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89–766—PDF 2013

S. HRG. 113–396 

SEX TRAFFICKING AND EXPLOITATION IN 

AMERICA: CHILD WELFARE’S ROLE IN 

PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

JUNE 11, 2013 

( 

Printed for the use of the Committee on Finance 

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 

MAX BAUCUS, Montana, Chairman 

JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia 

RON WYDEN, Oregon 

CHARLES E. SCHUMER, New York 

DEBBIE STABENOW, Michigan 

MARIA CANTWELL, Washington 

BILL NELSON, Florida 

ROBERT MENENDEZ, New Jersey 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland 

SHERROD BROWN, Ohio 

MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado 

ROBERT P. CASEY, Jr., Pennsylvania 

ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah 

CHUCK GRASSLEY, Iowa 

MIKE CRAPO, Idaho 

PAT ROBERTS, Kansas 

MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming 

JOHN CORNYN, Texas 

JOHN THUNE, South Dakota 

RICHARD BURR, North Carolina 

JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia 

ROB PORTMAN, Ohio 

PATRICK J. TOOMEY, Pennsylvania 

AMBER COTTLE, Staff Director 

CHRIS CAMPBELL, Republican Staff Director 

(II) 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

OPENING STATEMENTS 

Page 

Baucus, Hon. Max, a U.S. Senator from Montana, chairman, Committee 

on Finance ............................................................................................................ 1 

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., a U.S. Senator from Utah ................................................. 3 

Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L., a U.S. Senator from Maryland ................................. 5 

CONGRESSIONAL WITNESS 

Blumenthal, Hon. Richard, a U.S. Senator from Connecticut ............................. 5 

WITNESSES 

Graves, Asia, Maryland outreach services coordinator and survivor advocate, 

FAIR Girls, Baltimore, MD ................................................................................. 6 

Guymon, Michelle, Probation Director, Los Angeles County Probation Department, Innocence Lost LA Task Force, Los Angeles, CA ................................... 9 

Goldfarb, Susan, executive director, Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk 

County, Boston, MA ............................................................................................. 11 

Katz, Hon. Joette, J.D., Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Children 

and Families, Hartford, CT ................................................................................. 13 

ALPHABETICAL LISTING AND APPENDIX MATERIAL 

Baucus, Hon. Max: 

Opening statement ........................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 39 

Blumenthal, Hon. Richard: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 5 

Cardin, Hon. Benjamin L.: 

Opening statement ........................................................................................... 5 

Goldfarb, Susan: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 11 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 41 

Grassley, Hon. Chuck: 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 45 

Graves, Asia: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 6 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 47 

Guymon, Michelle: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 9 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 52 

Hatch, Hon. Orrin G.: 

Opening statement ........................................................................................... 3 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 56 

Katz, Hon. Joette, J.D.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 13 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 58 

COMMUNICATIONS

Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST) ................................................ 67 

County Welfare Directors Association of California (CWDA) .............................. 75 

National Children’s Alliance ................................................................................... 79 

(1) 

SEX TRAFFICKING AND EXPLOITATION IN 

AMERICA: CHILD WELFARE’S ROLE IN 

PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION 

TUESDAY, JUNE 11, 2013 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON FINANCE, 

Washington, DC. 

The hearing was convened, pursuant to notice, at 10:04 a.m., in 

room SD–215, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Max Baucus 

(chairman of the committee) presiding. 

Present: Senators Wyden, Schumer, Stabenow, Cantwell, Nelson, 

Cardin, Brown, Casey, Hatch, Thune, Portman, and Toomey. 

Also present: Democratic Staff: Amber Cottle, Staff Director; Mac 

Campbell, General Counsel; David Schwartz, Chief Health Counsel; 

Diedra Henry-Spires, Professional Staff Member; and Rory Murphy, International Trade Analyst. Republican Staff: Becky Shipp, 

Health Policy Advisor; and Shannon Crowley, Special Assistant. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MAX BAUCUS, A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM MONTANA, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON FINANCE 

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order. 

Abraham Lincoln said, ‘‘If slavery is not wrong, nothing is 

wrong.’’ Slavery in any form is an injustice that we must stop. Our 

country has fought long and bloody wars to end slavery, both at 

home and abroad, but unfortunately not all forms of slavery have 

been abolished in America. 

Human trafficking, which includes both labor and sex trafficking, 

is not unique to third-world countries. It exists right here in America. It is quickly becoming one of the fastest-growing criminal industries in the world. Twenty-seven million people are bought and 

sold into slavery each year, many of them children. At least 

100,000 children are exploited every year in the United States. 

Most of these kids are only between 12 and 14 years old. 

This committee has jurisdiction over the Nation’s foster care and 

adoption system. Today we will focus our attention on the children 

most vulnerable to trafficking predators: foster children. Fifty to 

eighty percent of the children who are exploited and sold each year 

in America are connected to the foster care system. The tough 

background and unstable upbringing of many foster youth increase 

their risk of exploitation. 

These children frequently suffer from a history of emotional, 

physical, and sexual abuse. They are typically moved from place to 

place with little or no warning. These factors, combined with a deVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:31 Sep 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\89766.000 TIMD
2 

sire for love and affection and a lack of appropriate adult supervision, increase their risk of exploitation. 

However, all young people can become victims of this crime. We 

will hear today from a survivor of this horrific crime, Ms. Asia 

Graves. She will share with us her firsthand experience. This 

abuse even occurs in my home State of Montana, often referred to 

as one big small town, a place where we pride ourselves on oldfashioned values, a place where we know our neighbors and look 

out for each other. Yet, we are not immune. 

I will share with you the story of one Montanan, a young woman 

whom I will refer to as Kay. Kay was born and raised in a solid 

family from Kalispell. She was an exceptional young person with 

everything in place for a bright future. 

At 15, she met a handsome and charismatic man at a high school 

party. He slipped a drug into her drink. He sold Kay for sex in exchange for money and for drugs. We cannot imagine her horror 

upon waking. She was not the same. She had no one to turn to. 

The young man used her fear and depression to isolate her. Kay 

became addicted to heroin and was repeatedly sold to her own 

peers for drugs and for money. 

Thanks to Windie Jo Fischer, a local outreach worker, Kay was 

able to escape. Windie knew what Kay was going through. Why? 

Because Windie had survived a similar experience at age 13. 

Today, Kay is doing well. 

Still, too many young women just like Kay continue to suffer. 

The Bakken oil boom in Montana and North Dakota has brought 

thousands of jobs and economic activity. But the population spike 

has also brought increased crime, drugs, gun crime, and prostitution. 

Victims are difficult to identify. They are often coerced and 

threatened into silence. Difficulty, though, is not an excuse for inaction. We should not sit by and allow any more children to suffer 

in silence. These are our sons and our daughters, and it is our job 

to protect them. 

That is what today’s hearing is about. We are here to expose this 

horrific problem and find out what more we should be doing to 

keep our kids safe. Too often, sexually exploited children have nowhere to go. The people they turn to do not know how to handle 

these cases. As a result, sex trafficking victims are often arrested 

and placed in juvenile detention. But raped and abused children 

should not be treated as criminals. 

The juvenile justice system is making progress, but law enforcement needs the help and expertise of social workers, mental health 

professionals, judges, and teachers to find the right solutions for 

vulnerable children. It is time for the child welfare system to do its 

part to end sex trafficking. 

Today’s witnesses will tell us about the limitations of the current 

system to help victims. As a Nation, though, we have the responsibility to protect our girls and boys. The people who are buying and 

selling our children must be stopped. 

As Abraham Lincoln said, ‘‘If slavery is not wrong, nothing is 

wrong.’’ For as long as slavery exists in any form, we must fight 

to end it. 

3 

I will say that I am sorry to interrupt here, but, before we move 

on to introducing our panel, I would like to remind Senators that 

around 10:30 we will turn to the nomination of Michael Froman. 

Michael Froman is nominated to be the U.S. Trade Representative. 

He testified before this committee last Thursday and responded 

to 150 questions for the record over the weekend. I believe Mr. 

Froman is the right man to lead the USTR, and he deserves our 

support. Again, at the appropriate moment, we will have to break 

so we can report out the nomination of Michael Froman. 

[The prepared statement of Chairman Baucus appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Hatch? 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. ORRIN G. HATCH, 

A U.S. SENATOR FROM UTAH 

Senator HATCH. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this 

important hearing on domestic sex trafficking of children and 

youth. This disturbing issue is very relevant to child welfare programs under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee. 

Domestic sex trafficking, primarily of young girls, has recently 

received widespread public attention; however, much remains unclear about the instances, causes, and potential solutions regarding 

this growing problem. 

For example, there is a shortage of reliable statistical data on 

how many American girls are sexually trafficked. Some estimates 

put the number of girls at risk for sexual exploitation at nearly 

300,000. If it is true that hundreds of thousands of girls may be 

at risk, it is particularly troubling that only a few hundred have 

been identified and recovered. Some of these at-risk children are officially known to the child welfare system as ‘‘thrown away’’ children. 

These are children whose parents have either kicked them out of 

the house or abandoned them to the State. When these children are 

trafficked and come to the attention of child welfare agencies, the 

agencies often do not perform proper screening because the child 

is not in the custody of their parents. This is an appalling situation. 

Now, Mr. Chairman, I think we can all agree that no child 

should ever be thrown away. Individuals on the front lines in the 

fight against trafficking report that instances of domestic sex trafficking are on the rise. They tell us that former drug dealers have 

moved on to sex trafficking. 

They also tell us that technological advances have made this type 

of trafficking even easier. Smart phones and other devices provide 

distance and increased levels of anonymity, and certain websites 

that post classified ads soliciting sexual partners also help facilitate trafficking. 

Reports indicate that girls in foster care are at an increased risk 

of being trafficked. Indeed, girls in foster care are especially vulnerable to the advances of traffickers. This is because a girl in foster 

care is more likely to have experienced neglect or abuse, which increases her risk. Traffickers will initially present themselves to 

these girls as a boyfriend who slowly provides indoctrination. Once 

4 

trafficking commences, the girl may run away from her foster or 

group home. 

In many States, when a youth in foster care turns away, no one 

even looks for them. Too often, regardless of whether or not she 

was connected to child welfare, if a girl is arrested for prostitution, 

she will not be offered services or treatment. 

The majority of trafficked girls are thought to be between the 

ages of 12 and 14. Yet, even though the law stipulates that these 

girls are too young to give consent, they are often treated as perpetrators of a crime rather than the victims of one. 

Mr. Chairman, it is simply unacceptable that State child welfare 

systems are failing to serve these girls. I recognize that these may 

be difficult cases and that the trauma these children have endured 

often results in significant challenges, but we need to do a much 

better job in addressing their complex needs. 

Congress needs to send clear, unambiguous signals to State child 

welfare agencies that they cannot abdicate their responsibilities 

that they owe to these young women. This hearing should put child 

welfare agencies on notice that they must begin to work with Congress and with the stakeholders in the field to properly identify 

and provide appropriate prevention and intervention services to 

victims of domestic sex trafficking and exploitation. 

There are promising practices at the State level, and there are 

agencies that are on the right track in identifying, preventing, and 

intervening in these cases. This hearing will highlight some of 

these practices and hopefully provide us with suggestions for improvements at the Federal level. 

I know that the chairman shares my view that the child welfare 

system in the United States is in desperate need of reform. For one 

thing, the financing structure of child welfare is misaligned. The 

majority of Federal dollars is directed at the least desirable outcome: removing children from their homes and placing them with 

strangers. I believe that the qualitative and systemic flaws in our 

current foster care system are among the factors that make girls 

in the foster care system so vulnerable to traffickers. 

Again, Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for holding this critical hearing. I would like to thank all of these witnesses in advance 

for your work and for your willingness to engage this committee on 

such a difficult subject. I look forward to your testimonies. 

