Athens-Clarke County STAR Task Force Meeting Summary

A word on this week’s blog:

Three weeks ago the ACC STAR Task Force hosted a panel in our weekly meeting to inform Breaking the Shackles members about how they operate. This blog details that meeting and includes key terms, common misconceptions, and protocols for when survivors are identified.

On Thursday, September 17, at 6:30 P.M. Breaking the Shackles hosted a guest panel presented by the Athens-Clarke County Sex Trafficking Awareness and Response task force. The ACC STAR task force is a multi-disciplinary group of agencies working together to identify and monitor trafficking, ensure survivors receive access to services, and provide coordinated investigative response to trafficking. They gave a presentation on human trafficking key terms, misconceptions, and protocols. 

Four STAR task force executive committee members were on the call and included Dr. Deanna Walters (Research & Assessment), Kacey Long (Survivor Advocacy), Professor Emma Hetherington (Policy & Legislation), and Sergeant Shannon Parker (Law Enforcement & Prosecution). Dr. Walters serves as faculty in the UGA College of Public Health’s Department of Health Promotion & Behavior, Long has a Master of Social Work and serves as LGBTQ Coordinator, Sex Trafficking Coordinator, & Adult Advocate at The Cottage, Sexual Assault Center & Children’s Advocacy Center, Prof. Hetherington serves as an Assistant Clinical Professor of the UGA School of Law and Director of the Wilbanks Child Endangerment and Sexual Exploitation Clinic, and Sgt. Shannon Parker serves as Supervisor of the Sex Crime and Crimes Against Children Unit / Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit of the ACC Police Department.  

At the start of the presentation, they provided key terms that are important context for the content discussed. 

CSEC: Commercial sexual exploitation of children; child is anyone under the age of 18.

Survivor v. Victim: Prof. Emma Hetherington explained that, from her experience in the legal field, the terms “survivor” and “victim” may be used interchangeably. While she prefers to use the term “survivor” because it denotes a sense of empowerment, the use of “victim” is the predominantly used term in certain areas of legal advocacy, such as when talking with law enforcement and prosecutors. Additionally, while some people who have been trafficked consider themselves as “survivors,” others prefer the term “victim” or to not have any label at all.

Trafficking: The use of force, fraud, or coercion to gain some type of labor or commercial sex act. (Force doesn’t have to be physically violent; often starts with romantic partners.) For someone under the age 18, force, fraud, or coercion do not have to be present.

Commercial: An exchange of a commodity, not necessarily money.  

Survival sex: Commercial transaction, often in situations of homelessness, when a victim is in need of shelter, resources, or other commodity and someone uses them for sexual activity. This is considered exploitation regardless of motive, especially in child cases, as they cannot consent to sex for any reason when under 18.

They then provided common misconceptions about human trafficking and clarified their meaning. Three of those are as follows:

“People being trafficked want my help to escape.” 

Prof. Hetherington explained that often survivors do not see themselves as trafficking victims. When working with survivors, advocates should mirror the language that the survivor uses when referring to their experience so they know that you are not passing any judgment or making assumptions about their life. For example, if the survivor refers to their trafficker as their “boyfriend,” the advocate should not correct them and refer to the trafficker as the boyfriend, as well. Also keep in mind that not every survivor is ready or willing to be “saved.” Every survivor is different. Some may be seeking to leave the life, some may be too afraid to leave, and others may not want to leave.

“If a survivor can just be rescued and taken back home, they’ll be safe.”

Sgt. Shannon Parker addressed this misconception: “Children often find themselves in a situation of exploitation in an attempt to escape hard situations at home.” 

“Young, white, middle class girls are targeted to be trafficked.”

Dr. Deanna Walters shed light on this misconception by saying, “This is not to say young, white, middle class girls cannot be trafficked, it just isn’t the majority. We need to address systemic problems that pertain to the trafficking world.” The majority of young people who are trafficked domestically in the U.S. are ethnic and sexual minority (LGBTQ) populations and are often from lower socio-economic status areas or from families of dysfunction and abuse. If people have a misconception about who is being trafficked and why, they will be looking in the wrong place to find them. That’s why it’s so important to understand and correctly identify who trafficking and exploitation happens to.

