Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking

Child Sex Trafficking Subcommittee

Wednesday August 17, 2016     1:30 pm-3:00 pm

25 Van Ness Avenue, Room 610, San Francisco, CA

 

Attendees:

Mollie Brown, Huckleberry Youth Services; Karen Catalona, District Attorney; Gena Castro Rodriguez, DA Victim Services; Jen Daly, Legal Services for Children; Lorena De Jesus, Juvenile Probation; Carly Devlin, Huckleberry Youth Services; Janet Ector, RTI; Tony Flores, San Francisco Police Department SVU/HT; Sabrina Forte, Bay Area Legal Aid; Kelly Gilliam, Nalls Foundation; Carletta Jackson-Lane, Sojourner Truth FFA; Martha Mar, Larkin Street Youth Services; Rebecca Marcus, San Francisco Public Defender Office; Elisabet Medina, Child Abuse Prevention Center; Steve Mullin, Catholic Charities of the East Bay; Jessica Nowlan, Executive Director, Center for Young Women’s Development; JaMel Perkins, private sector; Catherine Seitz, Legal Services for Children; Amika Sergejev, Center for Young Women’s Development; Sarai Smith-Mazariegos, S.H.A.D.E; Christine Ticas, DA Victim Services;

 

1. Introductions/Check-in/Shared Success
2. Update on Family & Children’s Services Protocol & CSEC Advocate

Elisabet Medina gave an update on how the CSEC MDT’s that are part of the FCS Protocol are going.  They have had 10 MDT’s and are learning what needs to be set up to improve the process.  There is a need for a data sharing protocol and an intercounty protocol.  They are doing lots of training on the FCS protocol, and have trained: the lawyers on the dependency panel, CASA’s; and DPH mandated reporters.

Carly Devlin gave an update on the 24 hour CSEC advocate program at Huckleberry.  From March-June, 33 referrals: 2 young men and one gender queer and the rest female.  Some youth are at risk of being exploited, and not actually being exploited. 

• Minouche agreed to send around an electronic version of the Data Dashboard to the group.

They are able to provide most youth with services.  Of those who are not receiving services, several were out of county.  Only 3 youth AWOL’ed from Hucklebery services, and some are getting services from other counties.

Overall trends/issues:

• How to normalize that youth leave foster care or group home placement and assist with that - how to keep them safe when they are not at their placement.
• Need to create policies that don’t penalize youth or their caregivers when youth leave placement. 
• Need to create placements that feel safe.
• Needs are very diverse – greatest need is a place to stay.   Challenge to find a bed that is both available and appropriate.  Often no great options that are meaningful and supportive to the youth.   

They are seeing young people who are working jobs or being in school and “in the life.”  The majority of the youth they work with are still commercially, sexually exploited and making progress in other ways.   Because they are seeing youth for several months, relationships are being built and youth are meeting more often with workers and also seeing collaboration increase with FCS.   They haven’t been many calls in the middle of the night.  Once the word gets out, calls come in during the middle of the day.  They are providing services more on an ongoing basis and not so much as crisis.  Or crisis may happen after relationship already exists. 

3. Presentation from Legal Services for Children (Catherine Seitz/Jennifer Daly)

Legal Services for Children provides free legal services to youth in 4 main areas: (1) dependency; (2) guardianship for youth 12-21; (3) immigration (primarily SIJS in conjunction with guardianship) and U visa cases and T visa cases; (4) school expulsion defense. 

All T visa cases have been labor trafficking cases so far.  Most clients have to be SF residents but can do clients in other counties sometimes.  

LSC is an important resource for youth.  In San Francisco, there is a panel system for dependency attorneys who represent children involved with the child welfare system.  There is often a disconnect between attorneys on the panel and service providers, and panel attorneys may not know about resources. 

4. Presentation from Catholic Charities of the East Bay (Stephen Mullin)

Catholic Charities of the East Bay is partnering with Wellsprings Institute (Atlanta) and New Day (Northern CA) to open a house for trafficked youth, and are on schedule to open in early 2017.  It is not an emergency shelter.  It will serve girls 13-17 in a house that can take up to 15, but want to start with smaller group.  Residents can stay up to 2 years, and program will provide medical/mental health; and education/life skills.  They are partnering with Catholic schools in the East Bay so youth who are interested can attend those schools when they are ready.  The home will be open to children throughout the Bay Area.  They hope to eventually have a 2nd house for girls and a 3rd house for boys.  None of the Catholic Charities organizations in other jurisdictions are doing this.  They will be working with Alameda County District Attorney’s Office to help identify youth are ready for the program, but this will not be their only source for residents. It’s not a locked facility.   It’s not a faith based home.  (No Catholic doctrine taught.)   They do not have a policy yet on pregnant/parenting youth.  

They have also made an awareness campaign a big part of what they do.  Their service area covers 84 parishes in Alameda and Contra Costa County.  They have trained 24 people to do presentations and are presenting at every church on a Sunday, and providing opportunity for volunteers to get a 3-hour training.  The longer training discusses all human trafficking but focuses on minors trafficked in commercial sex.  They will have reached up to 200,000 people by the end of the year. 

 

5. CSEC Data from 2016 Mayor’s Task Force Report

The data on CSEC from the Mayor’s Task Force Report was reviewed.  The group discussed the need to have a consistent way to categorize youth as trafficked and the possibility of all the youth serving agencies using an identical screening form.  There was discussion of how to flag cases that are “high risk” but not “confirmed.”

• Participants agreed to bring their various screening tools to the next meeting.

6. Next Meeting: October 19, 2016, 1:00-2:30 pm, 25 Van Ness Avenue, Room 330A

Agenda items:

• FCS awareness campaign;
• Discussion of shared screening tools;