by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jul 20, 2013 | Anton Media
July 2013
Domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) – the commercial sexual exploitation of children within U.S. borders – is a growing problem. Once involved in commercial sexual exploitation, according to group counselors Kristine Hickle and Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, “individuals are at increased risk for economic instability and poverty, as adolescents who begin selling or trading sex prior to any legitimate employment experience may lack skills necessary to obtain employment and achieve economic stability after escaping their trafficking situation.” In addition, they state, “adolescents who run away from home are at increased risk for being exploited and coerced by pimps-traffickers, and may engage in and become victim to violence, including sexual or physical assault.”
It is important to note that DMST is not prostitution. Legally, minors cannot consent to sex with an adult, so, as Forbes Magazine reporter Brooke Axtell observed, “the use of the term ‘child prostitution’ in the media is misleading. In any other context, this would be considered statutory rape. Force, fraud and coercion are used to control the victim’s behavior.”
There is a myth that sex-trafficking is only prevalent in poorer countries. It is widespread in developed nations as well. Because DSMT is hidden, statistics are hard to calculate; however, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), more than 250,000 American youths are at risk of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation. Human-trafficking, according to the DOJ, is the second leading criminal industry behind drug-trafficking, and half of all the victims are minors.
There is an alarming disconnect between the treatment of domestic-trafficked minors and their status as victims. Many do not receive shelter and treatment in a safe residential setting; rather, they are re-victimized in juvenile-detention facilities. Due to its covert nature, DMST is under the radar in suburbia, yet, a 2011 study by researchers from Hofstra University reported more than 11,000 victims of sex-trafficking on Long Island.
Hofstra Sociology Professor Dr. Gregory Maney, the lead investigator, reported that those victims who sought private help were only the tip of the iceberg. And that the number did not include victims that went to public-service providers, moved out of the area, have not been able to escape their captors or died in the process of being trafficked.
It probably seems unlikely that anyone close to you could be at risk of being sex trafficked. However, traffickers are proficient at seducing and disarming their marks, usually vulnerable young women. Two warning signs for spotting a sex-trafficker include premature promises of undying love that are aimed at cementing a quick emotional connection and a promise of employment.
Hopefully, greater public awareness of DMST will help bring about more humane treatment, better policies and improved access to resources, such as long-term housing and quality mental health care for victims. As Axtell wrote of taking steps to help children break free from sexual exploitation, “we [must] face the disturbing truth that the demand for girls’ bodies is happening in our own communities.”
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Mar 20, 2013 | Anton Media
March 2013
This year marks the 60th anniversary of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center. I wonder if its founders, a small group of parents, could have imagined in 1953 that six decades later the Guidance Center would be taking more than 100 calls a week from parents concerned about their children’s emotional well-being. The callers tell stories about children and teens who are troubled, in trouble or causing trouble. Handling their first call sensitively is a hallmark of the Guidance Center. That first person-to-person contact makes all the difference in whether a parent chooses to take the next step forward towards hope or retreats into a sense of despair…
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by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Jan 20, 2013 | Anton Media
North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center has played a leading role in the hurricane relief effort, reaching over 5000 survivors, since Sandy hit Long Island on October 29, 2012. And, this is in spite of the fact that many of our service-providers were also victims of the hurricane. Being survivors and providers gives us an edge. As a Long Beach resident, I know this first-hand…
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by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Dec 20, 2012 | Anton Media
December 2012
The Nassau County legislature made a misguided decision, born of partisan politics, on July 5, 2012, to cut $7.3 million from youth, chemical dependency and mental health services for tens of thousands of people. The decision to de-fund human services in July led to months of protests by humanservices providers, parents and youths. In an attempt to draw wider attention to the impact of the budget cuts, one of the affected agencies, STRONG Youth, Inc., a gangprevention and intervention program that lost all of its funding, staged a symbolic funeral for youth services at the Hempstead Pentecostal Church, in Hempstead, on August 2, 2012. The funeral was followed, a few weeks later, by street theater. Adults and young people from STRONG attended a legislative meeting in Mineola, dressed symbolically as hostages – bound, gagged and blindfolded. One of the legislators said, at the meeting which was attended by hundreds of people, that “child protective services” should be called. A few weeks later, STRONG