San Diego Tribune supports Senator Mitchell’s bill SB 1322 which would stop authorities from treating victims of child sex trafficking like criminals. Check out the full article on their website by clicking here.
Category Archives: news
What happens to the children who don’t make the news?
On August 4th, Adela Rodarte, assistant director of WestCoast’s Transition Age Youth Services Program was a guest on KQED’s Forum: OPD Sex Scandal Puts Spotlight on Bay Area Sex Trafficking. In the wake of extensive media coverage about police abuse of an 18-year-old, Forum host Dave Iverson turned our attention to “the children who were exploited the day before that story broke, the day after, and who continue to be exploited today.”
Drawing from eleven years of experience working with exploited youth, Adela spoke to the risk factors that make children vulnerable to trafficking and why we must respond to exploited youth as victims of abuse rather than punishing them.
To listen to the full episode, click here.
Other guest panelists included:
- Nancy O’Malley, district attorney, Alameda County
- Kate Walker Brown, attorney, National Center for Youth Law
- La Toya Gix, human trafficking survivor; advocate, Alameda County’s District Attorney office
Related Articles:
- Police Abuse of Trafficking Victims Weakens Fragile Help System (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Bill would end criminalizing children for prostitution (San Francisco Chronicle)
OPD Sex Scandal Puts Spotlight on Bay Area Sex Trafficking
Tune in to Forum this morning at 9am. Guests include WCC’s Adela Rodarte, TAYS Assistant Program Director, along with Kate Walker Brown from National Center for Youth Law and Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley.
Destination→ Family
Leilani Diaz, Youth Advocate Fellow at WestCoast Children’s Clinic, has published a piece of creative non-fiction in the Chronicle for Social Change. Read her article here.
Urge Assemblymembers to Vote YES on SB 1322 (Mitchell): There is No Such Thing As a Child Prostitute
This coming Monday, August 8th, California lawmakers will vote on legislation that stops authorities from treating victims of child sex trafficking like criminals. We need your help to get this off the Assembly Floor and to the Governor’s desk.
SB 1322 (Mitchell) precludes victims of childhood commercial sexual exploitation from being arrested and charged with prostitution and related loitering. This bill is consistent with federal law and reflects a recognition of the harmful effects of arresting victims of child sex trafficking, including further trauma, disconnection from community and school, and burdensome criminal records. (Click here to learn more.)
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Is it a scandal if it happens all the time?
In Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle, WestCoast Children’s Clinic CEO, Stacey Katz, and Adela Rodarte, assistant program director of our C-Change program, give a more complete picture of what’s really happening with child sex trafficking victims: They are routinely abused by people charged with protecting them. This is a systemic and cultural problem, not an isolated incident of law enforcement misconduct.
“[It’s] not a scandal—it’s something that’s happening all the time. The problem is systemic.” – Stacey Katz
CA Assembly Public Safety Committee passed bill SB1322
Dear WestCoast Community:
The CA Assembly Public Safety Committee passed Senator Holly Mitchell’s bill, SB 1322, with a vote of 6 -1 yesterday. SB 1322 gives children immunity from prostitution charges. Thank you for taking the time to make calls to members of the Public Safety Committee to let them know there is no such thing as a child prostitute. As Senator Mitchell asserts:
“California currently allows for criminalization of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) victims by charging them with crimes committed while being victimized. Under current law a victim can be detained in juvenile hall and prosecuted for prostitution. This is not an effective or ethical response to this growing epidemic.”
Thanks to the Assembly Public Safety Committee, 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.
The bill will be heard next on the Assembly Floor. If approved, SB 1322 will go to Governor Jerry Brown for his signature. We will let you know how you can support the bill as it moves forward.
Thank you again to Senator Mitchell and the Assembly Public Safety Committee for your commitment to supporting sexually exploited youth.
Thank you,
Jodie Langs
Policy and Communications Director
Action Alert: Tell CA Assembly Public Safety Committee there is no such thing as a child prostitute
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.”
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.