My child was suicidal and has self-harmed many times as a way to express her emotional distress at the change in her access to gender affirming care. She felt life wasn’t worth living because she couldn’t begin her medical transition as planned. She had looked forward to this for months and then with no warning it was taken away. The shock was awful for her and she could not cope.

My child feels despair, notions of suicide as puberty now accelerating and body changes seem so out of control and irreversible.

I have a child who has been suicidal, self-harming and has been unable to leave the house.

… once she found out that blockers were banned she has withdrawn from spending time with friends, she is crying all the time.

My child worries every day about changes to her body and her voice.

Constant worry; more dysphoria; self-conscious; anxiety, fearful of future; more tears and sadness.

I am so worried about my child's well-being when puberty starts, and that I won't be able to help her pause it if she needs space and time to think.

This ban has kept me awake at night, I struggle daily with worries of how I will support her when her body begins to change. I have visited our GP and local counsellors for support. The pressure I currently feel under is affecting my work now, I can’t concentrate and am desperately looking for alternatives.

I am so afraid for her. She is in stealth at school, afraid of being stabbed and now she will undoubtedly go through the wrong puberty for her. I am like a coiled spring living on my nerves.

I’m terrified of what puberty is going to do for my child’s mental health and not having access to life-saving medication. I live in a pretty constant state of worry and anxiety.

I am so worried about puberty. I think about it at least once a day. I am deeply concerned that if she struggles then we are helpless.

I am scared what will happen to my daughter when puberty starts if she needs blockers then she won’t be able to access them. I am scared of her being harmed.

It has caused direct damage to my mental health by causing panic and confusion. I was left to support a child whose mental health changed for the worst overnight (literally). There was no support for her or parents. There was no warning. I felt confused and desperate and also totally unseen. I felt like my child was being attacked and she was not being seen as a person - her needs were not taken in to consideration. It left me in a position of exhaustion trying to find information quickly. I felt a sense of utter terror that she would end her life and this was compounded by her repeatedly self-harming.

My daughter’s mental and emotional health has rapidly declined since the ban was enforced. So much so, that I haven't dared tell her about the heartbreaking decision to extend the ban for fear of how much more she may spiral downwards.

Watching my child suffer and struggle needlessly due to the decisions made by people who this has zero impact on is single-handedly the hardest thing I've ever had to do as a mother.

Distraught. Devastated. Distressed. She had already been through the experience of having her healthcare access stopped after the Bell judgement - she had been due to start blockers that week and they were instantly stopped. This deeply affected her trust in adults responsible for her care, and had a knock on effect on relationships with teachers, club leaders, the GP etc.

Worried our child would feel like they have nothing to live for if they had to live as a man. Fear of losing our child. Without blockers our child felt she couldn’t live as free and blend in to just being a girl.

It was devastating to finally receive a prescription and then be told that within 48 hours we would no longer be able to access the treatment which professionals had told us would really help our child. A local pharmacist tried to prevent us having our prescription before the ban was in place and I had to stand my ground and insist on having the prescribed medication. I was made to feel like a bad parent which was awful. I am genuinely scared that my child will continue to self-harm or worse if the ban is not reversed.

No amount of therapy will change the fact that these youth will have to go through natal puberty and live with those permanent changes so they can't even recognise themself when they look at themself. It will increase their dysphoria and being exposed as being trans puts them at further risk of exclusion, discrimination, bullying and will reduce their ability to do well at school and socially.

We found ourselves being guided by who we now suspect was a covert TERF who recommended “watchful waiting” which unfortunately at the time we did try as we thought we were working with an expert. This approach was incredibly damaging to our child and we are still recovering from that as a family.

She feels as though the government and media hates her. It’s disgusting that our country is doing this to children.

It seems since the ban following the Cass Review that it has given politicians, the government, the press and public endorsement to try to further reduce trans youths’ rights and even the word ‘trans’ or ‘transgender’ is being removed from the narrative and there seems to be an erasure of using the word ‘trans’ for youth and it has been replaced with Gender Questioning Children. My child is not gender questioning they are transgender and have been out for over 9 years and living as themselves. They know who they are and it hurts terribly when {people doubt that or don’t accept it.}