Texas has hired its first ever director of human trafficking prevention

Earlier this year, the Tribune’s Sold Out series examined how state policies — including a severely underfunded child welfare system — failed to help child sex-trafficking victims. Since then, lawmakers set aside a budget increase of more than $500 million for the foster care system, and the governor’s office approved new funds for trafficking prevention initiatives — which includes the state's first-ever Director of Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation.

More >> Texas has hired its first ever director of human trafficking prevention

LK Report for 8/26/17 - Don't pimp out the foster child!

Here are today's headlines.  

Check back later.  You never know when I might update this post.

http://www.LegallyKidnapped.com

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Early in March, Felicia Hickson seemed to be unraveling. She complained of hearing helicopters overhead. Neighbors saw her standing in the open window of her North Philadelphia home looking up at the sky. She also had been using drugs, again.

More >> DHS took away two of her kids. She jumped from a window with the third in her arms.

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Most foster parents will tell you that saying goodbye to a foster child is one of the hardest parts of being a foster parent. And as hard as this process is for you, it’s also an emotional and confusing one for your foster child, but there are a few things you can do to help with the transition.

More >> How Can I Help My Foster Child Reunite With Birth Parents?

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For years we've been keeping an eye on Florida’s foster care system, a system where kids can too easily get lost in the paperwork.

More >> Lawsuit alleges agencies failed to mention foster teen's past

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California is moving forward with a pair of initiatives designed to increase its supply of foster parents while grappling with sweeping reforms to its foster care system.

More >> Needing Foster Homes, California Seeks to Relax Rules on Criminal Convictions

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MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. - Three people were arrested Thursday for trying to pimp out a 16-year-old foster child in southwest Miami-Dade, authorities said.

More >> 3 accused of trying to pimp out foster child in southwest Miami-Dade

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The state of New York scattered my sister, my three brothers and me to what seemed like the four corners of the earth when my mother went to prison. Incarceration has been a family affliction — my mother followed in her mother’s footsteps, and my brother Sequan Prude followed her. Mom struggles to this day to bring us together.

More >> America must do more to help family members of incarcerated

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When the Tobiassons believed their 6-year-old adopted son needed discipline, authorities said, they would put him in a small room in the basement, often in the pitch dark, with only a mattress and blanket.

More >> An adopted 6-year-old was locked in a basement and forced to eat carrots, police say

Runaway foster child gets forced into Trenton sex trade, 2 defendants detained

A 15-year-old foster child escaped from her group home seeking refuge at the Trenton Transit Center but soon found herself forced into prostitution as a victim of human trafficking.

More >> Runaway foster child gets forced into Trenton sex trade, 2 defendants detained

Former group home worker charged with sex trafficking 17-year-old girl

In a sting operation targeting ‘Backpage.com,’ Cranston Police and the Department of Homeland Security nabbed 27-year-old Reysean Williams for trying to sell a 17-year-old girl for sex.

More >> Former group home worker charged with sex trafficking 17-year-old girl

Prostitute picked family to adopt her baby. But there was one thing she forgot to tell them, cops say.

A Bradenton prostitute with a slew of fraud convictions faces a new fraud charge after a detectives says she claimed to be pregnant to gain financial support from an adoption agency. But she wasn’t pregnant.

More >> Prostitute picked family to adopt her baby. But there was one thing she forgot to tell them, cops say.

How hollow rhetoric and a broken child welfare system feed Texas' sex-trafficking underworld

How the crusade against sex trafficking in Texas has left child victims behind.

When Mia was 16, she walked out of a Houston children's emergency shelter. She had to go, she told the staff. Her pimp was waiting.

More >> How hollow rhetoric and a broken child welfare system feed Texas' sex-trafficking underworld

A Present for Pimps? New Loophole in Family First Act Would Bring Predators Closer to Prey

No one should be surprised. Predators go where the prey are.

