Many teen prostitutes come from foster homes, L.A. County officials say
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L.A. County officials say prostitution is a serious problem in the foster-care system.
A majority of juveniles arrested on prostitution charges in the county come from foster care, and, in some cases, pimps use underage sex workers to recruit fellow group home residents, county officials said.
Until now, foster youth caught in the sex trade have largely been the responsibility of the county Probation Department.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to launch a multiagency task force to address the ongoing issue of sex trafficking involving youth in the foster care system. The move was spurred in part by this month’s passage of an anti-sex-trafficking ballot measure, which county officials said will shift much of the responsibility for juvenile prostitutes from the criminal justice system to the foster care system.
Of the 174 juveniles arrested on prostitution-related charges in Los Angeles County in 2010, 59% were in the foster care system, according to Probation Department data. The department has launched initiatives to address the issue of sex trafficking, including running prevention workshops in juvenile halls.
But underage sex workers may no longer fall under the Probation Department’s jurisdiction.
Proposition 35, which imposes tougher penalties on pimps, also includes language that decriminalizes prostitution for minors caught up in the trade — although there is debate about the effects of that change. But officials fear that greater numbers of young people involved in prostitution will become the responsibility of the county Department of Children and Family Services. Department director Philip Browning said his agency was ‘really unprepared at this point’ to handle such an influx.
Browning and others said the department was not empowered to keep children in group homes and other placements against their will and can’t prevent them from running away. Emilio I. Mendoza, a children services’ program manager, said many young sex workers fear they will be punished by their pimps if they don’t leave foster homes when they have an opportunity do so.
‘These kids see themselves as having no way out unless they’re in a secure setting,’ he said.
Probation camps and juvenile halls provide that security. But advocates say the criminal justice system is not the proper setting for young victims of abuse and coercion.
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