Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking

of Youth

Trainer’s Manual

1st edition

Spring, 2015

Leslie Briner, MSW

Acknowledgements

The development of this training curriculum represents years of planning, development and advocacy. Over the past 10 years people have started asking questions and initiating processes to evaluate the presence of this issue in their communities. One such group of people in Seattle, WA, fought for a program to serve sexually exploited youth at a time when people were incredulous to learn this happens in the city where they live. City Councilman Tim Burgess, Terri Kimball, Debra Boyer, Betsy Graff, and Seattle Times Reporter Sara Jean Green played pivotal roles that made this idea a reality, amidst harsh obstacles. We owe in large part the mere existence of this training and the programs that support youth to the vision, courage and tenacity of these and other champions.

YouthCare’s Bridge Continuum of Services would not bepossible without the generous assistance of numerous funders including Stolen Youth, City of Seattle, King County, United Way, The Starfish Foundation,Soroptomists, and the Gates Foundation among others.

The Center for Children and Youth Justice (CCYJ), founded by retired State Supreme Court Justice, Bobbe Bridge, developed Project Respect, a multi-system, state-wide model protocol to respond to commercially sexually exploited children which is fundamentally changing the landscape of responses to and services for sexually exploited youth. As part of that effort, the King County CSEC Task Force was created. Chaired by Judge Barbara Mack, the CSEC Task Force has obtained federal funding that directly supports the creation of this Trainer’s Manual as well as several other projects vital to this work.

None of this would be possible without the staff and Board of Directors of YouthCare. The dedication of staff and leadership working in these programs is extraordinary. They are the ones with the challenging task of building relationships, managing crisis, working long hours and advocating amidst discrimination and turmoil. The staff are the ones who often “take it home at night” when someone says the child they are caring for is “worthless” or “beyond help”. They know better, they care, they put one foot in front of the other, and that makes all the difference.

One final acknowledgement goes to the youth, the ones who have survived and moved on and those still waiting for an open door and a kind word. Their resiliency, courage, and survival skills should be a lesson to all of us about the enduring will to live and love and carry on. Their stories are what keep us moving forward, working for justice, and striving to develop better responses and a more compassionate world.

VERSION HISTORY

Version
Number / Implemented
By / Revision
Date / Approved
By / Approval
Date / Description of
Change
1.0 / Leslie Briner / 5/15/2015 / First draft

FORWARD

This Trainer’s Manual and training program are designed to increase the number of trainers who are prepared to deliver the Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking of Youth Training in communities across Washington State and beyond. The purpose is to provide standardized, comprehensive, and consistent training on the topic of sexual exploitation and trafficking of youth, and a sustainable method to ensure there are trainers available. In reports and research on this topic, the need for broad-based training is consistently cited as necessary to improveidentification of and responses to sexually exploited youth. This training supports individuals and organizations to become experts in their own regions, using this foundational material and developing relationships, examples, and knowledge about the local context.

Background and Scope

Participants of the Training Program are expected to follow the guidelines and expectations outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), a draft version of which can be found in Appendix X.

Authorship and Primary Points of Contact:

YouthCare is the primary author of this Trainer’s Manual. It was written and designed by Leslie Briner, Sexual Exploitation Training and Policy Coordinator.

This work is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, Grant #90CA1825. For more information please contact, Kelly Mangiaracina, King County CSEC Task Force Coordinator and Grant #90CA1825 Program Manager.

Center for Children and Youth Justice (CCJY) is responsible for supporting the statewide distribution of this program through the regional protocol task forces. For more information please contact, Nicholas Oakley, Project Respect Program Manager.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  1. Introduction5
  1. Training Preparation 6
  2. Adult Learning Theory6
  3. Guiding Values and Principles6
  4. Preparing the Space7
  5. Language, Terminology, Tone and Presence7

Appendix A: Description of Interventions10

Appendix B: Memorandum of Agreement13

Appendix C: Resource List17

Appendix D: Glossary19

Appendix E: Safety Planning20

Appendix F: Activity- Language23

Appendix G: Activity- Making Connections25

Appendix H: Harm Reduction Strategies28

Appendix I: Trauma Informed Approaches30

Appendix J: Case Studies31

Appendix K: Sample Training Agenda33

Appendix L: Training Evaluation34

Appendix M: Sample Sign-in Sheet42

Appendix N: Frequently Asked Questions43

I: Introduction

How to use this manual:

The Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking of Youth Training isdesigned for approximately 12-60 participants for trainings ranging 2-14 hours in length. (See Appendix K: Sample Training Agenda).