With regard to Mr. Froman, I support him. I believe he will 

make a great leader as U.S. Trade Representative. Mr. Chairman, 

I am very grateful that you are bringing him up quickly. Hopefully 

we will get him to the floor and get him through. I think he has 

the right attitude towards this job. He is certainly a very brilliant 

man, and one whom I have high hopes for. So having said that, I 

am happy to quit my remarks and get into this hearing, which is 

really one of the most important hearings being held this year. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

[The prepared statement of Senator Hatch appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. I am now pleased to welcome our witnesses. 

First is Asia Graves, who is the Maryland outreach services coordinator and survivor advocate at FAIR Girls. Second is Susan GoldVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:31 Sep 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\89766.000 TIMD
5 

farb, who is the executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County. Michelle Guymon is the Probation Director 

at the Los Angeles County Probation Department. And Joette Katz 

is the Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children 

and Families. We are very fortunate today to have two colleagues 

here who care a lot about children’s issues. They are here to introduce two of our witnesses, Ms. Graves and Ms. Katz. 

So, Senator Cardin, if you want to introduce your witness at this 

point. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, 

A U.S. SENATOR FROM MARYLAND 

Senator CARDIN. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I thank you 

very much for holding this hearing. It is my pleasure to introduce 

to the committee Asia Graves. She is an incredibly brave and courageous woman. Asia serves as the Maryland program coordinator 

and survivor advocate for FAIR Girls in Baltimore, where she 

works tirelessly to prevent the exploitation of girls, with empowerment and education. 

Asia’s story, which she will share in a moment, is truly 

harrowing. She experienced something that no human should ever 

have to experience. What she experienced could have broken her, 

but she endured and survived, relating her story and using her experience to help children avoid or overcome equally harrowing experiences. By reliving her own nightmares, Asia is ensuring that 

fewer people will have to live through their own nightmare. 

Asia has described human trafficking as the seminal human 

rights issue, and I could not agree more. As you pointed out, the 

Department of Justice estimates that hundreds of thousands of 

children are commercially trafficked each year. 

Most of these children are quite young, the majority being between the ages of 12 and 14. Asia herself was 16 years of age. It 

is a modern form of slavery. The victims are victims, and law enforcement needs to be better educated so they are not prosecuted 

and victimized a second time. 

This problem exists in the United States. We have our Trafficking in Persons report that is published annually that points out 

many of the origin countries and transit countries. I am proud of 

the work of the U.S. Helsinki Commission in highlighting those 

concerns, but there are also destination countries that need to do 

more, including the United States of America. Asia Gray’s testimony here today will point out that we still have a long way to go 

in the United States. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator Blumenthal, would you like to introduce your witness? 

STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, 

A U.S. SENATOR FROM CONNECTICUT 

Senator BLUMENTHAL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to join 

in thanking you for calling attention and shining light on this pernicious and prevalent problem. Thank you to you and Ranking 

Member Hatch. I want to thank Senator Portman for joining me 

in forming the Human Trafficking Caucus, a bipartisan caucus consisting of a number of our colleagues who are focused on this probVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:31 Sep 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\89766.000 TIMD
6 

lem of human trafficking both abroad and at home. It is, in fact, 

a scourge. It is a growing problem both abroad and at home. 

The goal of shining this light on the role of child welfare systems 

is critically important, because all too often they are a conduit 

rather than a savior and protector, in effect inadvertently an enabler of child trafficking and exploitation. 

The role that Commissioner Katz has played in our State has 

been extraordinary in improving the services offered by our Department of Children and Families. She came there after a very distinguished career on the State Supreme Court, serving for 18 years 

as an associate justice. She wrote more than 2,000 opinions, and 

is an extremely able and talented jurist. 

But she has taken over a department that was much in need of 

the kind of reforms she implemented—that hopefully others can 

use as a model around the country—in addressing the 4,000—and 

I repeat, 4,000—children who are in her direct care and custody 

and 36,000 children whom she aids and helps, along with 16,000 

families, across the State of Connecticut. 

So again, my thanks to you for calling attention to this problem, 

and I hope that we can continue to work to make sure that no child 

is at risk of the exploitation and suffering, lifetimes of suffering 

often, that result from this scourge. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senators, both of you. We deeply appreciate your efforts here. 

We will begin now with the witnesses. Ms. Graves, you can proceed. Our practice here is that each of your written statements will 

be automatically included in the record, and then we urge each of 

you to summarize your statements in about 5, 6 minutes, whatever 

works for you. 

Ms. Graves? 

STATEMENT OF ASIA GRAVES, MARYLAND OUTREACH SERVICES COORDINATOR AND SURVIVOR ADVOCATE, FAIR 

GIRLS, BALTIMORE, MD 

Ms. GRAVES. I would like to first thank Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Hatch, and the Senate Finance Committee for giving 

me the chance to testify at today’s hearing, ‘‘Sex Trafficking and 

Exploitation in America: Child Welfare’s Role in Prevention and 

Intervention.’’ 

My name is Asia Graves. I am the prevention education coordinator for FAIR Girls and survivors of domestic minor sex trafficking in America. It is an honor to have this opportunity to speak 

to you today about what human trafficking looks like here domestically, how trafficking interacts with the child welfare system, and 

to make you understand that a girl who is involved in human trafficking is a victim in need of long-term compassionate services. She 

is not a prostitute or a criminal. 

I would first like to start out by telling you my story of surviving 

sex trafficking. I believe that I am one of the lucky few, because 

I received the care and support I needed to overcome my past. 

Then I would like to share with you the work I do at FAIR Girls 

to find and empower hundreds more girl survivors of sex trafficking 

right here in the Nation’s capital. 

7 

As a survivor of sex trafficking, I no longer consider myself to be 

a victim. As you know, the average age of entry is only 13 years 

old. My life as a victim of sex trafficking began at 16. I was already 

battling things that no child should ever experience. I did not have 

a positive support system. 

My family did not care for me, and my teachers and the social 

workers who met me did not see the warning signs. By the time 

my pimp sold me, I was isolated and scared, which is exactly what 

most girls feel as they fall victim. At 16, I was living with my 

mother, who was addicted to crack cocaine and herself a victim of 

years of abuse. I did not know what else to do, so I moved in with 

my father, who was an alcoholic. I did not know that my life would 

turn upside down. My dad told me that I had to pay $900 a month in rent or I 

would be thrown out. How was I supposed to come up with that 

at 16? I got a job working as many hours as I could, even missed 

school. When I could not pay the rent, my father threw me out. 

So, with no place to go, in January of 2004, during one of the biggest snow storms in Boston’s history, I went out to dinner with a 

group of young ladies whom I was living with in a one-bedroom 

apartment. While I lived with them, they took me to dinner and 

left me at the restaurant and made me walk outside, where there 

were a group of pimps who approached me. I tried to run away, but 

I could not get away. 

There was a young, nice-looking guy who approached me and 

told me that I was too beautiful to be outside in this snow, so, with 

no place to go, I actually went with him. I felt that was my best 

option, better than sleeping on a park bench in the snow. For the 

first week, everything was a fairy tale, full of romance, good food, 

and a place to sleep. 

But then things changed. After a week, he told me that he was 

a pimp and I was his property. When I told him I wanted to leave, 

he beat me for the first time. Then he called an escort service, took 

naked pictures of me, and put me on their website. Men came to 

the hotel and had sex with me. He told me that he would kill me 

or let these men kill me if I did not have sex. 

Two weeks later, he took me to the track, which is a place where 

pimps sell girls like me, and made me work all night, rain or snow, 

even if I was sick. He said that if I did not, then he would kill my 

family. He sold me to several pimps that had sex with me and 

forced me to have sex with other men. 

My story is sad, but it is common, and there are girls like me 

all around. But people do not see them, so they remain victims. 

Three years passed. Pimp after pimp, beating after beating and 

feeling like I would never be free and feeling like maybe I was not 

even worth this world, I did not even feel like I was worth a $3.00 

Happy Meal. 

After being beaten in the head with an iron, sexually assaulted 

with a hair brush, I had enough. I was pregnant. I wanted my 

baby. I wanted someone to love me for me. I tried to run but was 

held hostage at gunpoint. 

When I finally escaped, I spoke to the first officer I could find. 

My traffickers took their revenge out on me. I thought I was safe 

in staying with a friend, but the next morning my trafficker sent 

8 

four women with steel-toed Timberland boots to assault me. They 

knew that I was pregnant. They kicked me all over my stomach 

and left me beaten on the sidewalk. I lost my baby and felt like 

garbage. I could have died, but something inside me said to fight. 

I walked to the nearest police station and met an officer named 

Sergeant Kelly O’Connell, who met me at the door. She knew my 

trafficker. During an interview, I started to miscarry, and Kelly 

O’Connell took me to the hospital. 

Honestly, I was blessed to have found Kelly O’Connell and a 

group of investigators to believe in me and my story. I did not wake 

up one morning and say, ‘‘I want to be a prostitute.’’ No girl does. 

There is no such thing as a child prostitute, because legally children cannot consent to sex. No girl chooses to be a slave, yet girls 

like me are the faces of modern-day slavery in America. You might 

ask how this is possible. It is because 80 to 90 percent of victims 

are sexually abused. That is my story. I was raped from the age 

of 6 by my mother’s drug dealer. I was vulnerable. 

I wanted to start off by giving you guys some recommendations 

that I feel are key. The first of three critical changes we need is 

funding to open specialized foster homes where girls who are sold 

into sex slavery can actually be rescued and taken care of. 

Second, every social worker and teacher should be educated on 

how to see the red flags and report a victim. 

Third, every high-risk youth, mostly girls, notably in the child 

welfare system, needs to be educated on how to stay safe from sex 

trafficking. 

The first critical change is to open specialized foster homes 

where girls and boys sold into sex slavery can truly receive the 

compassionate care they deserve. Oftentimes at FAIR Girls we 

have no place for these young girls to go. We do our best with our 

partners, but many times we are hiding in hotels with girls looking 

for a safehouse. 

This is not how a victim of slavery who has been freed should 

spend her first night. Many FAIR Girls and many social service 

agencies nationwide have a staff and vision to create specialized 

safehouses, but we need the resources to launch and sustain them. 

I think you could help us make that happen. 

Second, every social worker and teacher needs to be educated on 

how to identify and assist trafficking victims of sex slavery. FAIR 

Girls is a member of the DC Anti-Trafficking Task Force, and we 

have educated hundreds of law enforcement officers, social workers, 

and educators in victim identification. 

We can only truly help American children keep safe and keep 

them safe if their adult support systems are educated and given 

the tools they need to understand the warning signs before a child 

is victimized. I often wonder, how could this have happened? What 

would have happened if one of my teachers or social workers would 

have intervened and taken action before I was sold to pimps all 

over America? This is not an expensive training, but it is lifesaving. 

Third, children, their teachers, and the social workers need to be 

educated nationwide on how to stay safe from sex trafficking. As 

prevention and education coordinator at FAIR Girls, I have educated thousands of teen girls and boys in foster care, schools, and 

9 

detention centers. This curriculum has educated more than 4,000 

children nationwide. 

Children in the child welfare system are the most at risk and absolutely have to be educated on how to avoid being sold into sex 

trafficking. Had someone like me come to my school when I was 16, 

maybe my story of exploitation would have never happened. Recently, one teen mom came to me saying that she was being pressured by her older boyfriend to strip because she needed the 

money. 

I was able to join up with her schoolteacher and the child welfare 

advocate to stop her from falling into sex trafficking. FAIR Girls 

has hundreds of stories just like hers. I work directly with DC and 

Maryland child welfare agencies, and this evidenced-based partnership model could be emulated with the right services. 

I appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today, and there are 

many more stories I would like to share, as I believe passionately 

in the rights of the many girl survivors that we serve at FAIR 

Girls. I am open to questions. I consider today to be the beginning 

of a wonderful dialogue that will lead to creating new resources to 

help girls like me. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Graves. We thank you for your 

courage. 