They then took us through the process of what happens when a survivor is identified concerning CSEC protocols, Adult protocols, and Dependency protocols. 

CSEC- Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children 

Before getting into the protocols, here is a brief explanation of The Cottage, Sexual Assault Center and Children’s Advocacy Center. It is a vital part of the process to bring children survivors advocacy and support. In the words of Kacey Long, “The Cottage started off as a sexual assault center with a group of women who ran a 24/7 hotline in a basement.” The center evolved and now functions as a dual agency. The Cottage now provides crisis response, accompaniment advocacy, support groups, and individual counseling referrals. As it pertains to trafficking, they provide advocacy services to adults and conduct forensic interviews with children in non-intimidating ways that make the child feel as comfortable and open as possible. 

Sgt. Parker praised The Cottage in saying, “ACCPD works with The Cottage a lot. Most detectives are there to get facts and identify a situation, so we usually do not have time to be as empathetic as we would like to be.” For Parker, it is comforting to know an advocate is there to take care of the necessary emotional and psychological needs of the children. 

When CSEC is involved, he explained that, “with children, no proof is needed for force, fraud, or coercion involved— exchange of commodity for sex is illegal no matter what the circumstances provide.” Patrol will answer a call and if they suspect a trafficking scenario and a sex crimes detective is brought in. Detectives in special victims’ unit are called in and a child is typically transferred to the family protection center, DFCS is contacted, and the Cottage hotline is called to dispatch an advocate. 

Once the Cottage is called, steps are then taken based on if the survivor is taken into custody by the Division of Family and Children Service. If the survivor is not taken into custody by DFCS, they will have a police officer stay with the child until a safe guardian arrives, or if the survivor is hospitalized. They are usually only hospitalized when a 1013 occurs: if someone is expressing homicidal or suicidal ideation. 

Adults- 

For adults, however, it is not as common for survivors to prosecute because a lot of shame is involved, and their past might be brought up to invalidate their reports against the person who exploited them. If they have delinquent behavior, they may even be blamed for their trafficking situation. This is also often true for children who are trafficked or exploited, particularly if they are ethnic minorities. Young Black girls are often viewed as more promiscuous and as having played a role in their own exploitation, even if their situation is the same as a girl who is white.

Therefore, for adults the focus remains on what the survivor needs; the main difference between adult survivors and CSEC survivors is that adults are not required to report to police if they aren’t interested in doing so. Long stated that at the Cottage, their “main objective is to figure out what they need, empower that, and provide appropriate resources.” The main areas of need include food, housing, and transportation, with hotels being a common place for some survivors to stay for a night or two, unless a hotel was the site of the trafficking or exploitation.” 

Prof. Hetherington mentioned that some survivors have filed civil lawsuits against hotels because they are more comfortable with pursuing a civil case rather than testify against their trafficker in a criminal proceeding. Survivors may fear being threatened, harmed, or killed for going against their trafficker in court. Also, civil lawsuits may be an easier way to seek justice because of a lower standard of proof, whereas criminal cases require a higher standard of proof and not all evidence is admissible in court.

Dependency protocol-

Dependency protocols are put into place when a survivor needs to depend on the state in their situation. 

All children in the state of Georgia when brought into foster care are given an attorney, and that is Prof. Hetherington’s role in the system; she ensures her clients receive appropriate services and that their rights are protected. She explains, “I explain the court process to my clients, regardless of their age. Most of the time, no one tells children why they’re in court or warns them about the worst case scenarios.” 

Overwhelmingly, many survivors end up in behavioral facilities because courts misunderstand that underlying trauma results in behavioral problems. 

At the end of the day, ACC STAR task force members aim to make sure every voice is heard in the system, even if they cannot take away from what has happened. Prof. Hetherington closed by saying, “Survivors are told how to dress, what to eat, and there are lots of things they don’t have agency over. Therefore, my job is to tell them they have choices and to empower them.” 

For more information and resources, their email is ACCSTARTaskForce@gmail.com.