A FOUR-year-old NSW child is receiving special assistance to undergo a gender “transition”, amid an explosion in the number of young kids considering sex changes.

The NSW Education Department has revealed it is rolling out a support package for the school where the youngster is due to start kindergarten next year.

However, psychologists have questioned whether four is too young to start a gender transition, saying children at that age are still in a very early stage of their development for such a major decision to be made.

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD preschooler in NSW has begun “transitioning” their gender before attending their first day of kindergarten, amid a wave of young children across Australia who are seeking to change sex.

The Baird government has revealed “a number of students” are transitioning their gender in primary schools.

The revelation comes as referrals to The Children’s Hospital at Westmead for gender services have tripled, with one doctor saying they had “escalated rapidly” across every state.

In another major children’s hospital, 250 children — some as young as three — are being assisted by the gender dysphoria unit.

Psychologists yesterday questioned whether it was too young for a four-year-old to be transitioning gender.

The case emerged during an exchange at a state government budget estimates hearing that delved into the Safe Schools program.

The Education Department’s deputy secretary of school operations Gregory Prior said the school had used Safe Schools resources to help teachers assist the child.

“We have a number of students who are going through gender transition in our schools, with the young- est being a four-year-old at the moment,” he said.

“Without breaching privacy, we have a four-year-old who is transitioning to kindergarten next year who has identified as transgender.

“The Safe Schools is only one resource that can be used from a variety of resources in how we would support that family, student and school to accommodate a child going through transition.”

The Education Department yesterday would not reveal further details, including the birth sex of the child.

Prominent transgender advocate and Australian of the Year finalist Catherine McGregor said kids that age were usually right about their need to switch genders, but there needed to be proper checks to ensure premature mistakes weren’t made.

“I would have thought four is pretty young for any official policy support,” she said. “In my experience, kids with strong crossgender identification tend to get it right but I can understand there would be caution on the part of the department and medical practitioners on making any irreversible decisions at that stage.”

Leading child psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said 250 children as young as three were being as- sisted by the gender dysphoria unit at Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital.

A decade ago the unit had just one child “client” on its books, he said.

“It is the feeling of being born in the wrong body … these kids exist and on some estimates up to 2.7 per cent of children could fit into this category,” Dr Carr-Gregg told The Daily Telegraph.

He said research showed children in this category suffered from bullying and high numbers committed suicide during adolescence or later in their life because they were forced to live in denial. “There is a huge difference between dress-ups and a child believing with every fibre of their being they are in the wrong body,” he said. “These children can be managed with compassion and sympathy, and they can lead perfectly happy lives.” Clinical psychologist Rose Cantali said age four was “absolutely too early” for a child to change gender. “I would be very hesitant and other psychologists would say the same. Everything is developmental at that age,” she said. Dr Rosemary Jones, a gynaecologist who is transgender, said she believed four was a “good age” and that “parents who have any sense can usually pick it”.

Few of us will ever know what it’s like to feel trapped in the wrong body. To see yourself as the opposite gender to the one you see in the mirror. In recent years both science and public awareness have shifted to acknowledge gender dysphoria as a very real condition and one which can have tragic consequences if it is not addressed.

Our suicide rate is already too high without having treatable problems adding to it.

Indeed, this newspaper is proud to have the eminent Catherine McGregor, the nation’s most highprofile transgender identity, as a senior columnist, a groundbreaking role that is a first for a mainstream Australian media outlet.

The question, therefore, is not whether individuals have the right to change their gender but how and when such a transition should occur. For adults, of course, this is a no-brainer — the freedom to choose how to live your life and treat your own body is a fundamental cornerstone of liberal democracy.

But for children the question is infinitely more complex, as is that of the state’s role in encouraging or facilitating such changes.

This is why the case of a fouryear-old preschooler being supported by the NSW Education Department to transition gender deserves respectful, empathetic but also serious scrutiny. Obviously we cannot, nor should we, know the details of this child’s case given the obvious sensitivities and privacy concerns.

However it is self-evident that no child, let alone a four-year-old, is in a position to make potentially irreversible life-changing decisions, even vicariously via their parents or the state. And if it is not the child’s decision but that of the parents and/ or the state, then it is reasonable to ask to what extent are the values or ideologies of the adults involved being projected onto the child.

There is a broader backdrop to this case, namely the exponential growth of transgender awareness worldwide, ranging from the global phenomenon of Caitlyn Jenner’s transition to the inspirational and thoughtful advocacy of McGregor herself on the home front.

One major children’s hospital here has seen the number of children in its gender dysphoria unit explode from just one a decade ago to some 250 now. Undoubtedly this is largely the result of greater awareness and more accessible resources.

However it would be repeating one of history’s great mistakes if any children were being unnecessarily encouraged or coerced into transition, just as it was in the bad old days when children living with gender dysphoria were encouraged or coerced into suppressing it.

As McGregor herself says, young children are usually right when they know something is wrong, but “I would have thought four is pretty young for any official policy support”.

Generally speaking, surely the best rule of thumb is to just let kids be kids. They will explore, they will experiment and they will change. And when the time comes they should be supported in their choices.

Imposing change upon them or setting them on a course that may not be the right one is often fraught with danger. It is worth remembering here perhaps the two most important tenets of freedom and care.

The first is from the US Declaration of Independence, which upholds an individual’s right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.

The second is held by the Hippocratic oath, the ancient foundation of medicine, whose upholders swear: “I will abstain from all intentional wrongdoing and harm.”

The message of both is clear: When in doubt, leave people be.