This manual follows the scope and sequence for training delivery. Each section identifies the section objective time frame, materials needed, and outlines content delivery and activities. PowerPoint slides and training notes are embedded within.

Who can use this manual:

  • People who have completed the entire Trainer’s Training
  • People who agree to use the Training as proscribed including:
  • Using the content as designed in scope and sequence
  • Consulting with Leslie Briner at YouthCare, or another YouthCare representative, if requesting a content modification
  • Participating in the University of Washington evaluation of this training program and administer pre/post test evaluation instrument
  • Delivering at least three trainings per year by request

Evaluation Expectations:

This training and the evaluation of the training by the University of Washington is funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau, Grant #90CA1825. At all trainings, of more than 2.5 hours in length, all facilitators will be expected to deliver a pre test, before the training begins and a post test at the end of the training. In order to minimize time and burden on the facilitator and evaluators, an online, smart phone compatible version of the survey has been developed so there will be options for training participants to 1) complete the pre-survey prior to training (hence preserving training time), and 2) complete the survey using their phone rather than pencil-and-paper. This will help us save on data entry costs and effort, and may also provide real-time summary feedback to the trainers, which extensive research has established is more effective at shaping behavior than delayed feedback.

II: Training Preparation

Adult Learning Theory

Adult Learning Theory principles are imbedded throughout this manual. Knowing how to work with adult learners is essential to effective transfer of learning and skill development. Trainers are facilitators of learning. Keep these key practices in mind:

  • Prepare. Recommended preparation time is 3 hours for every 1 training hour. Be well acquainted with the material. Make notes and use highlighters for areas you wish to stress.
  • Establish a climate conducive to learning and model the values and attitudes you intend to convey (empathic and nonjudgmental, see next section for more description).
  • Speak up, stand tall, monitor pace.
  • Use your own words; while keeping to the objectives, scope and sequence; create a space for your style, stories and wisdom.
  • Reference the course Objectives to offer a context and mindset for the audience.
  • Encourage learners to create their own learning objectives
  • Encourage learners to identify and use multiple resources to accomplish their objectives
  • Make use of the experimental learning opportunities. Do not allow your concern for time to compete with the audience’s learning needs. The audience will need to move, interact, and engage in multiple learning styles.
  • Demonstrate your credibility:
  • If you do not know an answer to a question, don’t make one up
  • Raise questions about the information provided
  • Cite references and studies.
  • Invite dialog, questions, and discussion from participants

This is a difficult, emotionally charged, and evolving field. It is recommended that, in addition to the standard preparation noted above, that you also be reflective and proactive in your charge as a trainer:

  • Reflective: Explore your personal values about the sex trades, the people who participate in it and how it functions socially and culturally. It is difficult to lead a group through a process of self-awareness. The trainer will need to have clarified their own values so that they may model the way.
  • Proactive:Stay abreast of current events and studies related to the field. Bring local data to your presentations. Read and learn about the differing perspectives about the sex trades so that you feel knowledge and confident in your ability to respond to questions and comments from participants.

Guiding Values and Principles

•Maintain a Compassionate and Non-judgmental attitude at all times. The practice of Empathy for all people asks us to be with individuals who are suffering. We are not to judge them or act for them, but to serve as an ally and a sounding board to support people in their own liberation.

•Self-determination: People empower themselves, we are here to support.

•Relationship Is the Intervention: Building transformational relationships, where we have earned the right to hear youth’s experiences, should be the foundation for any intervention or response.

•Cultural Humility: Be sensitive to the unique cultural norms and experiences of each person. All people need to be aware of their own privilege, beliefs, biases, and cultural worldviews.

Preparing the Space

Trainings are delivered in many different places. Prior to the training date, make sure that the room you are presenting in has the necessary technology required for your presentation (screen, projector, computer, speakers, andwifi or internet access). Before beginning the training, locate the restrooms and any other “housekeeping” type information that you will need to share with participants.

If possible, arrange the space so that people sit around tables in small groups (5-8 at a table is good). This facilitates communication and creates built in “small groups” for activities or discussions.

Language, Terminology, Tone and Presence

This is a difficult subject to teach about for several reasons. First, and most significantly, it contains traumatic content about the chronic and systematized sexual abuse of young and vulnerable people, for profit. Second, it’s “a very old issue with a new name”. People have complicated feelings and responses to learning that maybe prostitution isn’t the “victimless crime” among “consenting adults” that the broader culture and media report it to be. Additionally, there is a high level of disgust and shock that, until very recently, youth as young as twelve were routinely arrested for the “crime” of prostitution while the adults that purchased sexual acts from them, walked away without any legal consequences. People who attend this training will be learning not just difficult information, but content that is likely to challenge their broader belief systems, and this can be uncomfortable. Facilitators need to be able to hold space for some of that discomfort and create training environments that encourage openness and dialogue.

