California Senate Bill 584 is a Child Labor Trafficking Bill which focuses on training foster parents on how to care for victims who may have been previously trafficked. The bill passed unopposed.
The bill, authored by Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee), adds a foster parent requirement that had been previously overlooked in prior legislation.
The Bill requires counties to include information on providing care and supervision to children who have been commercially sexually exploited as part of the mandatory pre-approval caregiver training. The bill previously failed to provide any training if a foster family receives a child who has been a victim of labor trafficking.
Labor Trafficking of minors is a bigger issue that most people realize. Unfortunately many foster youth become targets of labor trafficking especially as they begin to age out of the system. Sometimes they are lured in online or through ads posted on street signs offering easy money or a chance to make a large sum of money and even offer free chance to travel. Sometimes it is unaccompanied minors from foreign lands that are seeking a chance to make an income and are vulnerable because they don't realize how scams work. Sometimes sex trafficking of a minor ends up being labor trafficking as innocent kids are advertised for sex and many are forced to work long hours and most don't get to keep the money being paid to them.
This bill is an important effort to protect our most vulnerable.
Click below to watch Opal's video and learn more about this Insider Alert.
A criminal complaint is only an accusation of a crime, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Anyone who has information about the physical or online exploitation of children are encouraged to contact HSI at (866) 347-2423 or submit a tip online at www.ice.gov/tips.
Federal law defines child pornography as any visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct involving a minor. It is important to remember child sexual abuse material depicts actual crimes being committed against children. Not only do these images and videos document the victims’ exploitation and abuse, but when shared across the internet, re-victimize and re-traumatize the child victims each time their abuse is viewed. To learn more, please visit the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at www.missingkids.org.