California lawmakers are considering important legislation that will stop authorities from treating victims of child sex trafficking like criminals. We need your help to make this happen. Please call your legislators and tell them to support SB 1322 so that CA definitively affirms that there is #NoSuchThing as a “child prostitute.”
Author Archives: it
“SB1322 recognizes the harmful effects of arresting victims of child sex trafficking…”
We join National Center for Youth Law and Rights4Girls in supporting SB1322, which passed through the CA Senate last week. It will be heard next in the Assembly Public Safety committee.
Read The Mercury News article, “Brown, Kaleem: Child sex trafficking victims are assaulted again by justice system”.
Empower Yolo Targets Local Human Trafficking
Our partners in Yolo County are using WestCoast’s Commercial Sexual Exploitation Identification Tool as part of county-wide efforts to identify and help exploited children. Learn more about these efforts by clicking here.
California Senate says there is no such thing as a child prostitute
Dear WestCoast Community:
Yesterday, the California State Senate passed SB 1322, Senator Holly Mitchell’s bill that gives children immunity from prostitution charges. We are one step closer to ensuring that sexually exploited youth receive the same protective response that we provide for all other victims of child abuse.
Foster care reform faces challenge: Finding enough homes
“The state is shifting away from the old system where some families would foster dozens of children over several decades. The goal is to get all families to consider adoption and guardianship…”
California Health Report reviews the recent approval of Assembly Bill 403, known as Continuum of Care Reform.
An Update
Dear WestCoast Community,
This fall, I joined a Blue Ribbon Commission tasked with informing state policy to improve the response to children who are commercially sexually exploited. Convened by Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley through the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (H.E.A.T.) Institute, the Commission is comprised of 14 leaders from child welfare, education, criminal justice, health, and other nonprofits across California. Through seven regional hearings, the Commission has heard testimony on the strengths and gaps in our current system of care for exploited youth. Our work will culminate in a final report with recommendations to policy makers for a comprehensive system to respond to the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
Study Finds Foster Youth Fare Better When They Receive Care Until 21
“Foster youth…who remain in care as young adults, tend to enroll in school, avoid homelessness and have more positive life outcomes generally than youth who age out at 18, according to the most comprehensive study of transition age foster youth to date…” continue reading The Chronicle of Social Change research news here.
California to become first to extend coverage to undocumented children
“We’re looking at this as a huge opportunity in terms of helping to ensure that the children who are in the state of California have access to comprehensive health care services…”, the SF Gate reports.
“If I’m a victim, why am I in this jail cell?”
Dear WestCoast Community:
Children who are bought and sold for sex are often arrested for prostitution rather than receiving the protection and support provided to victims of rape and child abuse. At WestCoast, 73% of the youth we serve in our intensive mental health program for commercially sexually exploited youth have been involved in the juvenile justice system as a result of their exploitation.
After Spending the Most Precious Years of My Life as a Foster Child, I Am Now Changing the System
A powerful article by a former Alameda County Youth Advocate.
“My induction into YAP became the pivotal moment that catapulted my ability to advocate for my own needs and it allowed me to see myself as a social change agent for current foster youth in my community who were struggling with similar issues. The YAP experience inspired me to want more access to macro-level change and micro-level interventions for children and families impacted by the system…”