Ms. GRAVES. Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Graves appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Guymon? 

STATEMENT OF MICHELLE GUYMON, PROBATION DIRECTOR, 

LOS ANGELES COUNTY PROBATION DEPARTMENT, INNOCENCE LOST LA TASK FORCE, LOS ANGELES, CA 

Ms. GUYMON. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, thank 

you for raising awareness of sex trafficking and exploitation in 

America. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you today. 

My name is Michelle Guymon. I am a Probation Director with 

Los Angeles County, the largest county in the Nation. I have 

worked in LA County for nearly 25 years within the Probation Department. Today I would like to tell you a little bit about how I was 

a member of Juvenile Justice and began working on this issue. I 

would also like to address how Probation is beginning to partner 

with Child Welfare to prevent this crime and safeguard survivors. 

In 2010, as a part of my role in our Probation Department, I was 

serving on our Interagency Council on Child Abuse and Neglect 

committee. I was asked by a judge to be a part of a subcommittee 

on sex trafficking. I am not sure how you tell a judge ‘‘no,’’ but I 

agreed to go ahead and be on the committee. 

While I had no idea as a probation officer why our department 

would be involved in human trafficking, I thought, I love to travel. 

Who would not want to go to Thailand, Indonesia, or Cambodia? 

Then November 16, 2010 came. I remember the date so vividly, 

because it was the day that changed my life. It was the first meeting of the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Subcommittee. It was 

there that I learned that this exploitation was not something that 

happened thousands of miles away in a foreign country; in fact, it 

was happening right here in our community to the very young girls 

I was charged to protect. 

10 

The next few days were difficult for me emotionally. I reflected 

on the many young girls who had crossed my path because they 

had been brought into Juvenile Justice on prostitution-related 

charges. Like many people within and outside the system, I had 

judged them. 

What made it particularly difficult for me is that I have a master’s degree in social work. I took pride in my ability to connect 

with young people. I felt I was a good therapist and felt that we 

did a lot of great work, dealing with amazing young women who 

had experienced significant trauma. 

But I missed this trauma. This sexual abuse experienced by 

many young girls was not a direct correlation to why they chose 

to sell their bodies, but rather the very reason they were at such 

great risk for sexual exploitation. How did I not make this connection? To be honest, I beat myself up for a long time but realized 

I could not change the past. From that day to this, my mantra has 

been, and will be, when you know better, you have to do better. 

Over the past 2 years, we have worked hard to bring awareness 

to Los Angeles County, both inside and outside the system. One 

member of our board of supervisors, Don Knabe, was integral in 

the launch of a public awareness campaign in our metro system in 

the places where girls were most vulnerable. 

We have created video messages and done countless media interviews, because public awareness is critical. Until we as a society 

begin to shift our thinking from ‘‘teen prostitute’’ to ‘‘victims of sexual exploitation,’’ nothing will change for these young women. 

Therefore, we must develop systems and protocols to identify 

these children much earlier. Because so many exploited children 

have a history in the child welfare system, that system provides an 

opportunity for prevention and early intervention efforts. 

However, Child Welfare has expressed many challenges and barriers to serving victims of sexual exploitation. They require unique 

and specialized services that the child welfare system, at this time, 

is not built, nor resourced, to effectively handle. We must fix this. 

Because of family dysfunction, many victims are in group homes or 

shelters. They run away and are living on the streets. 

A pimp or exploiter preys on this vulnerability. Statistics say 

that one in three teens will be recruited by a pimp within 48 hours 

of leaving home and becoming homeless. He may pose as a boyfriend or parental figure, offering to provide food, shelter, clothes, 

security, even love. Later, after that emotional bond has been established, she is forced to engage in commercial sexual acts or face 

brutal physical violence. 

Foster youth are extremely susceptible to exploitation due to 

their lack of attachment, and their need to belong to someone. One 

young girl with whom I have worked grew up in the foster care system, was adopted, and then sold by her adoptive mother to sustain 

her drug habit. She told me, ‘‘I remember the first time my pimp 

told me that I would be going to a hotel to have sex with men. In 

the pit of my stomach I knew this did not seem or feel right. I had 

a really bad feeling, but my need for love and to really belong to 

someone was more important. Because of my own sexual abuse as 

a child with different men, I already knew what having sex with 

men was all about, so I went.’’ 

11 

No one agency or system can adequately service these victims 

alone. Right now we are faced with a major challenge: how do we 

identify, develop, and implement a collaborative response to this 

growing problem? Again, it starts with a paradigm shift on how we 

see these young women. Your hearing today is evidence of that 

change happening. 

I would like to close with the words of a young victim survivor 

we are now working with who recently wrote about her experiences. She said, ‘‘I would strive to change the law and how people 

view young people who are being sold, bought, and abused. The 

lifestyle is not a choice for us. Still, people look at us with disgust. 

It makes us feel 10 times more pitiful. What we look like on the 

outside does not match how we feel on the inside. Please remember 

there are hundreds, if not thousands, of stories similar to mine. So 

let us help those in need, not judge and neglect us anymore. Show 

us that there is something better for us out there. Give us a chance 

we have never had. I will appreciate this more than you could ever 

know.’’ 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Ms. Guymon. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Guymon appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Ms. Goldfarb, you are next. 

STATEMENT OF SUSAN GOLDFARB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, 

CHILDREN’S ADVOCACY CENTER OF SUFFOLK COUNTY, BOSTON, MA 

Ms. GOLDFARB. Good morning, Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Hatch, and members of the committee. Thank you for the invitation to join you here today. 

My name is Susan Goldfarb. I am the executive director of the 

Children’s Advocacy Center of Suffolk County, a Boston-based organization dedicated to healing and justice for child and teen victims 

of exploitation and abuse. I am grateful for the opportunity to testify today on behalf of a once-invisible population. 

As a professional working in the field of child abuse for more 

than 25 years, I cannot overstate the need to finally recognize and 

address the needs of these incredibly vulnerable and under-served 

children. 

The commercial sexual exploitation of children, which we also 

call CSEC, is a crime of systemized brutality and sexual assault 

that is deliberately waged on children with prior histories of neglect, isolation, and vulnerability. Historically, these children have 

been labeled child prostitutes, treated as criminals, and perhaps 

even worse, ignored altogether. 

In Boston, I have the privilege of working with the Support to 

End Exploitation Now Coalition, also called SEEN, an initiative of 

the Children’s Advocacy Center, the Office of the District Attorney 

Daniel F. Conley, and over 35 governmental and community-based 

partners. 

SEEN was founded in 2006 with the core beliefs that commercial 

sexual exploitation of children is child abuse, not delinquency, and 

that exploited youth are child victims, not criminals. This was a 

turning point in our community. 

12 

Building on these core beliefs, hundreds of professionals have 

been trained to recognize and respond to exploitation. As a result, 

since 2006 we have identified and served more than 700 high-risk 

and sexually exploited youth, where before we were not seeing 

them at all, and we have learned a great deal. 

Also, we now know what we have long suspected: these children 

are truly among the most vulnerable. We have learned that upwards of 70 percent have a history of sexual abuse, physical abuse 

and/or neglect, and child welfare involvement. 

Roughly 65 percent have a history of running away, and nearly 

60 percent of the children were 15 years or younger at the time 

that they were referred to us. Traffickers know this vulnerability, 

and they exploit it. It is our responsibility to prevent and stop 

them. 

So how can we do this? I believe that child welfare agencies are, 

and will continue to be, at the center of this work. As my child welfare colleagues in Boston have said, these are our kids. 

So I would like to outline five challenges that also offer opportunities. The first is mandated reporting of commercial sexual exploitation. In most States, exploitation continues to go unreported to 

child welfare, but it is a form of child abuse and should be reported 

as such in all States. 

Second, there is a lack of data. When commercial sexual exploitation is reported to Child Protective Services, most child welfare 

databases classify the reports as sexual abuse or neglect. There is 

no category for CSEC. As a result, there is no mechanism or coding 

to collect data about how many children are being served or are in 

need. 

Third, there are limitations within the child welfare system to 

serve all exploited children. In most States, child welfare becomes 

involved only when an alleged offender is in a caretaking role. But 

a pimp is not considered a caretaker, so the majority of exploitation 

reports are screened out. A few States have expanded the scope of 

their screening to include adult caretakers who have a child under 

his or her control. This change allows exploited youth who have no 

familial caretaker in their life to receive the support and services 

they need. 

Fourth, there is a need for training and development of agency 

protocols. While child welfare agencies are already serving these 

children, the CSEC is often not recognized. Training is needed 

agency-wide to ensure universal screening, identification, and understanding of the exploited child’s experience, and traumainformed service planning. Policies are needed to ensure timely 

interagency communication and collaboration between child welfare, law enforcement, and others when responding to exploitation. 

Finally, we need multi-disciplinary collaboration. On average, 

each child victim of commercial sexual exploitation is involved with 

three to four agencies. A true safety net requires consistency, communication, and teamwork across agencies and systems. 

Children’s advocacy centers across the Nation are experts in facilitating collaboration on behalf of abused children, and are a 

ready resource to advance this work. These are achievable changes. 

There is an astonishing level of public interest in sex trafficking of 

children and a growing body of knowledge regarding best practices. 

13 

We have an opportunity to leverage this interest and expertise and 

make real changes that will honestly restore and save lives. 

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Goldfarb, very much. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Goldfarb appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. The final witness is Ms. Katz. Are you a judge? 

Ms. KATZ. I was a judge. 

The CHAIRMAN. A recovering judge. [Laughter.] Judge Katz, you 

are next. 

STATEMENT OF HON. JOETTE KATZ, J.D., COMMISSIONER, 

CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, 

HARTFORD, CT 

Judge KATZ. Thank you very much. Chairman Baucus, Ranking 

Member Hatch, and distinguished members of the Senate Finance 

Committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear before you 

today. My name is Joette Katz, and I am the Commissioner of the 

Connecticut Department of Children and Families, otherwise 

known as DCF. 

I would like to share with the committee some of the efforts that 

the State of Connecticut has undertaken to address the issue of domestic minor sex trafficking, DMST, and its impact on our children. 

First, it is important to provide an important backdrop. Although 

much attention has been paid to these human rights violations in 

other countries, it is perhaps less widely known that child trafficking is occurring in the United States at an alarming rate. 

The U.S. Department of Justice estimates that 200,000 American 

children are potentially trafficked each year into the sex trade. The 

U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons report of 2010 

found that the majority of domestic victims enslaved in the sex industry are runaway and homeless youth. 

Nationally, 450,000 children run away from home each year, and 

1 out of every 3 teens on the street will be lured toward prostitution within 48 hours of leaving home. This means at least 150,000 

children are lured into prostitution each year. The average age of 

children victimized by pornography and prostitution in the United 

States is 12 years old. 

Data show that children who are involved with child welfare 

services, specifically in the foster care system, are at a much higher 

risk of being trafficked into the sex trade. The Department of Children and Families is one of the Nation’s few agencies to offer child 

protection, behavioral health, juvenile justice, and prevention services under the umbrella of a single department. 

Accordingly, whether children are abused, neglected, involved in 

the juvenile justice system, or experience emotional, mental health, 

or substance abuse issues, the department can respond to these 

children in a way that draws upon community and State resources 

to help. 

Over the past few years, we have seen a dramatic increase in the 

trafficking of minors in Connecticut. Human trafficking is the third 

most profitable criminal industry in the world, generating an estimated $32 billion per year. The reaction of moral outrage that is 

14 

prompted in the face of such child victimization has fueled considerable work of the department to galvanize a system-wide collaborative effort necessary to identify and combat this. 

Since 2008, when collaborative efforts in Connecticut significantly increased, both internally at the department and externally 

with the community, there have been approximately 130 children 

who have been identified and confirmed as victims of DMST. 

