Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act explained

Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act
Fullname:	To prevent and address sex trafficking of youth in foster care.
Introduced In The:	113th
Sponsored By:	Rep. David G. Reichert (R, WA-8)
Number Of Co-Sponsors:	16
Sections Affected:	,,,,, and others.
Agenciesaffected:	Social Security Administration, United States Congress, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Health and Human Services
Introducedin:	House
Introducedby:	David Reichert (R–WA) and Lloyd Doggett (D-TX)
Introduceddate:	February 14, 2014
Committees:	United States House Committee on Ways and Means

The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act is a bill introduced in the 113th Congress. The bill would require states to take action to address the problem of sex trafficking of foster care children.^[1]

Major provisions

If enacted, the bill would (1) Require states to identify and report child sex trafficking victims; (2) Improve data collection; (3) Require states to create standards to give foster parents more flexibility in raising foster children; (4) Prohibit states from designating long-term foster care as the ultimate goal for children in foster care, instead attempting to place the children in permanent homes; (5) Give foster children more input in their own case plans.

The bill also would require states to make sure that foster children over aged 14 have a Social Security card, birth certificate and medical records.^[2]

Legislative history

The bill was originally introduced by Republican Congressman Dave Reichert of Washington and Democratic Congressman Lloyd Doggett of Texas. Fifteen additional Members of Congress signed onto the bill as original cosponsors including Congressmen Vern Buchanan, Tim Griffin and Jim Renacci.^{[3] [4]}

On October 23, 2013, the House Human Resources Subcommittee held a hearing on sex trafficking of youth in foster care. Witnesses who testified at the hearing included members of Congress, activists for the issue, and a victim of trafficking.^[5] On December 20, 2013, the subcommittee wrote and publicized a draft bill.

The American Bar Association, American Public Human Services Association, and National Indian Child Welfare Association responded to the subcommittee's request for public comments with suggestions to improve the bill.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Similar bills were introduced in Congress in 2013:

• S. 1118: Child Sex Trafficking Data and Response Act of 2013 introduced by Senators Ron Wyden and Rob Portman.^{[9] [10]}
• S. 1870: Supporting At-Risk Children Act introduced by Senator Max Baucus^[11]
• S. 1518: Improving Outcomes for Youth At Risk for Sex Trafficking Act of 2013 introduced by Senator Orrin Hatch,^[12] parts of which were included in the Supporting At-Risk Children Act^[13]

Prostitution link

Some media coverage of the bill highlighted the link between sex trafficking victims and prostitution. For example, in its coverage of the bill, the Sky Valley Chronicle, an online newspaper covering East Snohomish County, Washington, said that sex trafficking has reached "epidemic levels" in certain areas of the world, and that anyone engaged in prostitution under age 18 in the U.S. is considered a victim of sex trafficking.^[14]

In a blog post, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote, "The legislation is an implicit admission that a lot of the prostitution enforcement that [Congressman] Reichert used to do with the King County Sheriffs Office was misguided."

Seattle's local CBS TV station, KIRO, noted in an article on its website that Reichert was a detective during the murder spree of "Green River killer" Gary Ridgway, and that many of the victims were prostitutes and runaways.^[15]

See also

• List of bills in the 113th United States Congress

Further reading

• Academic articles
  • Bump, Micah; Duncan, Julianne; Gozdziak, Elzbieta; MacDonnell, Margaret. "Second Conference on Identifying and Serving Child Victims of Trafficking", International Migration, Volume 43, Issue 1-2 (January 2005)
  • Fong, Rowena; Cardoso, Jodi Berger. "Child human trafficking victims: Challenges for the child welfare system". Evaluation and Program Planning (August 2010)
  • McClain, Natalie; Garrity, Stacy. "Sex Trafficking and the Exploitation of Adolescents". Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, Volume 40, Issue 2, p. 243-252 (March/April 2011)
• Agencies and organizations
  • AMBER Alert
  • Child Quest International
  • Child Welfare Information Gateway
  • National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
  • National Center for Youth Law
  • Polly Klaas Foundation
• Congressional hearings
  • "Protecting Vulnerable Children: Preventing and Addressing Sex Trafficking of Youth in Foster Care" (Testimony submitted by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children)
  • Video of House Subcommittee on Human Resources hearing on sex trafficking (C-SPAN), October 2013
  • Witness list and links to all testimony, Hearing on Preventing and Addressing Sex Trafficking of Youth in Foster Care, House Subcommittee on Human Resources, October 2013
• Fact sheets
  • Human Trafficking (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime)
  • Fact Sheet: Foster Care and Human Trafficking (CAS Research and Education)
• Legislation information
  • Bill summary and status (THOMAS)
  • H.R. 4058 bill tracking (GovTrack)

Notes and References

1. http://waysandmeans.house.gov/uploadedfiles/preventing_trafficking_summary.pdf Summary of the “Preventing Sex Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act”
2. Connelly, Joel. "Child sex trafficking: Where Congress should work together". Seattle Post-Intelligencer blog, 2014-02-13 (Retrieved 2014-02-19)
3. http://waysandmeans.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=369942 "Reichert, Doggett, Introduce Bill to Prevent Child Sex Trafficking"
4. http://riponadvance.com/news/bill-prevent-child-sex-trafficking-improve-foster-care/6642 "Bill would prevent child sex trafficking, improve foster care"
5. http://www.c-span.org/video/?315816-1/foster-care-sex-trafficking "Foster Care and Sex Trafficking"
6. http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/uncategorized/GAO/2014jan15_sextraffickingh_l.authcheckdam.pdf Letter to Chairman Camp and Ranking Member Levin
7. http://www.aphsa.org/content/dam/aphsa/pdfs/Actions/Comment%20Letters/APHSA%20Response%20to%20Ways%20and%20Means%20Draft%20Proposal.pdf Letter to Members of the Ways and Means Committee
8. http://www.nicwa.org/government/documents/NICWACommentsPreventingChildSexTraffickingAct.pdf Comments regarding House Ways and Means Committee draft legislation addressing child sex trafficking and other child welfare purposes
9. http://www.wyden.senate.gov/download/?id=e495e784-6ebc-426c-b88d-205f0e498ec9 The Child Sex Trafficking Data and Response Act of 2013
10. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1118 S. 1118: Child Sex Trafficking Data and Response Act of 2013
11. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1870 S. 1870: Supporting At-Risk Children Act
12. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/s1518/text S. 1518: Improving Outcomes for Youth At Risk for Sex Trafficking Act of 2013
13. http://riponadvance.com/news/hatch-praises-bill-protecting-risk-children/5934 "Hatch praises bill protecting at-risk children"
14. http://www.skyvalleychronicle.com/BREAKING-NEWS/CONGRESSMAN-DAVE-REICHERT-TO-ANNOUNCE-NEW-LEGISLATION-TO-COMBAT-SEX-TRAFFICKING-1635932 "Congressman Dave Reichert to Announce New Legislation to Combat Sex Trafficking"
15. Clancy, Amy. "Congressman Reichert proposing bill to end sex trafficking of foster children". KIRO-TV CBS station, 2014-02-13 (Retrieved 2014-02-19)