamation’s assertions about the prevalence of gender-affirming care, a dataset of private insurance claims from 2018-2022 covering more than 5 million adolescents found that less than 3,000 transgender youth had access to puberty blockers or hormone therapies. Currently, 27 states ban some form of gender-affirming care for transgender youth. 

A January 28, 2025, executive order aims to withdraw federal funds and support for such care to people younger than 19.

The proclamation’s language also echoes state-level efforts to weaponize child welfare systems against supportive families of transgender youth. In 2022, Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered state agenciesto investigate parents whose children receive gender-affirming care, jeopardizing their custodial rights. This year, Texas and Montana advanced legislation to classify some or all gender-affirming care as child abuse.

While the administration targets families of transgender youth, actual child welfare crises remain inadequately addressed, including the harm Black and Indigenous people and families living in poverty face in child welfare systems, the indiscriminate prosecution of children as adults, hazardous child labor conditions, and family separation at border facilities.

US officials should prioritize protecting children from genuine harms rather than threatening the wellbeing of supportive families.