Of those victims identified, 98 percent have been involved with 

child welfare services in some manner, and many of these children 

have been victimized while legally in the care and custody of the 

department. To address the problem, over the past 2 years the department has been collaborating with local, State, and Federal law 

enforcement to better coordinate our response, particularly as it relates to the children in our child welfare system. 

We have found that the most significant barriers have been the 

identification of minor victims, development of appropriate responses, and enforcement of laws leading to the arrest and prosecution of persons responsible for these crimes. 

Identification of minor victims could not be accomplished without 

a State-wide training initiative that incorporated the definition of 

the Federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act and the evolving 

State legislation in Connecticut that has been modeled by other jurisdictions throughout the country. Most importantly, identification 

and response requires raising the awareness of the children and 

youths themselves who are being victimized by trafficking. The ultimate goal of the trainings is to change the lens, through which 

we view these most vulnerable youth, from prostitute to victim, or 

survivor, as the girls would describe themselves. 

The State-wide training initiative in Connecticut has rolled out 

in various stages over the past few years. To date, our training 

academy has provided 2 full days of training to hundreds of department employees on the issues of DMST, with 30 trainers from the 

department who are available to conduct an abbreviated version. 

Training sessions have occurred across the State for parole and 

probation officers, private providers, police, emergency medical 

services, hospitals and emergency departments, schools and various 

other community entities, among others. 

In addition, the department offers a 2-hour certified training on 

DMST to police officers from around the State through Connecticut’s Police Officer Standards and Training Council. To date, hundreds of officers have been trained. 

The department’s CARELINE, which is our 24-hour intake and 

information center, was at the forefront of this initiative, ensuring 

that any potential case involving a minor be reviewed despite the 

lack of a legal mandate. The department protocol has evolved over 

the years, and now our CARELINE accepts all cases of DMST regardless of whether the alleged perpetrator is the entrusted caregiver. 

The department also continues to advocate for more robust legislation to combat DMST. In recent years, the Connecticut General 

Assembly has passed several acts regarding DMST, including legislation that ensures law enforcement refer minor victims to the department rather than arresting any exploited youth for prostitution. 

15 

In response to this act, the DCF CARELINE implemented a designated calling number for law enforcement to improve the department’s response to police officers, as well as any potential victims 

in need of services. 

This past week, our State legislature approved a bill that provides a comprehensive response to address the issue of sexual exploitation and human trafficking by enhancing criminal penalties 

for the purchase and trafficking of minors, protecting child victims, 

and adopting a criminal justice framework for investigation and 

prosecution. 

To further assist with the development of a comprehensive and 

systemic response, an inter-agency team was established and is 

known as the Human Anti-Trafficking Response Team, HART. The 

HART team, led by the department, is a multi-disciplinary collaboration including staff from the department, private providers, and 

the Office of the Victim Advocate. 

All cases that are called into the CARELINE are reviewed and 

monitored by a member of the HART team to ensure an appropriate response that includes the provision of services to victims 

whose cases have not been substantiated. 

To guarantee that all cases are prosecuted to the fullest extent 

permitted by Federal and State law, the department also collaborates with the FBI and Homeland Security on a regular basis. 

Through HART, the department’s response protocol, which was 

designed by a department psychiatrist, includes new practice 

guidelines that provide a detailed framework to respond to potential victims. Additionally, the department’s medical team, in collaboration with the private provider network, developed a nursing 

assessment tool to help identify and treat youth. 

Although the department has not received additional funds, providers across the State who work with minor girls have been 

trained on the issue of DMST, ensuring competencies at every service level. A ‘‘My Life, My Choice’’ curriculum has been offered at 

various congregate care programs throughout the State and is now 

being implemented in community-based programs as well. These 

strategies not only help to prevent youth from being trafficked, but 

also aid the youth in their self-identification. 

In conclusion, while much of our focus in Connecticut has been 

on the girls, we are equally concerned about the issues of boys and 

DMST. This issue currently is under review by the department in 

collaboration with our private provider network, with a primary 

focus on identification and response. 

In addition, the department is finalizing the design of a curriculum for adolescent boys in an effort to deter boys and young 

men from encouraging and/or engaging in the acts of DMST. We 

are proud that we have made considerable progress in increasing 

awareness of this horrific issue, but we fully understand that we 

still have a lot of work to do in Connecticut to protect our vulnerable children. 

To help illustrate the magnitude of this problem, attached to my 

testimony is a brief synopsis of two of our cases. Both of these children were involved with the child welfare system. 

16 

Once again, I would like to thank you for this opportunity to 

speak today, and obviously, at the appropriate time, I would be 

happy to answer any questions you may have. 

[The prepared statement of Judge Katz appears in the appendix.] 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, thank you all very much. As I listen to you, 

I am struck with several points. One is, there seems to be a significant effort, primarily in the States, whether it is Connecticut, Los 

Angeles, Maryland, or DC, and people in the appropriate agencies 

and State jurisdictions have worked hard to try to resolve this. 

I am also struck with a seeming agreement among all of you, 

which is that the child welfare system should be responsible for all 

sexually exploited children, irrespective of their parents, guardians, 

or foster homes, or even those on the streets. There must be much 

more mandatory reporting, and there must be more training, et 

cetera. 

The question I have, though, is, what is the Federal role here? 

What can we in Congress do to help States? You certainly seem to 

have a good grasp of the problem, but what can we do to help; 

what can the Federal Government do to help here? Does anybody 

want to answer first? Ms. Graves? 

Ms. GRAVES. From my point of view at FAIR Girls, I think that 

housing is key because, if you do not address the issue of housing— 

in Baltimore city there are only six beds dedicated to homeless 

youth. In DC, there are only eight beds dedicated to homeless 

youth. So, without actually working on that issue first, what are 

we going to do? The pimps are going to get the girls before we get 

the girls. We can prevent trafficking by having a stable place for 

youth to live in. 

I know that I did not have a stable place, and, without a stable 

place to live, I could not do anything. A pimp was easily able to 

grab me. As the numbers show, a youth that is on the street is 

going to interact with a pimp, 1 out of 3, within 72 hours. So, if 

we could address the issue of homelessness first, and at the Federal level with funding for housing, I think that would be key. 

The CHAIRMAN. All right. 

Ms. Guymon, what do you think? 

Ms. GUYMON. Well, I think one of the other issues, and it was 

talked about with everybody, is training. I think there need to be 

resources for training. Again, unless people are aware that these 

young women are not on the street by choice, then nothing really 

changes for them, and nothing changes for all of us. 

The CHAIRMAN. Who should be trained? 

Ms. GUYMON. I think there are a lot of programs out there. Like 

they said in Connecticut, they have built curriculums. I think there 

are various curriculums out there throughout the United States. I 

think there needs to be mandated trainers who come out and go 

through the training. 

I know that OJJDP has sponsored a couple of grants where they 

have put together training curriculums that have direct correlation 

to CSEC, the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children, and I 

think States should be mandated to put that training forward. 

The CHAIRMAN. Teachers? Whom do you train? 

Ms. GUYMON. Anybody who is involved with young girls and 

young boys. I would say teachers, community. I know within our 

17 

department and within our county, we have trained over 2,500 people in the past year, from all the different department agencies: 

mental health, health services, the district attorney, law enforcement, and just basic people in the community who have organizations that work with community action groups, to just really look 

at, if you see something, report it. So I think just anyone who has 

access to children and who works with children to provide services. 

The CHAIRMAN. Are there good trainers? 

Ms. GUYMON. I think there are some very good trainers, yes. 

The CHAIRMAN. All right. 

Ms. Goldfarb? 

Ms. GOLDFARB. What I would reiterate is the need to really recognize this as child abuse, and along with that comes the mandated reporting to child welfare. While that is shifting within some 

States, if there was leadership at the Federal level that really either encouraged that or made that a policy priority, by doing that, 

it would really begin to create a safety net for this population. 

When every professional in the community has an obligation to 

make that report, and then child welfare receives that report, that 

is really the first step in connecting all of the agencies that are 

going to be helpful in supporting an exploited child, because in 

most States, child welfare is immediately going to connect with law 

enforcement. It is really going to create a team of people who are 

looking after that child’s needs. I think in order to really advance 

that, it requires leadership from the highest level. 

The CHAIRMAN. It is similar to the Violence Against Women Act, 

and that was a Federal policy years ago which helped focus attention on spousal abuse, and the abuse that women sometimes face. 

Something similar, you are suggesting. 

Judge Katz? 

Judge KATZ. Thank you. Yes. Actually, I think this is very similar to what was done with regard to domestic violence, as well as 

sexual assault. I am viewing this through a financial lens, quite 

frankly, because I think that there needs to be more financial consequences, both for pimps and johns. In Connecticut, we just 

passed some in rem proceedings, forfeiture. 

I mean, it really is in some ways hitting people where it hurts. 

A lot of trafficking goes on at large venues: the Super Bowl, gambling casinos. I think you need to shine a light on what goes on 

there and, again, have attendant financial consequences in addition 

to the in rem proceedings. 

Then finally, along the same vein, I think there needs to be some 

attention to publishers. What I mean by that is, we have legislation 

in Connecticut that goes after people who place advertisements, escort services, in which they are trafficking young girls. But frankly, 

the publishers who publish these newspaper ads do so with complete impunity, and I question that, quite frankly. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you all. I apologize, but I am going to 

have to break in a little bit to conduct a little business. We have 

a quorum present, so we can consider the nomination of Michael 

Froman to be U.S. Trade Representative. I would encourage Senators to submit their statements for the record so we can take action on Mr. Froman. 

18 

If there is no further debate, I would entertain a motion that we 

report the nomination. 

Senator HATCH. I so move. 

The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, the nomination is reported. I 

do not see a roll call being requested, so we will proceed. No, we 

do not need one. All right. 

The nomination is ordered reported. Thanks to all Senators for 

their attendance. I deeply appreciate it. All right. 

Senator Hatch? 

Senator HATCH. Ms. Graves, I want to thank you so much for 

being at the hearing today and for your courage and resiliency and 

your efforts to try to help other young women who have suffered 

as you have. 

As a survivor advocate, I would like your view on one of the key 

recommendations from the National Foster Care Youth and Alumni 

Policy Council, which calls for a ‘‘youth-friendly resource for reporting abuse.’’ Can you offer any suggestions on what would need to 

be in place in order to provide for that type of a resource? 

On a related topic, some have suggested that a domestic sex trafficking reporting hot-line be established. Others do not believe that 

that hot-line will be an effective deterrent or intervention tool. So, 

I would like your views on the establishment of a hot-line as well. 

Ms. GRAVES. I do agree, and I think that there has to be a youthfriendly reporting place. My suggestion is that there needs to be a 

text message or online resource that is youth-friendly and safe, 

where they can report abuse, whether that is abuse by a pimp or 

abuse inside the foster home or group home. 

In certain circumstances, it might not be safe for a youth to 

make a phone call. This would be because of a violent pimp or possibly a foster parent or adult who may retaliate against them. Most 

youth have cell phones. At FAIR Girls, we are testing a mobile application on relationship safety called the Charm Alarm. If we create a similar system of reporting for this, I think that it could be 

beneficial. I feel that it would be really beneficial. 

So, just as important, there needs to be a place for youth to go 

after they make a report. This is why, at FAIR Girls, we are advocating for opening a safehouse for girls identified as victims in DC. 

You asked me as well about the hot-line. I feel that a hot-line 

would not be an effective tool. Currently, we have the National 

Human Trafficking Hot-line. The issue is not having an appropriate place for youth to call, but the resources to fund organizations that provide direct services to victims. 

I believe that, if we can make sure that all victims who encounter law enforcement and direct service providers are given information for the National Human Trafficking Hot-line, that would actually make it more condensed, where all the victims are going into 

one place and we know exactly where these victims are. Creating 

another hot-line would be duplicating an already working system, 

in my opinion. 

