CYFD workers learn to identify sex trafficking
CYFD chief: Child prostitution case raises ‘urgency’ of training
The recent high-profile case of a 7-yearold girl who was being prostituted by relatives “increased the sense of urgency” to make sure that Children, Youth and Families Department workers get training in how to recognize sex trafficking involving children,
CYFD Cabinet Secretary Monique Jacobson said Thursday.
The department, she said, has developed a comprehensive training program with input from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, AG offices in other states and information from groups with expertise on the topic.
“Unfortunately in the work we do with our Protective Services and Juvenile Jus-
tice divisions, we are often likely to encounter children who may be the victims of sex trafficking,” Jacobson said.
A group of CYFD workers was being trained in Albuquerque on Thursday, and over the next two weeks training sessions will be held in Roswell, Farmington, Santa Fe and Las Vegas. Ultimately, more than 1,000 CYFD employees will undergo the mandatory training.
The new training program, in development since last fall, is intended to dispel common myths about child sex trafficking and give CYFD employees “the tools and information about the red flags to look out for as they work with this vulnerable population,” she said.
In the case of the 7-year-old child, there were multiple referrals to CYFD over many years about her and her two older brothers, and only one could be substantiated. It concerned welts and bruises seen on one of the brothers.
“A lot of things we have seen in the past may have been masking much darker things that were going on under the surface,” Jacobson said. “I spent a lot of time with incarcerated girls and young women and it was eye-opening to me as to how prevalent sex trafficking is in our communities.” Even so, it is still greatly under-reported, she said.
“What we want our workers to know is that it’s not always obvious. Sex traffickers are really good at hiding what they’re doing so we need to look further under the surface for the red flags.”
Red flags may include teenage girls who have “boyfriends” who are in their 30s, 40s or older. “We have also seen quite a few boys who are victims of sex trafficking,” Jacobson said.
The training session agenda includes topics such as changing the language used to describe and define sex trafficking and its victims; identifying the victims; examining the trauma that sex trafficking inflicts; and reasons why victims often stay in the situation.
“We need to change the words used to reinforce the false narrative that children are doing this by choice, and shift the language to show that these children are being victimized,” whether it’s in exchange for drugs, money or even food, Jacobson said.
Complicating the situation for CYFD field workers is that “oftentimes children don’t disclose what’s going on because they may have close ties or even love the people who are exploiting them, so it makes it difficult for us to get these disclosures,” Jacobson said.