Parents, originally from Finland, have had their underage teen daughter taken away from them by a European country’s government after they refused hormone therapy.
The family had moved from Finland to an unnamed European Union country two years ago when their then-15-year-old daughter told them she was in the wrong body and was actually a male.
When she demanded hormone therapy, the parents declined her request and authorities later decided to remove the girl from their custody, Yle reports.
“From having dressed very provocatively and feminine just a few months before, she had now started to use more masculine clothes just like the others in her new gang of friends,” the mother told the broadcaster.
“She said she wanted to start hormone therapy right away and later remove her breasts,” she said.
When her parents rejected her request to begin hormone therapy, a friend of the teen filed criminal charges against the mother and father.
“Obviously, it felt bad that one’s own daughter was doing this, but the worst thing was that the authorities agreed. We were naive and thought that the doctors and the authorities would see sense. It was a big mistake,” the father said.
The parents of the Finnish teen no longer have contact with the girl who now identifies as a young man.
When shown an audio clip of their child after six months of testosterone therapy the father stated: “Without over-dramatising, you can say that when the voice, appearance, and personality change, it is as if they had killed our child.”
Professor of youth psychiatry and chief physician Riittakerttu Kaltiala at Finland’s Tampere University Hospital said that young girls are increasingly looking to change their gender.
Dr Kaltiala added the importance of social networks in the increase of youth claiming to want to change genders, saying some just want to feel a sense of belonging. “We note at the reception how the young people have planned what to answer when asked questions. It is very worrying,” she said.
In the past six years, the trans clinic at Tampere University Hospital has seen a quadrupling of the number of cases involving young people.
Sweden, too, has reported similar growth in the number of underage transgender cases in recent years. The Karolinska University Hospital in Stockholm came under fire earlier this year when it was revealed that doctors performed breast removal surgeries on children as young as 14.