Senator HATCH. All right. Thank you. 

Commissioner Katz and Ms. Guymon, I want to thank you for 

appearing. This is an extremely important hearing as far as I am 

concerned. I want to thank you for the work that you do, all four 

of you. It is terrific, what you are trying to do, especially in States 

19 

that have undertaken policies to address issues associated with 

trafficked minors. 

Can you produce further details on what happens to the trafficker when the trafficking case is screened into the child welfare 

system? For instance, is he considered a legal guardian for purposes of establishing abuse? Are there automatic procedures to engage law enforcement? Can you just give us some background on 

that, any of you? 

Ms. GUYMON. In Los Angeles, I think one of the issues that we 

struggle with is, no, we do not consider him, the trafficker, a 

guardian. In most cases, we have a difficult time figuring out who 

the trafficker is, because young women do not disclose who it is because they are afraid. 

So, therefore, we get a hot-line call, and there is no perpetrator, 

if you would, on that. There is legislation happening in California 

which will allow child welfare to screen a case and be able to bring 

a young person into the child welfare system. 

Again, I think child welfare is built on the perpetrator being a 

family member or someone who is related. They have started taking hot-line calls as early as January of this year for mandated reporting of sex trafficking, and so far, since January, they have introduced 75 young women into the foster care system just in Los 

Angeles. 

But I think, again, in identifying the trafficker, it is very difficult. I will say, because of a lot of the prevention and intervention 

work that we are doing within Los Angeles County, within the last 

18 months we have had 24 young women testify against their trafficker, which has been quite a few more than it was a few years 

back. I think that really has to do with a lot of the support and 

services that we have been able to put in place in Los Angeles. 

Senator HATCH. Great. 

Commissioner Katz? 

Judge KATZ. Thank you. We are fortunate in Connecticut because 

we do not worry, frankly, as to whether or not the trafficker is an 

entrusted guardian, because more often than not the trafficker is 

not an entrusted guardian. I mean, certainly if the child is being 

trafficked by his or her parent, then, from a procedural standpoint, 

the case is really easy. 

We substantiate and obviously remove the child from the parent 

and put services in place, et cetera, but we do not consider ourselves limited by that, fortunately. We respond to those girls within 

2 hours. Our CARELINE is trained on how to respond, because, 

very much like domestic violence, it really is a difficult situation, 

and we need to be very thoughtful and mindful of how we respond 

to these girls. 

We want to embrace them and not prosecute them. We contact 

law enforcement immediately. We engage law enforcement, often 

on the Federal level, but just as often on the State level. We surrender the information that we have to law enforcement agencies. 

We partner with them. Then we immediately engage our leaders— 

one of whom is with me today, Tammy Sneed; another is Bill Rivera—and our HART team to try to attend to these girls, immediately wrap services around them. 

20 

If in fact they need hospital care, we also partner with our local 

medical facilities, again through the protocol designed by our 

nurses, so that these girls do not sit in a waiting room on a triage 

system for hours on end. They are brought into a back room where 

they are gently treated by doctors and nurses who have been equally trained in this area. 

I cannot emphasize training enough. I know you have heard a 

great deal about it today. I want to echo that because, just like 

with domestic violence and sexual assault victims, it is key in how 

you respond to these young ladies—generally young ladies—in the 

first instance, because you get one shot. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator HATCH. I want to thank all of you, too, for being here. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Brown? 

Senator BROWN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Graves, you said in your testimony, ‘‘The teachers and social 

workers who met me did not see the warning signs.’’ What do we 

do to equip adults, especially in the case of social workers and others, but teachers and adults that someone like you would have run 

into? How do we equip them better to listen to you, to pay attention to what you say, to actually believe your story when you try 

to talk to them in those few moments that you might get to interact with somebody outside in that way? 

Ms. GRAVES. For me, I think that the key thing you just said was 

believing in them and believing what they say. If you do not believe 

what a youth says, even if it may seem a little bit outlandish, some 

of what they are saying may be true. 

I do not think a girl or a young woman is going to say, ‘‘I was 

raped’’ if she probably was not raped. I mean, rape is one crime 

that no woman wants to even discuss most times, and most rapes 

go unreported. So as a young woman, when I was encountering social workers and teachers and saying I was raped, I was raped, I 

was raped, no one believed me. 

My teachers, social workers, the doctors, would not even do medical tests. I think that is reprehensible now, that no one would 

even do that. I think the best way to actually fix that and equip 

them is, we have a prevention education program that we teach in 

Baltimore city schools, as well as in DC public high schools. 

You would be surprised that most teachers do not even know 

that human trafficking happens in their own city. I mean, human 

trafficking happens right outside our Nation’s capital. Human trafficking happened right downtown in Baltimore on Baltimore Street 

and Gay Street, which the students—you would be surprised that 

the students actually know more about trafficking than the teachers do. They know that it is happening in their communities. 

If you could have a professional development day for all social 

workers and all teachers and make it a mandatory requirement 

federally as well as in colleges—I know that in my small college in 

Tennessee, for this past semester they tried something new, where 

they let me teach the class on trafficking for 1 day, going over what 

is trafficking, how it affects social workers. 

So, if all social workers in college were mandatorily required to 

go through training on human trafficking, anyone who interacts 

with children—whether they are probation officers, and we train 

21 

DJS employees all the time—anyone who is interacting with the 

youth should be trained on human trafficking and trained on what 

the warning signs are, which are multiple STDs, running away 

from home, showing up with expensive items that they cannot afford. I mean, how can a 14-year-old afford an iPhone 5 and brandnew Louis Vuitton shoes that I cannot afford as someone who 

works full-time? Things like that. 

Senator BROWN. Thank you. 

What you said about adults not recognizing this problem in this 

country is, I think, so important to underscore. That is one reason 

I think the chairman calling this hearing is so important. I think 

most of us in this country think of sex trafficking and trafficking 

for labor, too, as something in the developing world, something only 

in the poorest countries. That is what makes this hearing important. 

Toledo, by some studies, is—and I know that is one reason Senator Portman has taken this issue on. It is important to him and 

to our State. It is because of its location, in part, and being at the 

intersection of two major east/west and north/south interstates, 

that it is part of this. 

I appreciate what you said about housing in response to the 

chairman’s question, specifically how important that is. My understanding is that in Ohio, according to a University of Toledo study, 

a runaway child will most likely be approached by a trafficker, a 

recruiter, after having left home, within 2 weeks, sometimes obviously as early as 48 hours. What do we do to protect these children 

in those situations, when they have run away, from being lured 

into trafficking? Give us a couple of thoughts on that, Ms. Graves. 

Ms. GRAVES. Treat them as a victim instead of as a criminal, because most youth, they are going to get arrested within a couple 

of weeks of being out on the streets for doing something. It may 

not be prostitution. It may be stealing clothes from a store. I mean, 

I know there was one time I got in trouble at a grocery store in 

Boston, in Beacon Hill, for stealing groceries. 

So, when you are stealing groceries and you are 16 years old, you 

would think that they would actually call the police and say, well, 

this youth must be homeless, let us do something about it. Where 

are the youth supposed to go when they are homeless and on the 

streets? 

As you said, in Toledo they basically meet a pimp within 2 

weeks. So, if they are sleeping on a park bench or staying at— 

doing what we call in DC, couch surfing—that is what the kids call 

it: couch surfing. If they are couch surfing from place to place to 

place, why are any of these people not noticing it? 

Senator BROWN. So what happened when you were caught taking 

those groceries? What specifically happened from the grocery store 

management and the police? 

Ms. GRAVES. They barred me from going into the store again and 

said that I was a criminal and that I was a thief, and they threatened to arrest me. The police asked me where I lived, and I made 

up a fake address because I did not want to say that I was homeless. What youth wants to say, I have no place to go, that I have 

no family to count on? I mean, when I could not pay my rent to 

my father, he said, ‘‘You cannot live here.’’ 

22 

Why did the child welfare system not get involved then? Why did 

the child welfare system not say, we need to make sure that this 

man who has 21 children and is not paying child support for any 

of them, why did they not say, let us look into him? They knew he 

was alcoholic. They had been to the house prior to me living there, 

and they knew that I was going there. I had been to the hospital. 

I used to go sleep in hospitals. So, when you are trying to sneak 

into hospitals and do not have a place to stay, and the hospital is 

letting you stay there for a day, then saying, oh, well, is something 

wrong with you, and you are saying, yes, my ankle hurts—I went 

to the hospital for multiple injuries, and no one got involved until 

I was beaten to the point of death. No medical personnel or anyone 

else. 

Senator BROWN. Thank you. Thanks, Ms. Graves. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator Portman? 

Senator PORTMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really appreciate 

you having this hearing today, increasing awareness of the issue. 

Senator Brown is right, in Ohio we do have a problem. We do everywhere. In 2010, Toledo was listed as the fourth-ranking city in 

America in terms of human trafficking. That is one reason Senator 

Brown and I are engaged. 

But it happens in all of our cities in Ohio and in many of our 

rural areas, so I really appreciate the fact that all of you are engaged on this issue and every day in the trenches, and specifically 

raising awareness today. 

Ms. Graves, your testimony was really powerful, as it always is. 

Ms. GRAVES. Thank you. 

Senator PORTMAN. Thank you for being willing to get out there 

and tell what have to be painful stories. 

In response to Senator Brown, I thought that was good to hear 

more about, how do you recognize the signs, specifically for teachers, social workers, and law enforcement. 

You also talked during your testimony about keeping girls safe 

and helping girls to understand; I think you said educating girls 

as to the dangers. What do you find are the most successful tools 

to educate youth who might be vulnerable? 

Ms. GRAVES. Currently we teach a 4-module curriculum in DC 

and Maryland schools, and in detention centers and in group 

homes. By teaching this curriculum, which goes over, what is trafficking—and we use modern music, things that they listen to every 

day, to say, well, how does the music industry impact trafficking? 

What does trafficking look like in your community? Who is trafficked? A lot of times they will say ‘‘taken,’’ things of that sort. 

That is the view that I hear from adults as well, which is shocking, when most people who have college degrees know that it happens here but no one wants to admit it happens here. So, when we 

actually go into the classrooms and I see these youths, they will 

tell me ‘‘taken’’ the first day. Going through the 4-module curriculum and then having survivors on staff like FAIR Girls does go 

into the schools to tell their story and share their experiences with 

these youth—and some of them are basically saying that they are 

homeless now—we create a resource guide for every city that our 

curriculum is used in. 

23 

The resource guide has housing resources, food, clothing, transportation, medical services. Anything that the youth that may be 

living on the streets may need, our resource guide provides. But 

like I said, when there is no housing available—there has been 

times when we have slept in hotel lobbies with the girls—what exactly are we supposed to do to help them and keep them safe? 

Their pimp is going to tell them, well, the service provider you 

are working with is not keeping you safe because you do not have 

a place to sleep tonight. We have girls who come to our office every 

day whom we work with who would do what they need to do, but 

the shelters do not have any beds for them. We tell them the same 

night, we will try to put you in a hotel if we have the funds for 

it. 

But, if we do not have the funding, we do not have a place for 

these girls to go, and they are going right back to the pimps who 

are beating them, raping them, and selling them every day, because at least that pimp is providing them a place to sleep and food 

to eat. I went back several times because of that. 

Senator PORTMAN. So you are providing them with what the 

warning signs might be, but also options. 

Ms. GRAVES. Options. Resources. 

Senator PORTMAN. Yes. Resources. 

Ms. Guymon, and for that matter other panelists, I think one 

thing we have heard today loud and clear is that we should be 

treating young people who are, by appearances, engaging in prostitution as victims of exploitation. I think one step further, where 

this committee actually has a role to play, is ensuring that those 

victims are eligible to receive services as victims of child abuse in 

the child welfare system. Judge Katz said earlier also, we should 

be looking at these girls as survivors and not just as victims. 

