Combating Domestic Youth Sex Trafficking

Senator Orrin Hatch

We all know that when young people don't have the skills to get a job, (or nowadays can't even find one if they could be employable) they are going to resort to illegal and shadow economies where there are no labor laws and a lot more risks. However, it is horrifying if that source of income is in the sex trade. The figure being tossed around (I can't find the original research) is that 60 percent of sexually-exploited children are recruited out of the child welfare system.

In an article in Salon, "From Foster Care into the Sex Trade", Charlotte Silvers writes about the FBI’s Innocence Lost initiative which addresses domestic child sex trafficking. During its "annual three-day Operation Cross Country[... ]federal agents across the country “recover” juvenile victims from sexual exploitation and arrest their exploiters. This year, the agency boasts that it saved 105 children and arrested 152 pimps. According to U.S. law, anyone under 18 and involved in the sex trade is considered sexually trafficked.

However, what happens to those who are “rescued” is unclear. Whether the children are placed in juvenile justice proceedings or the Department of Social Services, the story of the rescue mission, as the FBI tells it, ends when the handcuffs go on—often both on the exploited young person as well as his or her exploiter."

Upon arrest which door they go through, child welfare or juvenile justice, is up to local policy and law officials.

To respond to this dreadful situation, Congress is beginning to introduce legislation. In 2011, Congresswoman Karen Bass (D- California) introduced Strengthening the Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act, H.R. 2730, to improve the child welfare response to trafficking by strengthening the child welfare system to identify, document, and counsel children at risk of exploitation. Earlier this month, U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) introduced legislation, the Improving Outcomes for Youth At Risk for Sex Trafficking (IO YOUTH), that would help combat domestic youth sex trafficking.

According to the press release from Senator Hatch, IO Youth has four elements:

Promoting Normalcy for Older Youth in Foster Care:
Issue:  Older youth in care are routinely deprived of the opportunity to participate in normal age-appropriate activities and social events.  This impairs their healthy development and increases the risk that these young people will be vulnerable to domestic sex trafficking, homelessness, drug abuse, poor educational outcomes, poverty and other negative outcomes.
I O Youth:  Includes a number of provision to encourage, enhance, and support youth in foster care being able to participate in age-appropriate activities and social events, thereby promoting healthy development, increased opportunities to form meaningful connections, and reduce the risk of vulnerability to domestic sex trafficking and other negative outcomes.

Addressing Over Reliance on Group Homes for Older Youth in Foster Care:
Issue:  A major risk factor making many susceptible to domestic sex trafficking and other negative outcomes for older youth in care is a continued reliance on group homes.  These homes are routinely targeted by traffickers, and are often warehouses for youth who are rarely, if ever, allowed to engage in healthy age appropriate activities and social events.
I O Youth:  Refocuses federal priorities by connecting vulnerable youth with caring, permanent families by eliminating federal matching funds for non-family foster homes for all children age 12 and under and for youth age 13 and older after 1 year of consecutive time spent in a non- family foster home or 18 months non-consecutive care spent in a non-family foster home, whichever comes first.  For those remaining in group homes, the legislation requires that youth have improved access to normal, age appropriate activities.

Empowering Youth at Risk for Domestic Sex Trafficking and Other Negative Outcomes:
Issue:  Older youth in care are often disengaged from the process of determining whether or not they should be adopted, placed with a guardian, reunified with their families, or remain in foster care.  This can lead to a sense of disenfranchisement and a lack of connection to siblings, relatives, or other caring adults.
I O Youth:  Requires states to provide ongoing family funding for older youth in care and regularly update a youth’s permanency plan involving the youth and individuals selected by the youth to a significantly greater degree in the development and monitoring of that plan.

Improving Housing Support of Trafficked and Other Vulnerable Youth:
Issue:  Testimony from a survivor of domestic sex trafficking at a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing revealed that the single biggest challenge to successful intervention with a victim of sex trafficking is a lack of accessible and affordable housing.  For older youth who have been emancipated from foster care not having a place to sleep is often a reason why they enter the sex trade.
I O Youth:  Redirects funds from the Social Services Block Grant program to be better utilized to provide states with resources to provide housing to trafficked and other vulnerable youth.

Federal legislation can certainly help, but a lot of this is going to be up to state and local leadership to make sure that teens don't have to to turn to prostitution and pimps to be able to get food and a place to live.  Equally important, if they are arrested, we need to make sure they get support from child welfare and that they are not locked-up and locked-down with a criminal record.

If you are interested in learning more about this topic, Sex Trafficking of Children in the United States: Overview and Issues for Congress by the Congressional Research Services is a good read.

photo credit: http://www.hatch.senate.gov/public/index.cfm