Dear WestCoast Community:The Justice For Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), S. 1738 is the only comprehensive human trafficking legislation that provides funding for the services that sexually exploited youth need to heal. It also addresses the demand that drives the sex trafficking market by giving law enforcement the prosecutorial tools needed to target those who purchase sex from minors.The House of Representatives unanimously passed the JVTA last week. Now we need the Senate to take up the legislation in order for it to become law.
Author Archives: hannah
WCC hosts symposium on sexually exploited youth
Dear WestCoast Community,
On April 17, we hosted a symposium to surface some of the key dilemmas we face in adequately serving exploited youth, We Can Do Better: Improving our response to child sex trafficking in Alameda County. The panel and subsequent discussion is meant to guide our collective efforts towards improving the system for youth. To learn more about the symposium, please read this article in the Chronicle of Social Change.
You can take action right now to improve services for sexually exploited youth. Click here to learn more about current legislative proposals, and how to support them.
We extend our thanks to the sponsors who supported the symposium, Chabot-Las Positas Community College District, Zellerbach Family Foundation, andGirls Rights Project. We are also grateful to our panelists, who represent a range of organizations and systems that work with trafficked youth: Continue reading
Rise in children’s psychiatric hospitalizations
An article in Sunday’s Sacramento Bee reports a nearly 40% increase in youth psychiatric hospitalizations in California between 2007 and 2012. A decline in the availability of crisis response services and therapeutic residential treatment has left parents and social workers with few other options besides emergency rooms.WestCoast’s community-based mental health services, which are mobile and intensive, help to fill the gap between traditional therapy and hospitalization.
Read the article here.
Have you seen these billboards?
The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office and MISSSEY have launched a campaign to put child sex traffickers on notice, reach out to victims, and ask for community support to end trafficking. The 27 billboards and 30 bus shelter ads placed throughout Oakland have three clear messages. District Attorney Nancy O’Malley speaks to the goals of the campaign in no uncertain terms:
- To the buyers and sellers of children for sex: You will be prosecuted in Alameda County by my office, which leads the nation in human trafficking prosecutions.
- To victims and survivors: Getting out of the situation is possible, others have survived and “U can 2.”
- To the community: It is time to come together and end sex trafficking.
Spread the word–we have zero tolerance for trafficking in our neighborhoods. Share this blog post on Facebook, and report suspicious behavior to the human trafficking hotline by phone 1 (888) 373-7888 or text Be Free (233733).
WestCoast Children’s Clinic presents at the annual Society for Personality Assessment conference
Assessment Program Director, Barbara Mercer, and Assistant Program Director, Audrey Rosenberg, each presented a paper in a Symposium at the Society for Personality Assessment, an annual international conference, this year in San Diego. Barbara’s talk entitled “Living With Danger: Attachment and Complex Trauma in Oakland, California” was part of a Symposium called An International Perspective: Assessment’s Role in Uncovering and Coping with Client Trauma. Audrey’s talk “Beyond the Dyad: How an Organization can Support Supervisors who are Working with Unlicensed Trainees who are Testing High-Risk Youth” was in a Symposium on The Art of Supporting Supervisors: Supervision of Psychological Assessment.
Judy Wan, our pre-doctoral intern and next year’s post-doctoral resident, gave a poster session, Therapeutic Assessment with Adolescents: A Time-Series Design Examining Changes in Family Functioning. Her poster is on display in the hallway near the kitchen.
Eching Ho, who will be starting per postdoctoral residency with us in September, gave a poster session, Role of Acculturation and Enculturation on Chinese American Adults’ Perception of Child Psychological Assessment Models.
It’s about more than just corn subsidies…
Dear WestCoast Community,
The federal Farm Bill, currently under negotiation in Congress, is about more than just corn subsidies—it also contains a program critical to the healthy development of low-income children: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). SNAP, also known as food stamps, helps feed children and families living in poverty. Continue reading
C-Change at the 45th Annual Association of Black Psychologists International Convention
From July 24-26, 2013 C-Change clinician, Amara Benjamin-Bullock, attended the 45th Annual Association of Black Psychologists International Convention as a panelist in a discussion assembly titled, “Pan African Psychology: A Diasporan and Continental Dialogue,” and participated in two presentations titled “DSM V Conversation Hour,” and “Human Trafficking in the US.” Amara was also honored in a SAGE sponsored reception for her article contribution to the Journal of Black Psychology Special Issue on Pan-African Psychology.
What happens after an FBI raid?
Dear WestCoast Community,
According to national news reports last week, the FBI rescued 105 victims from commercial sexual exploitation in 76 cities throughout the country. But what happens to victims after they are recovered? Some are returned to their families or foster care placements. The Chronicle of Social Change delved deeper to report that others are not treated like victims at all: Some Trafficking Victims ‘Rescued’ by the FBI Have Been Arrested. Continue reading
Its Right Here…
Dear WestCoast Community,
As awareness grows in Oakland and beyond about the commercial sexual exploitation of children, WestCoast is at the forefront, providing crucial expertise about the problem and ways we can address it. In an article published by Oakland Local today, WestCoast’s Director of Research and Evaluation, Dr. Danna Basson, shared our research on the trauma and impact of sexual exploitation on our clients as we reported last year in Research-to-Action: Sexually Exploited Minors Needs and Strengths. Continue reading
Its Unanimous…
Dear WestCoast Community,
The California Child Welfare Council made a landmark decision yesterday. The Council unanimously voted to take the immediate action needed to improve protection and services for commercially sexually exploited youth. Continue reading