This committee does have jurisdiction here. Senator Hatch talked 

about it at the outset. We have jurisdiction over child welfare, 

State plans, for instance, and that is why this committee is an appropriate venue for this. 

Research suggests, as we have heard today, that trafficked youth 

in the United States have typically been in and out of the child 

welfare system. In New York, 85 percent have prior child welfare 

involvement; in Florida, the estimate there for their task force is 

that 70 percent of the kids are foster youth. You talked about that, 

Ms. Graves. So there is definitely a connection here. 

In an effort to break down some of these obstacles to care, last 

week Senator Wyden, who is here today, and I introduced a bipartisan bill, with support from a lot of members of this committee— 

including Senator Blumenthal who was here earlier and co-chairs 

the Human Trafficking Caucus—that basically requires that children who have been involved in sex trafficking be considered victims of abuse and neglect under CAPTA, which is the Child Abuse 

Prevention and Treatment Act. 

Another part of the bill requires that, after being informed that 

a child is missing from child welfare, law enforcement has to notify 

the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 

So my question to you is, understanding that notification of a 

child missing varies a lot across this country, are there specific 

policies or practices that contribute to the lack of this standardized 

24 

reporting, and what can be done? You talked about collaborative efforts, and Judge Katz talked about a multi-jurisdiction effort. Does 

this legislation seem to make sense, and what can be done at a national level? 

Ms. GUYMON. Yes, I think it obviously does make sense. I think 

the more we build those policies and do legislation for, again, mandated reporting and really having those policies and procedures in 

place, I think it helps direct States in what they need to do, especially with the child welfare system. I know I come from juvenile 

justice. I am not in the child welfare system in Los Angeles, but 

I do know that they are very much engaged in this issue. 

They are working with the State to pass, like I said, new legislation in order to make their hot-line more productive and to be able 

to take these kids into the system and give them the services that 

they need that they have not really looked at in the past. I think, 

again, we just did not know better. Now that we do, we are trying 

to catch up and make sure that these kids are protected. 

Senator PORTMAN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My time has experienced. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator, very much. 

Senator PORTMAN. My time has expired, but I thank all of you 

for your work. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you. 

Senator Cardin? 

Senator CARDIN. Well, once again, Mr. Chairman, thank you for 

holding this hearing. I thank all of our witnesses, and particularly 

I want to thank Ms. Graves. 

We hear the numbers and statistics. We are shocked by the statistics, but, until you see a face and you recognize that each one 

of those numbers is a person whose life has been changed forever, 

it is hard to really visualize the extent of the problem. So I said 

in introducing you that you are a courageous person. You are making a huge difference by telling your story, and I just really want 

to thank you for that. 

As you said, people do not want to acknowledge that they are 

homeless. Children do not want to acknowledge that they are 

homeless. They do not want to acknowledge that they do not have 

a family. They certainly do not want to acknowledge the type of 

background that you went through, and yet you are doing that. I 

just wanted you to know how important it is and how proud we are 

that you are here today. 

I have been involved on international trafficking through the 

U.S. Helsinki Commission. The United States has taken a major 

leadership role to set up resources internationally to deal with trafficking. Our credibility is affected because we have not done 

enough locally, so we need to take care of our own business here 

at home. I think your point about resources for housing is a very 

valid point. 

The first order of business is to have a safe home. Many of these 

children are in the child welfare system, but the child welfare system has failed, so we need to be able to have a fail-safe, a safe 

home, and the resources devoted to deal with that. 

I want to ask you, though, the difficult question about safety. 

You were threatened, your family was threatened. You are talking 

25 

today with girls who are coming out, and you have a chance to 

meet with them. What is the confidence level of a person who has 

been trafficked for sex about coming forward to law enforcement as 

to the fear that they will endanger their personal safety, and the 

government, the community, will not provide the support necessary 

to protect them? 

Ms. GRAVES. The first thing that comes to my mind is imminent 

death. In the past, that is what I would have thought of about 7 

or 8 years ago. But now that I look at how the child—I mean, when 

I got out, I actually had caring law enforcement, a special agent, 

whom I still speak to to this day. 

Almost 7 years later, I still speak to her, a Boston police officer, 

Sergeant Kelly O’Connell, whom I speak to to this day, every other 

week. We still check in with each other and make sure that I am 

doing fine. But if I was not on my death bed, I would not have gone 

to the hospital. 

I know girls now, they do not trust law enforcement because 

there are no safe houses. What are they going to do? They are 

going to put the girls in DC in Covenant House in DC, and all the 

pimps know where the group homes are. They know where the detention centers are. There needs to be a specialized, private place 

where there is security, because, without security, who is going to 

protect these girls? 

These girls are going to have to go to school, they are going to 

have to go and get a job eventually. These traffickers know where 

all these places are. I mean, luckily our office is a confidential location, but I am sure they know where the probation offices are. 

If a girl is on probation, they know her probation officer. They 

can meet a girl outside her probation officer’s office. Without law 

enforcement having the training that they need on trafficking—if 

a law enforcement officer is not trained on what trafficking is, they 

are going to say that a girl is a prostitute and she is a throw-away. 

As a case manager—and people do not know that I am a survivor 

at all times—I have heard officers throw around the word ‘‘throwaway.’’ I have heard teachers say that a girl is a ‘‘throw-away,’’ that 

they are not worth the time. So, if a person is not even worth your 

time to listen to, how do you think that they are going to feel about 

coming forward and giving you information? I testified against my 

traffickers. I put six traffickers away, two of them for 25 years, because I had the proper support system of law enforcement and case 

managers. But most girls do not have that like I did. 

Senator CARDIN. You experienced several pimps. What were their 

age ranges? 

Ms. GRAVES. From 21 to 35. I was 16 at the time I met the first 

one, who was 23. But on average, they are a little bit older, usually 

in their early ’30s. 

Senator CARDIN. How difficult has it been to testify against 

pimps? 

Ms. GRAVES. It was the scariest experience that I have ever experienced. It was more scary than this experience today. [Laughter.] 

So for me, I look around at you guys, and I am like, well, they 

are not threatening my safety or threatening to harm me, so I can 

do this. For everything that scares me, I say: I testified in front of 

my traffickers; I put them away. Without me, that case would 

26 

never have gone to trial. None of the girls would have come forward. But when I came forward, other girls decided to stand up 

against my traffickers. We need people who are going to support 

the girls and care for them like we do at FAIR Girls. 

Senator CARDIN. Well, you have done a great job here. I am glad 

that you are here, and thank you very much for your commitment 

to change our system. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator Casey? 

Senator CASEY. Ms. Graves and the other panelists, we are grateful for your testimony here. I was thinking, as I join in the commendation that other members of the committee have sent your 

way for your courage in being here today, of the greater measure 

of courage you have shown to come back from where you were. 

One of the things we have in the Senate and in the House is the 

privilege of meeting soldiers after they have come off the battlefield. I think many of us would certainly put each of you in that 

league, as someone who has suffered so much, but is still able to 

look forward. 

One of the most inspirational parts of your testimony is that you 

have figured out a way to take what happened to you yesterday 

and inspire others for tomorrow. We are in your debt for that. 

You talked about three areas of change, number one being the 

critical funding to open specialized homes. Then you talked about 

this curriculum. I am not sure if you read this, Ms. Graves, but I 

wanted to recite it as well, where you talk about the education of 

young people. You say, ‘‘I have educated thousands of teen girls 

and boys in foster homes, schools, and detention facilities. This curriculum has educated over 4,000 teens nationwide.’’ It goes on from 

there. 

What would you hope would come from a hearing like this, or efforts that are undertaken here in the Senate, when it comes to just 

that part of it, educating young people? 

Ms. GRAVES. Well, for me it would be to see our curriculum in 

every single school and every single system around the country, because our curriculum is broad, it is expansive, and it can be used 

in every other city. I know that we use our curriculum in Connecticut as well with an organization called LOVE146. They are 

teaching it in Connecticut schools and using the systems already 

in place in Connecticut. If every single city had something to identify victims in the schools, then that would be a key starting place. 

Girls and boys are more likely to say, this is something that is 

happening to me, once they know that they are a victim. If you 

think that I am just a dirty, nasty person and there are other 

names—there is an activity we do called Power of Words. We ask 

the students and the teachers to come up with words to describe 

a prostitute and a sexually exploited teen. They come up with 

‘‘nasty,’’ ‘‘dirty,’’ ‘‘trashy,’’ ‘‘STD,’’ other words to describe a prostitute. We sometimes put in the word ‘‘child prostitute,’’ because 

people use that term often. 

Then we put ‘‘sexually exploited teen’’ on the other side. You 

know what they say? ‘‘Sad,’’ ‘‘lonely,’’ ‘‘scared,’’ ‘‘vulnerable,’’ ‘‘manipulated,’’ ‘‘unloved.’’ For that one activity, that changes the mindVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:31 Sep 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00030 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\89766.000 TIMD
27 

set of a group of teenaged boys sometimes who use these terms and 

listen to music that denigrates women. 

For them to say it is actually wrong, what happens to these girls, 

and to change their outlook, to me that is key. If I can save one 

victim, I am happy, because that would be one less person going 

through what I went through. If I could rescue 1,000 girls or a million girls, if our curriculum was in every single school district or 

a curriculum similar to it, it would actually save more children, because they will know that they are actually victims. 

Senator CASEY. Well, I have no doubt your work has saved a lot 

of young people already. 

For Ms. Guymon, Ms. Goldfarb, and Judge Katz, I guess as much 

as I was focused on prevention in that first question, the here and 

the now of law enforcement, when Ms. Graves talked about Sergeant Kelly O’Connell, what can we do to make sure that there are 

more Sergeant O’Connells? 

In other words, when you deal with law enforcement on these 

issues, do they tell you that this is a capacity or resource question 

or is it simply a failure to coordinate or collaborate between and 

among one part of the State and law enforcement, or do you hear 

that they need more resources? What do you hear from law enforcement? 

Judge KATZ. All of the above, frankly. I mean, for many departments, they need to be educated, and that is what we do. We go 

out and we meet with police departments throughout the State to 

educate them. Some of them do not even know about the legislation 

that was passed 2 years ago that said these young ladies are not 

to be arrested for prostitution, so it really is about education and 

training, and we do that. 

I think the resource part comes in in terms of the prosecution. 

It is not dissimilar to them, I think, than arresting somebody for 

a small amount of drugs versus the dealer. Unless they see it as 

a real pattern of behavior in their locations, they feel that they are 

under-resourced to be able to really go after these cases. So, all of 

the above. 

Senator CASEY. Thanks very much. 

Ms. GOLDFARB. If I could, I would love to add to that, because 

I have the privilege of working with Sergeant Kelly O’Connell in 

Boston. I guess I would want to back up a little bit and say that 

Asia had the good fortune to meet Kelly, but at the moment that 

we were very first, as a community, beginning to even recognize 

that girls like Asia were out there. So the good fortune was that 

you met, but we were really just getting off the ground. 

So I work in the same building with the detectives who manage 

our human trafficking cases, also together with a program called 

My Life, My Choice, which provides prevention education and mentoring for exploited youth. So our Children’s Advocacy Center and 

our partners are located together. 

What I observed in doing this work with Kelly, who is extraordinary, is that, when the police first started working with us and 

with our other partners, we were not on the same page. The police, 

Kelly among them—and she would admit this—thought that they 

would go out and rescue girls, that they would identify a girl and 

they would be able to scoop her up and take care of her needs. 

28 

The frustration of seeing that not happen, of seeing girls run 

away, of seeing girls reject the overtures that law enforcement and 

others were making, was really heartbreaking. I think what law 

enforcement in our community has learned is that part of the response from law enforcement, as well as others, begins with a relationship. So it is clear in listening to Asia that that relationship 

was founded when they met and is sustained now. 

