With an estimated 2–3% of young people identifying as transgender or gender diverse (TGD), most health care professionals will provide care for a TGD person at some point.
Unfortunately, many TGD people have reported poor standards of care. To assist medical professions, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's (WPATH) recently released its 8th Standards of Care edition (SOC-8).
SOC-8 features 18 chapters including assessment of children and adolescents. Instead of age recommendations, WPATH suggests puberty blocks and cross-sex hormones can be administered when a child reaches Tanner stage 2, the first sign of puberty.
This is not dissimilar to Australian standards. The 2018 Australian Standards of Care and Treatment Guidelines for Trans and Gender Diverse Children and Adolescents, state adolescents can commence puberty-blocking medications when Tanner stage 2 has been achieved. They also need to have a diagnosis of "gender dysphoria in adolescence", have received medical assessment including fertility preservation counselling, and have assent from the adolescent and informed consent from legal guardians.
Also included in the SOC-8 are chapters on assessment of adults, non-binary, primary care and institutional environments.
You can read the WPATH SOC-8 here.
