Part 2- Child Welfare Policy and Practice: Discussing Specialized Residential Facilities for CSE Children
Bethany Gilot, MS; Sarah Ladd, JD & Heather Baker | September 23 | 3:15-4:15 PM
Topic: Research, Legal | Knowledge Level: Advanced
Child welfare (CW) agencies are working to create a continuum of care to address the needs of commercially sexually exploited youth (CSE) and youth at risk of CSE. A key aspect of this has been the development of residential services that specialize in serving CSE or at-risk youth, including shelter, foster, congregate, and residential treatment care facilities. The Families First Prevention Services Act has furthered efforts to define what high quality service standards are for residential settings and has created an opportunity for states to invest in programming that supports CSE youth and prevents initial or subsequent victimization. In interviews of two providers that serve CSE youth combined with a review of research on CSE programming responses that included 128 additional providers were used to answer the following question: What does it mean to provide quality supportive services in congregate care settings to children and youth who have experienced or are at risk of sex trafficking? The findings of this analysis focus on 4 main areas: 1) the impacts of sex trafficking on survivors, 2) challenges in defining a target population, 3) considerations for defining program standards for congregate care settings serving young people who are survivors or are at risk of sex trafficking, and 4) coordination by state actors. In addition to reviewing the research findings, this presentation also includes a comprehensive discussion on how this information is being utilized in the development and implementation of child welfare policy and practice related to standards of care in specialized residential facilities.
Presentation Objectives:
· Create understanding of the impact of Families First Prevention Services Act on specialized residential facilities for CSE youth
· Provide an overview of a study on standards of care and aspects pertaining to specialization in serving CSE youth in specialized residential settings, including methodology and findings
· Discuss the implications of this study on the development and implementation of child welfare policy related to standards of care