For law enforcement to look at their work in that way is distinctly different than I think the way they look at other crimes that 

they investigate. Setting that kind of model in place is something 

that all the disciplines—child welfare, law enforcement, mental 

health folks, and others—have to learn together because, with 

these kids, it is rooted in the relationship and having adults that 

these kids can count on in the long term, and realizing that we are 

not going to be able to rescue exploited youth but that we have to 

join them in their recovery and move forward in that way and hope 

that, along that recovery, there will be an opportunity to prosecute 

their traffickers. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Ms. Goldfarb, very much. 

Senator CASEY. Thank you. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator Casey. 

Senator Wyden? 

Senator WYDEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The four of you have been a superb panel. What is striking about 

it is, normally in this room we are talking about numbers and we 

are talking about tax law and charts and graphs. What you all 

have driven home and why we are so appreciative, Mr. Chairman, 

of your holding this hearing, is that it always comes back to people. 

It always comes back to individuals and young women. 

Ms. Graves, you have delivered the wake-up call. You have conveyed the urgency of reform this morning. I am told by the staff 

that you want to go to law school. I have to say, the bad guys had 

better look out if you are going to be a lawyer. We are very appreciative of the good work that you do. 

Now, here is what it comes down to for me. I think what really 

sparks Senator Portman and a number of colleagues who are supporting this bill is, in much of the country today, if a girl is found 

in the custody of a so-called pimp or even a john, she is not considered to be a victim of abuse. 

That is just wrong. It defies common sense, and that is right at 

the heart of our bill, to amend Federal law to make sure that, in 

every corner of the country, child victims of sex trafficking are considered as victims of abuse and neglect. 

Now, one of the other provisions speaks to a concern you all have 

described today, and a number of Senators have asked about it, 

which is, we have to get additional resources for treatment and for 

services. It was our view—when Senator Portman and I were trying to put this bill together and talking to Senators—that because 

we do not really have good numbers today about how many young 

women are being trafficked, that makes it harder to make the case 

to legislators and policymakers for getting the money for services 

and treatment. 

What is your take on that? When we get the numbers—and the 

idea is to finally have the annual State report, because some States 

29 

do it, other States do not. When we get the numbers on the children identified as suspected victims of trafficking, will that help us 

make the case for additional money for services? 

Perhaps for our middle two witnesses, Ms. Guymon and Ms. 

Goldfarb, what is your take on that? Will that help us get the dollars that we need for these treatment services that you all speak 

so eloquently about? 

Ms. GUYMON. I think that, if one young woman is sexually exploited, that is enough to make a case. I know in Los Angeles 

County we are always asked the question about the numbers. On 

average, we have about 200 young women a year who are arrested 

and brought into juvenile justice. As I said, child welfare has recorded 70 thus far this year. 

In our juvenile hall outreach programs we had, over the past 

year, 37 young women disclose that they were being sexually exploited who were never arrested for sexual exploitation and whom 

we had not identified. We also had, in 2010, from our 18- to 24- 

year-old population, in 1 year, 2,341 young women arrested for a 

prostitution-related offense. 

So, when people ask about the numbers, I say anywhere between 

37 and 2,351. Again, that one young woman who goes through this 

experience is, I think, enough to build a case that they are in need 

of services and support throughout all of our systems. 

Senator WYDEN. Ms. Goldfarb, do you want to add to that? 

Ms. GOLDFARB. So it is a little bit of a chicken and an egg because, in order to know what the numbers are, you have to increase awareness, which you hope will result in identification. But 

once you have identified an exploited youth, we need to be ready 

to provide the services that that child requires. 

So waiting for the numbers will leave us with a dilemma, so I 

think there has to be capacity building at the same time that we 

are very deliberately making sure that professionals across disciplines are able to recognize these kids and report them. 

I think that there are opportunities to build capacity within existing organizations. It is not necessarily creating lots of new systems, but I worry, as Michelle does, that if we wait until we have 

the numbers, kids will continue to be harmed. If we recognize their 

abuse and we are not able to provide the support they need, what 

is the message there? Then we have let them down yet again. 

Senator WYDEN. It is a very powerful point. Clearly, when one 

child, just one young girl, falls between the cracks, that is one too 

many. I think what we are looking for are the tools to try to figure 

out how to make the case. 

If I can just squeeze in one additional question, Mr. Chairman. 

Ms. Katz, you all in Connecticut seem to have really figured out 

how to put together a comprehensive strategy, so, when local jurisdictions around the country say, gee, we really do not know how 

to fix this, or we cannot get started, you all seem to have figured 

that out. How did you do it? What are the lessons for everybody 

else? 

Judge KATZ. Well, I am a little late to the game, because I have 

only been there 21⁄2 years, and some of the work started before me. 

But part of it was really shining a light on it and talking about it 

30 

at every possible venue. Anytime I testified before the legislature, 

I figured out a way to work this topic in. 

Anytime I went around the State and I went to our offices, to our 

providers, to our hospitals, I figured out a way to make this part 

of the dialogue. Because, just like you are experiencing today, once 

you hear about it, you never forget it, and then you want to know 

what you can do to help. 

So, frankly, that was a big part of it. I have wonderful partners 

at the legislature. I have a very supportive Governor. Frankly, I 

think it really is an issue of just people caring and then trying to 

be resourceful about it in response. It is not easy. We still have 

plenty of work to do, there is no question about it. It is not a quick 

fix. 

I mean, that is the other thing. I think my partners here have 

talked about that. There is, I do not want to say, a relapse as part 

of the recovery, but you are not going to get these girls in and immediately fix everything for them. So part of the training has to 

be for people to understand trust. 

When you find a young woman who has been involved in this 

system, to expect that suddenly she is going to thank you for everything you are going to do for her and suddenly trust you is really 

to ignore the reality that she has experienced. So it is a long process, and it takes an enormous amount of patience. 

If I can just conclude with one other thought. Before, I was talking about the stick when I was talking about in rem proceedings, 

which are obviously a great way of trying to finance some of the 

things you want to try to do, and licensing at Super Bowl venues, 

et cetera. There is also a carrot. 

So we are now in the process of developing specific foster families 

who understand these girls, whom we are going to train so that, 

when we find these girls, we can put them not just in shelters, not 

just in housing, but with families. 

I am famous for saying at the department and around the State, 

I want children having breakfast in the morning with the same 

person who put them to bed the night before, and that is a family. 

So it is really about recruiting specific families whom we can train 

and work with. So that is where the incentives come in. 

Frankly, as part of your legislation, if you can figure out a way 

to help States, to reimburse States for these new models, I think 

you will do an amazing job at helping to solve this problem. 

Senator WYDEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Senator. 

Senator Nelson? 

Senator NELSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you all. 

I want to read you an article, a portion of an article, involving 

my State. Florida is blessed to be a destination State—with theme 

park family vacations, business conferences, weddings, sporting 

events—and the natural beauty of our beaches entices thousands 

of visitors a day. 

Unfortunately, Florida also draws visitors for a far less attractive 

reason: child sex trafficking. Our State is ranked third in the Nation, just behind California and Texas, for this dubious honor. The 

implication in a couple of these articles is that a lot of this takes 

place among visitors, conventioneers, et cetera. To what degree, 

31 

Judge, in your experience, are hotels complicit in this activity, and 

to what degree do they know that this activity is going on and approve of it? 

Judge KATZ. Well, I can certainly tell you anecdotally, we have 

casinos—and we have young victims who have told us that, despite 

all the security that is supposedly watching, casinos are used routinely, as are large concert halls, any kind of sporting venue. It is 

almost just implicit, for lack of a better term. It is implicit. There 

is an implicit understanding and a look-the-other-way that this 

goes on. 

Senator NELSON. So the owners of these hotels or the managers 

of the hotels would obviously know that this illicit activity is going 

on, very possibly with children? 

Judge KATZ. Yes. I would say know or should have known. In the 

law, that is a term that we frequently use. It is great for someone 

to say, I did not know, but then we turn to, but you should have 

known. When you are looking at everything else, and you are 

counting every spoon that is on the table and every beverage that 

is being taken behind the bar, why are you not paying attention 

to what is happening to these girls? 

Senator NELSON. Do you have any recommendation of how this 

ought to be exposed, other than these attempts by local TV stations 

and the newspapers to bring this out? 

Judge KATZ. Well, I hate to keep coming back to financial consequences, but money talks. I really think that that is a very viable 

way to get somebody’s attention. Imposing fines, significant fines, 

will go a long way. 

Senator NELSON. In your experience in Connecticut, are you seeing improvement in the reporting of these cases so that it will build 

the case all the more that this is happening right under our noses? 

Judge KATZ. We are. Our CARELINE gets 96,000 calls a year. 

Now, that is obviously not just for this type of reporting. But our 

numbers are up, and I say that that is a good thing, because we 

know it is going on. So the more the numbers go up, the more we 

can attend to it and the better case that we can make. 

Senator NELSON. Back to the hotels. In your experience in Connecticut, this is not fleabag motels. We are talking about high-end 

hotels as well. 

Judge KATZ. Right. It is both, but definitely high-end hotels. I 

want to be clear that much of what we are learning is from the 

girls themselves. We have every reason to completely trust their 

accounting. 

Senator NELSON. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

I was wondering how best to reach young girls. Social networking 

is so prevalent these days, texting, Twitter. I guess they are called 

tweeters, tweeting. I do not use it, obviously. Facebook. But let me 

ask Ms. Graves and others the degree to which maybe—I do not 

know, I am just thinking out loud here—some kind of a website or 

something, someplace for girls to go to, might be helpful. They all 

have iPhones. They maybe do not trust a teacher, maybe do not 

trust a cop or something, but want to talk to somebody. I would 

ask the rest of you too about the use of social networking. 

32 

Ms. GRAVES. I would say that using social networking would be 

excellent, because you can see the warning signs. If you have a 

website dedicated to learning the warning signs through games, because I know that our Charm Alarm is—most girls do online quizzes to see if my boyfriend likes me, or, oh, our names are compatible, or what is my horoscope. I see this every day. Oh, what is my 

Facebook status? This is something that I hear from girls on a 

daily basis. 

So, if we can create something and put a system in place for 

warning signs, red flags, things of that sort, to make it fun and 

catchy like our Charm Alarm is, I think that might be key to getting to these girls, because it is an online resource that girls can 

access through the Internet or through their phone. 

Also, it looks like a regular quiz, so it does not look like anything 

dangerous. Each level, if you answer the questions one way—if you 

answer them with ‘‘yes,’’ ‘‘yes,’’ ‘‘yes,’’ ‘‘yes,’’ ‘‘yes,’’ like my boyfriend 

cares about me, my boyfriend is compassionate and sweet, or if you 

say ‘‘no’’ to all the answers, it gives you a level red. The level red 

means go to seek help immediately, that you are in a dangerous 

situation, and it gives you an emergency number in your area that 

you can reach out to. 

I think that if all jurisdictions had something like this in place, 

that it could be sort of like Commissioner Katz does, like if the 

Charm Alarm quiz could have Connecticut’s information in place 

for a youth who may be in sensitive situations so they can reach 

out directly through that quiz, but send a text message or send a 

tweet on Twitter to whatever services they need. 

If all these services were mobile-based, they could be Facebook 

friends with the Department of Children’s Services and make a report through the Department of Children’s Services that way instead of actually having to call in because they may not be able to 

use their phone. 

I mean, I am sure there are people in this room right now who 

are on their phones, but you cannot hear them because they are 

not speaking. So I mean, something like that in place would probably be key, I think. 

The CHAIRMAN. So would the girls trust these, like Charm Alarm 

and all that? 

Ms. GRAVES. It is the Internet. The Internet is the best thing in 

the world. Without the Internet, I know that for me, even as a 25- 

year-old, without my phone for about 2 days, I went through 

iPhone withdrawal and had to go to Starbucks when our power 

went out last summer just to charge my phone so I could see my 

social networking and things like that. 