Language and Terminology:

There are many terms currently used to describe this issue including: commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST), prostituted youth, juvenile prostitution, and ‘the life’. Each of these terms refer to the same phenomenon but vary slightly in what they imply or how they are attached to specific groups or efforts. Most recently, the language of sex trafficking or DMST has gained popularity; however, it should be understood that sex trafficking has a specific legal definition. According to the federal definition, trafficking is, “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age.”

After careful consideration, we decided to prioritize the term ‘sexual exploitation’ for two reasons. First, the terms CSEC, DMST, and prostituted youth can imply girls controlled by pimps or traffickers. Therefore, those terms may limit our understanding and victim-identification to a smaller group (pimp-controlled girls), thereby neglecting to recognize or consider boys, transgender,and gender variant youth, victims exploited by family members, or gangs, youth who are independent in the sex trade, or runaway/homeless youth engaging in survival sex. Second, as this movement continues to evolve it is likely that some phrases will come in and out of use. Sexual exploitation is the broadest and least restrictive language and as such, will be inclusive of all youth victimized through the trading of sex for money or survival, and will be able to stand the test of time.

Person-first language:

Person first language asks us to frame experiences that people have as experiences or dynamics in their lives instead of as a descriptor for the whole person. Example: youth living in foster care instead of “foster youth”; youth experiencing trafficking or youth in the sex trades instead of sex trafficked youth; people experiencing homelessness instead of homeless people; individuals in the LGBTQ community instead of LGBTQ individuals.

This approach to language, in many cases, does require a few more words; however, it demonstrates that people are not the sum of one experience. This is a significant issue for people in the sex trades, especially those that do choose to publically identify as survivors. Often survivors are tokenized and asked to “speak for all survivors” and “tell their stories”. While it is only one strategy, utilizing person first language does allow us to re-center on the actual person instead of one (or more) of their experiences.

Gender neutral language:

This Training Manual recommends use of language that is as gender neutral as possible. It is true that the context surrounding sexual exploitation is certainly intersected with gender and that statistically cisgender and transgender girls and women are disproportionately impacted by sexual exploitation and trafficking. However, boys and gender variant people are also impacted by the sex trades; and, when the default for victim/survivors is always “she or her” we risk excluding boys or gender variant youth as potential victim/survivors. Similarly, when the default for pimps and buyers is male pronouns we risk ignoring that women sometimes do play roles in promoting or facilitating trafficking and may be involved in purchasing commercial sex. Some ways to consider more gender neutral language include:

  • Rather than defaulting to a single pronoun, attempt to use the phrase, “she, he, or they”.
  • Just default to “they” instead of “he or she”.
  • Use “buyer” instead of “john” to refer to the buyers of sex;
  • Use “trafficker or 3rd party exploiter” in addition to (or instead of) “pimp”. While pimps do exist, their typology and demographics have changed over the last decade. This includes the inclusion of more women involved in promoting activities, and many adults who exploit young people who would not fit the cultural profile of a pimp, including parents.
  • Make sure to include stories or examples of people of different genders and sexual orientation.

Modeling empathy and non-judgmental attitude:

One core function of this training, and our broader work, should be to increase empathy for people in the commercial sex trades. For many reasons, this is not an easy charge. This Training Manual provides comprehensive information to increase the actual concrete knowledge about the subject; but, changing attitudes is more complex than just the acquisition of new knowledge. Facilitators have a significant opportunity to model values, attitudes, and language that we want to promote (see the section on Guiding Values and Principles).

In particular, many training participants will experience, and subsequently express disgust or anger for buyers and/ortraffickers. For the facilitator, joining in emotions like disgust, frustration, or anger is certainly easy to do given the behaviors and harm caused; however, it should be handled very carefully and, when possible, avoided. It is recommended to speak clearly and knowledgably about behaviors but avoid harsh or critical language or attitudes about who they are as people. It is a trap to try and shame people like buyers or exploiters into acceptable behavior because we believe that people who harm vulnerable youth should “be ashamed”. Shame has many negative consequences, and responses that evoke shame do not, in any circumstance, improve behavior or increase empathy or connection. Shaming anyone should be avoided.