But that doesn’t mean Congress should make it easier for the predators. And they will do just that, offering up a Christmas present for pimps, if it passes the latest version of the so-called Family First Act. (As this is written, such passage is unlikely, but the bill’s fortunes seem to change by the day.)

More >> A Present for Pimps? New Loophole in Family First Act Would Bring Predators Closer to Prey

Texas Lawmakers Tackle Sex Trafficking and Foster Care System

The Committee on Juvenile Justice and Family Issues and Human Services held a joint hearing on Monday revealing that there is a connection between sex and human trafficking and the state's foster care system.

More >> Texas Lawmakers Tackle Sex Trafficking and Foster Care System

Lawmakers to tackle human trafficking-foster care connection

Monday, lawmakers at the capitol will tackle a growing issue in Texas, sex and human trafficking. Child advocates say a common victim are children in and out of the Texas foster care system.

More >> Lawmakers to tackle human trafficking-foster care connection

Foster mother, other women charged for promoting prostitution of teenager

A foster mother and two other women face charges for allegedly promoting prostitution. Police say they forced a teenage girl in their care to prostitute herself to help them pay the bills.

More >> Foster mother, other women charged for promoting prostitution of teenager

• A teenage girl says her foster mother forced her to have sex

Calif. changes laws so children can no longer be called prostitutes

Children will no longer be classified as prostitutes in California after a new law decriminalized prostitution for minors in a move praised by child rights campaigners.

More >> Calif. changes laws so children can no longer be called prostitutes

Four Oakland Police Officers Fired In Bay Area Teen Prostitute Scandal

A total of 12 Oakland police officers were recommended for disciplinary action stemming from allegations that a teenage prostitute traded sex for money and tips from cops to avoid being arrested.

More >> Four Oakland Police Officers Fired In Bay Area Teen Prostitute Scandal

Man, Woman Indicted for Prostitution Underage Girls

A man and a woman were indicted for prostituting underage girls in Hidalgo County. The allegations stem from several incidents earlier this year.

More >> Man, Woman Indicted for Prostitution Underage Girls

Foster care children at risk for sex trafficking predators

Foster care children at risk for sex trafficking predators

January is Human Trafficking and Awareness and Prevention Month across the country. And in Austin on Wednesday, state and local agencies joined forces to learn how to better identify the signs.

Runaway teens at risk to become human trafficking victims, Florida experts say

Runaway teens at risk to become human trafficking victims, Florida experts say

A recent nationwide crackdown last week by the FBI on child sex trafficking yielded 159 arrests and freed 105 children ? nearly all girls between 13 and 17 ? but experts say it's the tip of the iceberg.

Child Sex Trafficking Victims Get More Protection

Child Sex Trafficking Victims Get More Protection

When the Texas Supreme Court ruled that children under 14 years old could not be charged with prostitution, juvenile rights advocates hailed the decision as a victory for victims of sexual violence.

But the 2010 decision produced an unintended consequence that has frustrated many law enforcement officials: It became more difficult to separate minors forced into the sex trade from their traffickers. 

U.S. jails sex-trafficked kids in human rights abuse, groups say

U.S. jails sex-trafficked kids in human rights abuse, groups say

The United States violates human rights by treating sex-trafficked children as criminals and throwing them into jail, rights groups told an international commission on Monday.

The Super Bowl is the largest human trafficking event in the country

The Super Bowl is the largest human trafficking event in the country

Last February, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot declared the Super Bowl the “single largest human trafficking incident in the U.S.”

Now, Arizona activists are looking to prevent trafficking for the sporting event this weekend.

Protecting foster kids from sex trafficking

Protecting foster kids from sex trafficking

Every month, more than 100 kids run away from foster homes throughout Washington.

Broomfield man accused of using foster child as prostitute

Broomfield man accused of using foster child as prostitute

A Broomfield man has been charged with multiple crimes for allegedly using a foster child as a prostitute in exchange for cash and meth.