Youth Trafficking Committee - July 12, 2017 - Minutes

Meeting Date: 
July 12, 2017 - 1:30pm
Location: 

Mayor’s Task Force on Anti-Human Trafficking

Youth Trafficking Committee Meeting Minutes

Wednesday, July 12, 2017, 1:30 pm – 3:00 pm

25 Van Ness Avenue, Room 330 A, San Francisco

 

Attendees:

Kristina Armenkkis, LYRIC; Rachael Cairati, Department on the Status of Women; Karen Catalona, District Attorney’s Office; Melinda Clemmons, The Chronicle of Social Change; Emily Cohen, Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing; Jen Daly, Legal Services for Children; Carly Devlin, Huckleberry Youth Services; Kayden Dowker, LYRIC; Darian Eastman, Not For Sale;  Aniea Essien, Freedom Fwd; Eli Feierabend-Peters, Freedom Fwd; Kelly Gilliam, Nalls Foundation; Catie Hart, catiehart.com; Emily Hinsey, Love Never Fails; Minouche Kandel, Department on the Status of Women; Jessica Marques, CASARC/Department of Public Health; Elisabet Medina, SF Child Abuse Prevention Center; Angie Miot-Nudel, Larkin Street; Xar Oliver, LYRIC; Tori Porell, Legal Services for Children; Mirelle Raza, District Attorney’s Office;  Jessica Scadron, Social Harmony; Anastazia Skye, LYRIC; Corey Smith, Department on the Status of Women; Mary Steiner, United Nations Association;  Alia Whitney-Johnson, Freedom FWD; Karina Zhang, Family and Children Services

 

Minutes:

 

I. May 10, 2017 minutes were approved. [Minouche Kandel/Elisabet Medina]

 

II. Announcements

  1. The task force data collection tool has been sent out to agencies and is due in July. Agencies who were not included in initial email can request to report data.
  2. Opportunities:
    • The FWD Together Seed Fund will award up to $10,000 for collaborative projects aimed at preventing sexual exploitation of youth in San Francisco or aftercare services.
    • The California Department Office of Emergency Services has a Specialized Emergency Housing (KE) Program for emergency housing organizations up to $575,000.
  3. Department of Children, Youth and their Families has an RFP of $70 million. Contact Minouche Kandel for more information.

 

III. Updates on youth served in San Francisco – HA&RT Report to HSA and Key HSA Data

 

  1. HA&RT Report to HAS

Carly Devlin presented data from this quarter (April 1 – June 30) at HA&RT:

  • Response line had 19 calls in total:
    • 9 emergency calls (2-hour response)
    • 2 10-day response calls
    • Others were referrals from CPC, other Huckleberry programs, etc.
    • Not all response line calls resulted in a referral
  • Received 26 referrals this quarter (26 distinct clients)

 

Carly also shared various recommendations and challenges youth working with HA&RT are facing:

  • Challenges finding a school that best fits them
  • Policies that do not allow cell phones can cut youth off from resources and supportive friends and family. Carly recommended that policies surrounding cell phone use be reevaluated and utilize a harm-reduction approach.
  • Working with families, both biological and foster, can be beneficial to youth involved with HA&RT. Carly recommended that interactions and support for families should be reevaluated.
  • It is important to identify viable and meaningful placement options for youth. Barriers to placing youth with family friends or extended family could be lowered.
  • Resources need to be available to youth that have been placed. We should be as supportive as possible to families, including those who are not officially in the system. Carly suggests that we figure out a way to quantify what is needed for these families.
  • It is difficult to place youth quickly and, sometimes in the location that they desire. There aren’t enough places for young people to stay in the foster care system in San Francisco so some are placed farther away. This can lead to more youth running away from their placements and create unsafe situations.
  • We lack an inter-county protocol to handle clients who come from a different county.   Youth are often people placed back in county of origin and then return to SF.
  • HA&RT’s connection to DPH health center has been very helpful – they are wondering whether co-location of other services would be helpful

 

  1. HSA Data Analysis Story – See supplemental power point for additional details

Karina Zhang gave a presentation on the key data they are seeing through HSA

  • As of May 2017, Child Welfare had 69 youth in their system who were at risk or known CSEC
    • 21 in group home, 10 FFA, 13 SILP, 6 Non-relative family member, 5 AWOL, 3 in Juvenile Hall, 2 in a relative placement, 1 in unapproved placement, 1 in non-FC facility, 6 still at home with open case
  • AWOL Data
    • AWOL data was on 63/69 youth (not looking at those still at home with an open case)
    • Out of 63 youth, 43 had a history of AWOL
    • AWOL data includes any AWOLs from all placements in their most recent foster care episode
    • Found that 66 out of 116 total AWOL episodes (more than 50%) were from group homes
    • Out of the 26 who returned, 14 returned to the same group home
    • 20% of the time – youth will return to same placement
      • Beds cannot be held for more than 24 hours at FFA
      • Might be helpful for people to have those beds held for longer so they can return
  • Huckleberry Caseload Overview
    • 53: total number of active cases
    • Most referrals come from FCS (14)
    • Out of 26 referrals in quarter 2, 10 were out of country
  • Huckleberry Youth Demographic
    • Most are African American and 16/17 years old and female
    • 21/53 cases also have an open case with FCS
  • HAS and Huckleberry serve 101 youth in total (open cases as of now)
    • 21 are served by both
    • HSA 69 total
    • Huckleberry 53 total

 

IV. Overview of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s new ONE System – See supplemental power point for additional details

  • In 2017 count, there were 1,363 unaccompanied children and TAY (one night snapshot) – decreasing since 2013 (point-in-time counts happen every 2 years)
  • Areas in which they increased investment saw decreases in homelessness
    • 20% of total homeless population is under 25
    • 87% of homeless youth are unsheltered
    • 18% of homeless youth had experience with the foster care system
    • 49% of homeless youth identified as LGBTQ
    • 43% of homeless youth had been homeless for more than a year
    • Leading cause of youth homelessness: argument with a family

 

  • Allocation of service dollars TAY– 8% in FY 2018 (compared to 16% for families and 76% for adults) – spending on TAY is not proportionate with the 20% of homeless that are youth
  • TAY resources – 46% transitional housing, 39% supportive housing, 9% shelters, 6% rapid rehousing
  • Programs are effective for youth that get in them (supportive housing and transitional housing data)
  • Rapid re-housing has worked very well with families – they’d like to expand it to adults and TAY
  • HUD Youth Demonstration Project
    • SF got $2.9 million to create a plan to prevent and end youth homelessness, fund innovative projects, planning process has begun, $1.5M will be renewable annually
    • Part of plan to work towards coordinated entry system
  • Coordinated Entry System
    • Right now, when someone is homeless, they have to get on many lists and wait – the goal of the ONE system is to put everyone on one list
    • ONE will match people with most appropriate housing resources as soon as possible, assess needs of people and prioritizes them
    • Does not create more housing, but will make the process more transparent and faster
    • The ONE system is a database – There are currently 14 different databases in the city that relate to homelessness – goal is to combine them all
    • Homeless outreach team just trained on new program – as of yesterday 10,000 cases in ONE – 2/3 data systems have moved into ONE
    • Right now, they are prioritizing housing for people who have been homeless for 13 years
    • There is an 18-month timeline for completing the ONE system