The foster care system's correlation with the sexual exploitation of minors: considering a network approach to provide solutions

This blog post is regarding the action being taken on sex trafficking in the Bay Area, an issue which disproportionately impacts poor girls due to their added emotional vulnerability and lack of resources. This issue is relevant because I will be working on this issue at my practice experience, The National Center for Youth Law, as they work alongside other nonprofits and governmental organizations to implement recommendations that target this issue. What is more, the UC Berkeley Public Service Center will be holding an event on October 1st from 6-8pm during which Minh Dang, a UC Berkeley Alum and survivor of human trafficking, will be speaking with leaders from nonprofits that tackle similar issues including Bay Area Women Against Rape, and MISSSEY (Motivating, Inspiring, Supporting and Serving Sexually Exploited Youth). For those that may become more interested in this event as they read, there is an RSVP page that describes the location and other logistical details: http://publicservice.berkeley.edu/.  

I wanted to post this information because child sex trafficking in the Bay Area is an issue that does not receive much attention among the student population, and, because it is particularly relevant to us students as Global Poverty and Practice Minors. There are an estimated 100,000 children in the United States that are estimated to be involved with the human trafficking industry, yet studies estimate that anywhere from 50 to 80 percent of these victims of commercial sexual exploitation are or were formerly involved with child welfare, particularly the foster care system. Youth in these systems are particularly vulnerable to sexual exploitation because exploiters target youth with a history of abuse and neglect, unstable parents, and lack of positive relationships. It is also a local issue, as San Francisco is named in this report as one of the 13 national hot spots for child sex trafficking. The report itself is searing in the information that it provides, using quotes from formerly exploited youth that describe that the child trafficking movement is a multi-billion dollar commercial industry that is unimaginably harmful and violent. For example, on girl reported that “Girls are getting killed and stuff, getting found in the dumpsters. I always thing like, what if that was me or something?” Another said, “being in foster care was the perfect training for commercial sexual exploitation. I was used to being moved without warning, without any say, not knowing where I was going or whether I was allowed to pack my clothes. After years in foster care, I didn’t think anyone would want to take care of me unless they were paid. So, when my pimp expected me to make money to support ‘the family’, it made sense to me.”

With this in mind, NCYL attorney Kate Walker worked on behalf of the Child Welfare Council to create a report with key recommendations, an action that sheds light on the a large network of nonprofit and governmental organizations working together on this issue. In particular, the report notes that victims are exploited by more than one form of abuse, and they cycle through the stages of exploitation many times before they are able to leave exploitative relationships. In fact, this is reflected in the ultimate goals recommended by the reports, that 1) safe and secure emergency screening and transitional placements are made for victims, 2) that better identification is made in identifying victims and at-risk youth, 3) professionals working with youth in child-serving systems participate in mandatory training with specialized child exploitation practices, and 4) develop protocols and strategies to coordinate, collect, and share data across systems to better understand the scope of the problem as well as its needs. Clearly, this report points out that the action needed to reduce human trafficking must be made by a variety of organizations and undertaken simultaneously.

This finding is useful for our class because it points out that we may need to consider how our practice experience organizations may benefit from interacting with other organizations. For example, even if the NCYL was able to reform the child welfare system or increase the legal penalties for those that abuse these children, it would not provide them with the mental health services or direct representation in the juvenile justice system that they may need. In this way, we should conceptualize our agencies and organizations as holding expertise and experiences in pursuit of solutions though not as isolated from others possibly doing the same work or doing work that would greatly support or ease the work being done by your practice experience organization. Where does your practice organization fit in with other organizations or governmental offices working on related issues? What are the risks and benefits that your organization would experience by forming a network or participating alongside these other entities? Why do you think it may be important to understand what other work is being done related to the population that your practice experience targets?  

The full report can be accessed online here: http://www.youthlaw.org/fileadmin/ncyl/youthlaw/publications/Ending-CSEC-A-Call-for-Multi-System_Collaboration-in-CA.pdf, but I will go through a few key recommendations.