held a prayer and candle lighting vigil. The vigil drew 150 people. All of the demonstrations by STRONG were peaceful and planned with adults and youths working together. How do I know this? I proudly stood alongside them in each one of the events. Some critics accused STRONG of being too extreme. Others called the symbolic funeral “disrespectful of the dead” and the “parading of hostages” as a disgrace. Nothing could be further from the truth. These events were thoughtfully organized by STRONG social workers and volunteers, young and old, who galvanized a complex network of teenagers and parents (including parents of murdered children) crime victims, clergy, community leaders and local businesses. The skills used to organize this event were the same ones that were used to develop and implement exemplary gang prevention and intervention services that aim to help young people to become successful students and active participants in community affairs. Nassau County should not eliminate STRONG, or programs like it. Rather it should be celebrating and promoting them as national best practices in youth development. One of the speakers at the funeral was a young woman, Amory Sepúlveda. She testified from her wheelchair. “When I was 19-years-old,” she said, “I was the innocent victim of a drive-by shooting that resulted in never being able to walk again. I was hurt physically and emotionally and thought my life was over. With the help of county youth services, I am now a college graduate in pursuit of a master’s degree. I’ve shared my story, changing the lives of thousands of youth in Nassau County.” Today, in her role as crisis 2 counselor for North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center, Sepúlveda is providing aid to hundreds of victims of hurricane Sandy. STRONG Youth Inc.’s approach to protesting Nassau County’s cuts to human services funding were not radical, they were rational. Its tactics were well-planned, intergenerational events that captured the imagination of the public and media. STRONG took effective steps to motivate change. The public should embrace the group for its peaceful protests, which represent the best of our democracy. These events helped many young people to move from apathy to activism. In fact, many of the protesters that were derided by members of the Nassau County Legislature have become volunteers in the hurricane disaster relief efforts, demonstrating their empathy, civic involvement and activism, all for the public good. They have learned their lessons well and now fight not only for themselves, but for the next generation.
by North Shore Child & Family Guidance Center | Nov 20, 2012 | Anton Media
By Andrew Malekoff Hurricane Sandy has shaken many of us to the core, shattering our sense of safety in the world. Helping children and adolescents to cope during this difficult time when many are struggling, is essential. Following are four interrelated and overlapping ideas to keep in mind in caring for young people impacted by disasters and other traumatic events. Provide protection, support, and safety. Children and youths need safe places to go, with worthwhile things to do and opportunities for belonging. And they need relationships with competent adults that understand and care about them. Living through a disaster like Hurricane Sandy can contribute to a pervasive sense of fearfulness, hypervigilance and despair. Do all you can to ensure a basic level of physical and emotional safety that helps to cultivate a sense of trust. Safe havens in school and the community are prerequisites for helping kids through this disaster. Help to re-establish connections and rebuild a sense of community. Collective trauma, according to Kai Erikson, is “a blow to tissues of social life that damages the bonds linking people together, and impairs the prevailing sense of communality.” The trauma of living through a disaster leads to demoralization, disorientation, and loss of connection. Hurricane Sandy has left individuals feeling unprotected and on their own. Connecting with others addresses the primary need of survivors to affiliate and can promote mutual support, reduce isolation, and normalize young (and older) peoples’ responses and reactions to what feels like a surreal situation. Don’t go it alone. Offer opportunities for action that represents triumph over the demoralization of helplessness and despair. “Talking about the trauma is rarely if ever enough,” advises noted trauma expert Bessel van der Kolk. Children and teens can be encouraged to write poetry, create artwork, engage in social action, volunteer to help other victims or any of the multitudes of creative solutions that individuals can find to confront even the most distressing troubles. Creatively engage your children to give them some control over what feels like and out-of-control situation. Actively endure. Louis Lowy was a World War II concentration-camp survivor. Although he rarely talked about his wartime experiences, his later career as a social work educator was infused with the time he was leader of the Deggendorf Displaced Persons Center. Lowy taught “active endurance,” which he described as “not merely enduring passively, but also learning to endure actively…substituting hope for despair, persevering rather than giving up, persisting rather than surrendering in the face of difficult odds, and helping to sustain ourselves [and those that we care about] through mutual support.” Parents can set this example for their children. If your capacity to actively endure and help your child to cope outstrips your ability to do so during this stressful time, contact your local community-based mental health agency. North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center is always ready to take your call at 626- 1971.
