1. Supporting teens and young adults involved in trading sex for
money or survival
What you can do to support youth who are at risk, currently involved or recently out of the sex trades

2. Goals Know key terms and definitions
Hear positive ways to support youth with life experience in the sex trades and youth who are close to it
Learn where to find resources
Focus: Youth years old with behavioral health challenges including substance use
My connection and expertise

3. Good news!
Wisconsin is making significant progress addressing sex trafficking of youth
Youth want resources and look for meaningful assistance
You will have opportunities to be helpful across the spectrum of youth experiences

4. Trafficking of a child
“Whoever knowingly recruits, entices, provides, obtains, harbors, transports, patronizes, or solicits or knowingly attempts to recruit, entice, provide, obtain, harbor, transport, patronize, or solicit any child for the purpose of commercial sex acts.”
Only for 17 and under
No force, fraud or coercion needed
Note patronizes or solicits

5. Human Trafficking
Recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining, or attempting to”...using force, fraud or coercion “for the purposes of labor or services or a commercial sex act” and benefits in any manner from a violation...if the person knows or reasonably should have known that the benefits come from or are derived from an act or scheme described in par. (a).
Note prostitution statute   Prostitution.
(1m) Any person who intentionally does any of the following is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor:
(a) Has or offers to have or requests to have nonmarital sexual intercourse for anything of value.
(b) Commits or offers to commit or requests to commit an act of sexual gratification, in public or in private, involving the sex organ of one person and the mouth or anus of another for anything of value.
(c) Is an inmate of a place of prostitution.
(d) Masturbates a person or offers to masturbate a person or requests to be masturbated by a person for anything of value.
(e) Commits or offers to commit or requests to commit an act of sexual contact for anything of value.
What counts as force fraud or coercion
a. Causing or threatening to cause bodily harm to any individual.
b. Causing or threatening to cause financial harm to any individual.
c. Restraining or threatening to restrain any individual.
d. Violating or threatening to violate a law.
e. Destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or possessing, or threatening to, any actual or purported passport or any other actual or purported official identification document of any individual.
f. Extortion.
g. Fraud or deception.
h. Debt bondage.
i. Controlling or threatening to control any individual's access to an addictive controlled substance.
j. Using any scheme, pattern, or other means to directly or indirectly coerce, threaten, or intimidate any individual.
k. Using or threatening to use force or violence on any individual.
L. Causing or threatening to cause any individual to do any act against the individual's will or without the individual's consent

6. Youth definition of the sex trades
Trading sex or sexual stuff for money, gifts, drugs, survival needs for yourself or people you care about, including exotic dancing, survival sex, escorting, street work, working chat lines or party buses, having a sugar daddy or going from city to city.
Sometimes you get to keep the money or resources. Sometimes someone else keeps part or all of it. Sometimes other people can arrange it or connect you. Sometimes you make the connection on your own.
Youth definitions are vital
Not all involvement legally counts as exploitation for a young adult
One more hustle, not necessarily an identity

7. Different experiences
Not everyone gets immersed in exploitation; some experiences are confined to one weekend
Not everyone reacts the same way
National research finding as many young men as young women exchanging sex for money or survival.
Trafficking not the same thing as sex work
Aging out of care accelerates risk
Adult experiences different than minors, minors have less options, less life experience
Length of time, personal connections, early starts, type of sex trade, perception of control, actual control

8. Support before any involvement or exploitation
Many risk factors can be changed or reduced
Respond to youth in need with practical resources and unbiased support
Talk openly about what youth have heard or are getting promised

9. Activity!
Trying out the new Wisconsin Child Sex Trafficking Indicator tool and the new national Adult Human Trafficking Assessment tool

10. Support during involvement or exploitation
Access to healthcare
Outreach, drop-in support, low threshold services
Reduce isolation
Ask how they see their experiences
Safety, options and support
don’t focus on how you see their experiences
Ask what they do to take care of themselves

11. Support during the exit process or moving forward
Change process takes time.
Start with needs they identify; show what you can offer
Building circle/network of support - can’t do it alone!
Why do youth exit - argument, fed with fake people, boring, the money changes, they get a regular job, someone who controls or encourages them goes to jail

12. What makes for an effective resource
Respecting youth in what they want and how they see themselves
Nonjudgmental
Support in the long term
Many youth want to connect with people with similar life experiences

13. Suggested kinds of resources to know
Anti-violence advocacy
Job programs
Alternative education programs
Healthcare
LGBTQ support
Shelters and independent living
Obtaining identification
Tattoo removal or cover-up

14. Wisconsin resources
Wisconsin Department of Children and Families Anti-Human Trafficking Initiatives
Wisconsin DOJ Crime Victim Services information on human trafficking
National Human Trafficking Hotline Resource Directory

15. New WI specialized resources
Collaborative Rapid Advocacy for Youth (CRAY) craymke.org
More Regional Hubs
DCF awareness campaign

16. Research to learn more
Center for Court Innovation - Youth Involvement in the Sex Trade: A National Study:
Young Women’s Empowerment Project - Girls Do What They Have to Do to Survive; Illuminating Methods Used by Girls in the Sex Trade and Street Economies to Fight Back and Heal survive-a-study-of-resilience-and-resistance.pdf

17. Goals we accomplished today
You know a few key terms and definitions
You heard positive ways to support youth with life experience in the sex trades and youth who are close to it
You learned where to find resources
Mention other positive results

18. Questions and discussion
Contact information:
Claudine O’Leary
Funding for this conference was made possible by NITT-HT grant, CFDA from SAMHSA.  The views expressed in written conference materials or publications and by speakers and moderators do not necessarily reflect the official policies of the Department of Health and Human Services; nor does mention of trade names, commercial practices, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.