In these highly stressful times during which the news cycles bring seemingly endless attacks upon trans people, including rollbacks on the rights of trans youth, the Bar has heard from many parents and other caretakers of trans kids (both minors and young adults) who work within the legal profession and who are seeking community and resources to learn how best to support their children. The Bar has stepped up to meet this need by providing a monthly meeting of such parents and caretakers. Membership in the National LGBTQ+ Bar Association is required for all participants, and participants are also asked to make an annual gift in an amount meaningful to them to support the Bar’s work and this program.
Participating legal professionals will find a shared community, will be able to access resources, and will obtain education. Our goal is to help caregivers of trans kids gain cultural competency around trans identity and legal issues impacting the trans community, find resources for your family, translate your fears into knowledge and action, and learn how to support the trans community through advocacy of all types. Regardless of where you are on your journey in understanding your individual child’s identity and needs, we want to help you learn and grow within a supportive community of other legal professionals, and to find your voice to speak up for the rights of the trans community.
Please note: This group setting will not provide legal advice and is not a replacement for individual, family, or group therapy; this is not a space to resolve individual legal needs or issues between you and your child, or to grapple with issues of parental acceptance of trans identity, We can help direct you to other resources if you have those needs.
Meet our group facilitator!
Melanie Rowen is a facilitator, trainer and coach committed to supporting transgender and nonbinary youth. In her earlier career as a litigator, Melanie worked on legal issues involving gender-expansive youth and their families at the National Center for LGBTQ+ Rights (NCLR). In that role, she frequently presented at the Gender Spectrum and Gender Odyssey family conferences and collaborated with a wide range of professionals supporting trans and non-binary youth. More recently, Melanie was the Associate Director for Public Interest and Public Sector Programs at Berkeley Law, and then worked in attorney professional development at Latham & Watkins LLP. Melanie also served for many years on the board of the Transgender Law Center.
Sponsorship and Support
Interested in financially supporting the CTK program? There are two ways of helping:
Individual Donations
We are very grateful to those individuals interested in making a donation in support of this program. All donations to the National LGBTQ+ Bar Foundation are tax-deductible.
Corporate/Law Firm Support
If your law firm or company may be interested in sponsoring this program, the LGBTQ+ Bar offers three tiers of partnership:
Title Sponsor ($6,000): With this level of support, in addition to all of the benefits listed for the Champion and Luminary levels, your organization will be listed as the Title Sponsor of this program, with the largest logo presence at the highest tier of support for maximum visibility. The LGBTQ+ Bar will also provide up to five (5) memberships to the Association for individuals at your organization who are otherwise eligible and who also wish to participate in this program.
Luminary ($2,500): All of the benefits of the Champion sponsorship + social media posts devoted to thanking your organization for your support of this program.
Champion ($1,000): Logo listing on the Caretakers of Trans Kids website. Listed as a sponsor on all emails and e-blast communications about the programs, including in the LGBTQ+ Bar’s newsletter, received by over 10,000 recipients.
Program Terms & Conditions
- Participants must be legal professionals (lawyers, judges, paralegals, or other business professionals within the legal industry) and must have a custodial relationship with a minor transgender or nonbinary child, or have a young adult child with whom such relationship existed before the child turned 18. (Note: While we understand the desire for non-legal professional caretakers such as partners and spouses of participating members to also join the group, at this time we are limiting membership to members of the legal community. The Bar’s mission is to support the legal community, and we need to keep the group size manageable.)
- All program participants will be vetted by the Bar to best ensure safety for group members. Our application includes a few preliminary questions to that end, and a brief interview Zoom or phone call will be held with each interested applicant.
- Once accepted to the group, participants must be members of the National LGBTQ+ Bar prior to their first meeting. Normal membership rates may be found here; however, the Bar is pleased to offer a 50% discount for first-time members to join us and learn more about our work and our mission, as you participate in and build this program with us. To join the Bar, click here and enter discount code CTK2026.
To submit an application to participate in the group, please complete this form. You will be contacted by a member of the Bar’s team to schedule an interview. Thank you for your interest! Questions may be directed to CTK@lgbtqbar.org.