Thursday, June 26, 2014

Foster Youth: Sex Trafficking Targets


Foster children are targeted by sex traffickers because of their need for love, affirmation, and protection. If this reality turns your stomach, it's gets much worse:
  • Connecticut: 98% of children who are identified as survivors of sex trafficking had previous involvement with child welfare services, and many were legally in the care and custody of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families while they were being prostituted by traffickers.
  • New York: At least 85% of all CSEC (Commercially Sexually Exploited Children) had been foster children.
  • California: 50% of children sold in California are foster children.
  • Florida: FBI Agent and leader of the Tampa Area Crimes Against Children task force Gregory Christopher said, "A lot of these kids are foster kids, runaway kids… I’d say about 70 percent or so are foster kids."
  • Nationwide: In 2013, 60 percent of the child sex trafficking victims recovered as part of a FBI nationwide raid from over 70 cities were foster children.
Then there is the case of Withelma “T” Ortiz Walker Pettigrew, now a college student, who testified at a congressional hearing this week about being a sex trafficking survivor. She told how she was a foster child until age 18 while from the age of 11 she spent the next seven years as a victim of sex trafficking.

Ortiz Walker Pettigrew
During the same hearing, Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. reported that, "Research shows that most victims of child sex trafficking come straight from the foster care system."

So how do foster youth end up in the sex trade? Many run away from their foster home or group home. Some are escaping abuse by a foster parent or even a child of the foster parent. Sometimes, the biological children of foster parents are jealous or angry and take that resentment out on the foster child.

Other times, foster youth may feel completely unloved and unwanted. Ortiz Walker Pettigrew shared that she was told, "You’re not my child, I don’t care what’s going on with you, as long as you’re not dead, I’ll continue to get my paycheck.” Is it any wonder that a child would want to leave and be susceptible to the promise of love, stability and affection that sex traffickers offer!

What may be equally disturbing is that in 2012 the federal government paid out $4.2 billion (taxpayer dollars) to state agencies for the care of foster kids by foster parents. That same year, "state governments admitted they could not locate 4,973 foster children. Almost unbelievably, this is one of the numbers ("Status=Runaway") that states provide to secure federal funding."

There are "strict" procedures in place for when foster kids run away for most, if not all, Departments of Health Services, the agency in each state that oversees the foster care system. However, one story out of Oklahoma highlights a serious breakdown in procedures where staff at a foster care shelter admitted that if a foster kid walked out, "the shelter staff will not follow the child nor will the police be called."

Fortunately, sex trafficking and its connection with foster children has been highlighted. Lawmakers, such as Rep. Dave Reichert, R-Wash, are moving to put in new laws, the least of which would require agencies to report on all foster youth who run away.

However, these are actions that will take time to implement and even then without better oversight, foster care agencies can under-report the numbers while still securing federal dollars.

If you feel moved to help these children now, there are two actions you can take. Donate so that more family members of foster kids can be found leading to these children moving out of foster care and into a permanent home with loving, caring relatives. Then ask your family, friends and associates to do the same.

Maybe the government will take appropriate action or maybe in six months, you'll read about another foster child scandal. Or if you want do more than say, "What a shame," then do something today so that no matter what else happens this week, you'll know you helped ensure that one less child will end up as a sex trafficking victim.

Regards,

Richard Villasana
  Richard

Richard Villasana
Find Families In Mexico
760-690-3995

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