According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Reports, in 2011, 763 Juveniles

CSEC/DMST Foster Care Model Description

In collaboration with Klingberg Family Services, Justice Resources Inc. and Community Residences, Inc., the Connecticut Department of Children and Families (DCF) has created a special service model and educational curriculum complete with resource guide for foster parents. The educational curriculum, resource guide and service model are based on two overarching assumptions: 1) at risk youth and victims of sex trafficking/ commercial sexual exploitation frequently come into contact with the Connecticut foster care system; 2) if provided with education, training, and multidisciplinary support, foster families can care for and safely maintain victims and high risk youth in their homes and in the community.

The Specialized Foster Care Model for CSEC Victims and High Risk Youth is an off- shoot of the current Connecticut State Therapeutic Foster Care System and is built from and maintained through cross-agency collaboration and in-kind support. Specifically, the model uses specialized training protocols, competency benchmarks, emergency funds and concrete services such as day programming, case management services, access to emergency clinical services, and transportation from participating agencies to ensure that foster families understand and are equipped with the tools and resources needed to meet the unique needs and challenges of this special population. The model also guarantees that both prospective and active foster families are committed to accept and maintain youth in their care through all stages of the child’s recovery by requiring foster parents to sign a special Promise of Commitment.

CSEC victims and high-risk youth may be placed with a specialized foster family in an emergency, respite, or planned situation. Emergency placements can and have occurred when a victim is recovered during a police sting operation and the child's parent or legal guardian is unavailable, or when a child has been trafficked into Connecticut from another state and is awaiting return to their home state. Specialized foster families may also provide respite care to victims and high-risk youth who are in jeopardy of disrupting or running away from some other care setting, such as a group or biological family member’s home, or other residential environment. Placement with a specialized foster family may also occur under more planned circumstances, such as when a victim is working to reunify with her or his biological family, or preparing for independent living.

Cross-agency collaboration and in-kind support are the cornerstones of the model and are infused throughout a child's involvement with a specialized foster family. For example, following a recent rescue operation, the three participating agencies came together and identified four foster families who were trained and available to receive recovered victims. These families committed to being available for placement within two hours of notification, while their respective agencies agreed to meet the youth together with the prospective foster parent at the Emergency Room prior to discharge to begin building the relationship and establish trust. Such engagement strategies serve to minimize the risk that a victim will AWOL or refuse placement. In addition, the three agencies committed to share post-placement case management, daily supervision, programming and transportation across agencies and based on geographic location regardless of which agency was responsible for licensing the receiving foster family. This cross-agency CSEC/DMST Foster Care Model Description collaboration enabled victims to access services to which they would otherwise not have been eligible to receive, and to begin to form connections to a new, safe and welcoming community.

Within the model, cross-agency collaboration is broadly defined, multi-disciplinary and begins with a pre-placement safety assessment that is developed even before the child enters the home. Regardless of whether a child's entry to the home is planned, emergency, or respite, the referring foster agency provides the foster family with an initial safety assessment and individualized crisis management plan. The initial safety assessment alerts the receiving family to the child's unique risk factors and preferred safety strategies. The initial safety assessment is intended to help the family engage the youth and facilitate her/his safe and smooth transition into the home and family.

In addition, foster families serving as emergency placements are provided with emergency funds from their respective foster agency to purchase needed items for the child, such as clothes, food or toiletries. Such items are essential as victims recovered from emergency situations often arrive with nothing more than sparse clothing – even in the dead of winter. Specialized foster families providing emergency care commit to a 15 or 30 day placement, but may extend their care beyond 30 days if longer care is needed. All families be they emergency, planned or respite providers have access to 24/7 on-call support from their agency’s clinical and administrative teams. These professional teams assist foster parents address any issues or concerns that arise during placement, including crisis management. Participating agencies also provide inter-agency respite care for long-term foster families.

Foster parents eligible to care for CSEC victims must be licensed providers with previous experience caring for high-risk children. Eligible foster parents must also have successfully completed their respective agency’s pre-licensing training series and the Connecticut Department of Children and Families ‘Human Trafficking 101’ and ‘Fostering Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation and High-Risk Youth’ curriculums.

For more information, please contact:

Tammy M. Sneed Christine Keys Gender Responsive Adolescent Services Director, Therapeutic Foster Care State of Connecticut Klingberg Family Centers 505 Hudson Street 370 Linwood Street Hartford, CT 06106-7107 New Britain, CT 06052 Office: (860)550-6471 860-832-5535 [email protected] [email protected]

Vanessa Pera Asst. Director, Foster Care Community Residences, Inc. 732 West Street, Suite 12, Southington, CT 06489 860-621-7600 ext 206 [email protected]