The CHAIRMAN. Other panelists, how best do we use social networking? Is that useful? 

Ms. GUYMON. I would say Asia pretty much covered that, but I 

also would like to say, too, outside of social networking, which I 

think has been talked about here, is prevention efforts within the 

community. I know that they have talked about a curriculum. 

I know that we have done that in Los Angeles through the My 

Life, My Choice curriculum that we have. We have given the curriculum to almost 700 young women over the last year, and, 

through those classes and through those workshops, I think it has 

33 

been a great—young women are asking if they can bring their 

friends. I think they talk to each other, and I think they want to 

know, and I think they have a right to know. 

I also want to say through that curriculum, I think one of the 

most important things that we are doing in Los Angeles is incorporating survivors in a lot of the work that we do. I think that is 

just invaluable. 

Within our department, we have had to change some of our policies and rules for some of the young women and adult survivors to 

come in and do mentorship and whatnot with our young girls. But 

I think they are the primary facilitators of a lot of the prevention 

efforts we are doing, which I think has made a huge difference in 

our county and with connection with a lot of our young people. 

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Hatch? 

Senator HATCH. Well, I have really enjoyed this panel. Maybe enjoyment is not the word, but I have really learned from this panel. 

I have been reading up on this, and I have to say that your time 

here has been well-spent. 

Now, you have made a lot of suggestions here today, and we are 

going to pay attention to those, but let me ask each of you to just 

sum up for us, if you had just one choice that you could make that 

we could help you with, what would you choose? 

Let us start with you, Asia, and go across. I have appreciated 

your testimony very much, by the way. I think you are a brave person, and it is wonderful to see you finish up in college and hopefully go to law school. It will be a great thing, so we are proud of 

you. 

But if you had just one thing that we could do within, say, this 

next year, that you think would be really helpful and make a difference here, what would you choose? 

Ms. GRAVES. For me, it would be doubling the number of beds. 

Currently, from my last check, there were less than 100 beds 

around the country for victims, dedicated to victims. 

Senator HATCH. That is unbelievable to me. 

Ms. GRAVES. Dedicated. 

Senator HATCH. I mean, that is hard to believe. So it includes 

education so people realize we are not doing the job here. 

Ms. GRAVES. With less than 100 beds, in LA alone they found 

more victims. We have identified at FAIR Girls way more victims 

than 100. If we just had the 100 beds in DC, that would not even 

cover all the girls that we reach per year. 

So, if you think about that, just in one city alone—and that is 

spread out through the country. We are fighting for these beds 

with other organizations. If you are a small nonprofit that does not 

have connections with this place or that place, you may not get a 

bed for your girls. 

So why do we have to fight for beds? There should be enough 

beds to go around. A girl should not have to choose sleeping with 

a man for a place to sleep for the night or a place in a nice bed 

where she feels safe. I have girls every day who have to make the 

decision: sleep outside or sleep with a man. 

Senator HATCH. Or sleep in the hospital like you did. 

Ms. GRAVES. But hospitals have tightened their strings. 

Senator HATCH. And only one night. Yes. 

34 

Ms. GRAVES. They have tightened their strings so you cannot do 

that anymore because of the medication, and they are afraid of 

other people being in the hospital, if you are not a patient, after 

certain hours. But if you think about it, having to make a decision 

like that at 12 years old, some girls even younger—we had a client 

whom I saw when I first got to FAIR Girls not too long ago who 

was 10 years old who still played with Barbie dolls, stickers, and 

glitter. Luckily, she was able to go to a hospital, the Psychiatric Institute of Washington, and stay there for a while to get her stuff 

together. 

But that is not always an option for girls who are almost 17 

years old, because most foster homes do not want to take them, 

most group homes do not want to take them because of their age. 

So what do we tell these young ladies every day? What are you 

going to tell the members in your district, when you have a young 

victim in your district, that there is no bed for you? That is just 

my one thing. 

Senator HATCH. That is good. 

Ms. Guymon? 

Ms. GUYMON. I would echo what Asia said. I think housing is 

probably the biggest obstacle we have. But I would also say that 

child welfare should be given the resources needed in order to provide those services and have those resources for young children so 

that we can get to a place where we absolutely decriminalize these 

young girls so that they do not come into the probation system. 

I think it just gives, like I say, young girls the wrong message. 

We are trying to work with them as victims, and they often look 

at us like, well, if I am a victim, why am I in a juvenile hall? So 

I think we have to work towards decriminalization and then really 

support the child welfare system to set up the services needed to 

support this population. 

Senator HATCH. All right. 

Ms. Goldfarb? 

Ms. GOLDFARB. I would echo what Michelle has said. I really believe that, if child welfare across the country really was considering 

these kids to be among their kids and had the policies and regulations to support that and the training to be able to implement 

trauma-informed care, that that would really be a first step that 

would yield incredible benefits, because it would be the first step 

in tying together the recovery response with the whole system. 

Senator HATCH. Thank you. 

Judge Katz, let us finish with you. 

Judge KATZ. I do not think I can improve upon what has already 

been said. I just want to highlight the trauma-informed care, because these girls—and largely girls, but not exclusively—have all 

been victims of trauma, and we need to be very mindful of that in 

everything we do. But we also cannot underestimate the value of 

the influx and infusing of money for purposes of training and educating people. 

Then finally, I think what you have done today, you have really 

begun the process. I do not mean to sound pandering, but I think 

the more attention you can put on this and the more you raise 

awareness, you will have done an enormous amount to advance the 

cause. 

35 

Senator HATCH. Well, thank you so much. I want to thank all 

four of you. This has been dramatic testimony. It has been effective 

testimony. It has been social testimony that is very important, I 

think. I hope a lot of people have been watching this. 

We will see what we can do. I remember when Senator Kennedy 

and I came together on the AIDS issue. Everybody was afraid of 

it. I think they are probably a little bit afraid of this too. But I told 

him, we have to do something about this. This is terrible. Oh, yes, 

yes, he was ready to go. But, when we brought it to the floor, we 

had a really rough time at first. We finally passed it, then we 

passed two others that have made a real difference. 

Now, we have to have the best advice you can give us. Write to 

us and help us to know what we can do to hopefully comprehensively help in this area. I agree, I do not think the States are doing 

what they should in this area, but a lot of it is because they are 

lacking the funds too. They are lacking the education, they are 

lacking the training, they are lacking a lot of things, maybe even 

law enforcement. 

They are lacking the understanding that these kids are not 

criminals, they are exploited. So help us to know how to do this 

better so we do not go off on just one or two routes to try to solve 

this problem. Help us to do it so we can do it in a comprehensive 

and decent way. I know that the chairman and I will do everything 

in our power to try to help in this area. 

So I just want to thank you all for being here. It means a lot to 

me, and I think to every family in this country, every social worker, religious worker, and so forth. Their hearts have to go out to 

you for what you are doing. We all owe you a debt of gratitude and 

thanks. 

Thanks, Mr. Chairman. 

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Senator. 

I am trying to get a better handle on decriminalization. I suppose 

in many States, prostitution is a crime, but coerced sex is not. So 

how does law enforcement better determine that a young girl is not 

a prostitute but that she has been coerced? Is that an issue or not 

an issue? It is obvious to me that forced sex should not be a crime. 

That is clear. What is the issue here about decriminalization? 

Maybe somebody can help me out a little bit. Judge? 

Senator HATCH. Start with the age, I would think. 

Judge KATZ. I absolutely would begin with the age. Think about 

the inconsistency. In most jurisdictions, children under the age of, 

sometimes 18, sometimes 16, certainly at least 16, are deemed incapable of consenting. So we prosecute, even in boyfriend/girlfriend 

situations. We prosecute young men for having sex with underaged girls. In Connecticut, it is sexual assault in the second degree, 

because they are incapable of consenting. 

But yet, to turn around then when it is a different type of girl, 

a girl who has been trafficked, and then to say to her, but you are 

a prostitute, I mean, the inconsistency is blatant. So I think beginning certainly with age is very, very easy. Enhancing the penalties 

certainly is very, very easy, in my view. I mean, these are quick 

fixes, and I would certainly begin there. 

The CHAIRMAN. But can States not do this? Can States not make 

this change? 

36 

Judge KATZ. States can, and I would invite them to continue to 

do so, as Connecticut has. 

The CHAIRMAN. All right. 

Ms. GUYMON. And I think, just overall as a society, we have always accepted prostitution. I know that growing up, when I would 

hear the word ‘‘prostitute,’’ a 24-year-old woman’s face would come 

to my mind. But again, working in custody in juvenile halls and 

in camps, we had 16-year-olds who were arrested for prostitution. 

Again, I just assumed that this is what she chose to do, and I just 

put her in a category. 

I know driving down some of our streets in LA, you would see 

young women out there. Again, just dismissing it, thinking, well, 

that is what she chooses to do, and I will just stay out of it and 

I will do my thing. So I think for a long time, I think as a society, 

we have just kind of accepted it and driven past it, and it is not 

my issue, it is not my problem. 

So I think I felt that way until I became aware that it was not 

about prostitution, teenaged prostitutes, it was really that they 

were being sexually exploited, because, again, sex trafficking only 

happened in other countries. So I think it was just easy for me to 

wrap my head around that this was something I just was not going 

to be involved in. Now that we know better, I think things will 

start to change. 

The CHAIRMAN. Right. I know it is hard to generalize, but in LA 

do law enforcement officers know the difference? I mean, are they 

sensitized or not? 

Ms. GUYMON. I think they are starting to know the difference. I 

know that the Los Angeles Police Department has taken on a real 

training initiative within all the different LAPD stations, as well 

as our sheriff’s department. I think that is slowly starting to 

change. I think it has not always been there. 

I think probably the biggest frustration for law enforcement is, 

it is easy to arrest and detain, because I think they feel like that 

is the only option to keep her safe from running right back. I think 

they are more conscious about keeping her safe. I think that is why 

it is so important for us to build other programs and other services 

so we do not just default to detention, to know that other people 

can keep her safe and provide that security. So I think we are getting there. 

The CHAIRMAN. I was going to ask that question too. That is, 

clearly follow-up is essential. So what are you doing to follow up 

with these girls who come in? Maybe you found a bed and they can 

stay there at that site, but they are obviously going to need some 

support services; they probably have no father or mother. Their 

mother is probably on crack or heroin, all that. So what are you 

doing about follow-up to keep them from straying again? 

Ms. GUYMON. I think the biggest part of follow-up we are doing 

in Los Angeles is, we are just trying to build a support system 

around her. I think what we have done throughout a lot of the 

training, especially with our foster homes and with our group 

homes, is really about building connection. 

We know that when these young girls run, we have not provided 

that support and security for her. So we just talk a lot about stickVerDate Mar 15 2010 16:31 Sep 25, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00040 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 R:\DOCS\89766.000 TIMD
37 

ing with kids and not giving up, and, when she runs, we take her 

back and we really build those support networks around her. 

I think, again, like someone said earlier, it is about relationships, 

it is about connection and really trying to make sure that we are 

there for her and that we do not let her down. 

I think that is really a lot of what we have tried to do in Los 

Angeles, with connections and support and building a network of 

people with collaboration around the young girl. 

The CHAIRMAN. Well, thank you very much. I am very proud of 

all four of you. You work hard in what you do. You care. You, Ms. 

Graves, you are very articulate. When you do go to law school, you 

are obviously going to do what you want to do, but I encourage you 

to continue to be a voice for girls who are in your situation, your 

former situation, because you have the experience, you have the 

passion, you are articulate, and you are committed. 

I just urge you, and all of you, to just keep it up. This has been 

quite a hearing. This is quite something for the Finance Committee, frankly. We have learned a lot, and we are going to follow 

up. But thank you so much for your efforts and for what you are 

doing. You are making a big difference for a lot of kids. Thank you. 

The hearing is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 12 p.m., the hearing was concluded.] 

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