Foster care hearing highlights sex trafficking problem

McLean-Camp’s remarks highlight a broader problem within the system: that kids in care can run away from their foster care homes, putting them at risk of human trafficking. Discussion of this subject dominated a third hearing on the state’s foster care system held by the U.S. Senate Human Rights subcommittee, this time in Atlanta.

Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, and Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Tennessee Republican, announced the inquiry in February, which was prompted in part by an investigation from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in late 2022.

An analysis from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children found that between 2018 and 2022, more than 2,400 reports of children were missing from care in Georgia, involving 1,790 children. Many of whom went missing several times. Of those children, 410 were identified as likely child sex trafficking victims. States, including Georgia, are required by law to notify the national center when a child in their care goes missing.

McLean-Camp, who testified she was trafficked while in the child welfare system, said she was also never believed by the state’s Division of Family and Children Services when she reported allegations of abuse and neglect against her adopted parents.

To the state, “I was unruly, a run away, and a behavior problem,” she said.

Dr. Samantha Sahl, an expert at the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, said the instability children sometimes experience in foster care creates a “perfect storm” that traffickers are skilled at taking advantage of.

“Trends show us that when children run away frequently or for long periods of time, they tend to be running from an unsafe situation or to an unsafe situation,” said Sahl, who supervises a team at the center that focuses on helping victims of child sex trafficking.

She added: “We know we have an urgent issue when children feel better on the streets or with a trafficker than they do in their foster care placements.”

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

The problem is not isolated to Georgia, and the state has made strides to address the issue: the state Division of Family and Children Services has a designated missing children’s unit that works closely with law enforcement and other key agencies to help find missing and runaway youth in care. According to the state, a recent federal report found that Georgia’s rate of foster children reported missing is lower than its neighboring states of Tennessee, Alabama, and South Carolina, and is less than half the rate of a number of other states.

The state, which remits the missing child data to the national center, or NCMEC, said they still have not received a copy of the analysis. A spokesperson for the Department of Human Services, which oversees DFCS, said NCMEC is a “valued partner” and they would welcome the opportunity to review their numbers and compare them to the state’s figures.

“We still have not gotten these numbers from when they were originally reported, and we have no insight into the numbers shared today for ‘likely’ victims of trafficking,” said Kylie Winton, a DHS spokesperson.

Brian Atkinson, an attorney who specializes in assisting child victims of sexual abuse, said that the state has made a lot progress in how it talks about children who are subjected to abuse. Still, he said, individual kids are often “blamed for their victimization.”

This can hinder efforts to secure appropriate foster care spots for youth, when their applications paint them in a negative light, he said.

“While DFCS says it is hard to find placements, it’s harder still when they are painting incomplete pictures of these kids, that accentuate their flaws, and minimize their strengths,” said Atkinson, who is affiliated with the University of Georgia law school.

Last year, the state’s Office of the Child Advocate made a damning claim that DFCS generally adopts the view that teenage children are often in less need of protection. This was part of a memo that identified system failures within the state’s child welfare agency. State officials vehemently disagreed with the assessment, saying that OCA failed to provide any evidence backing up its claim of widespread, systemic failures.

Atkinson said he’s seen DFCS generally adopt the view that teenage children are in less need of protection, because of the attitude that they can protect themselves.

Winton, the DHS spokesperson, said the department would welcome more information about specific cases Atkinson is referencing so that staff can address these issues.

“We always strive to include the right information about the child or young adult, and partners have landed on both sides of this issue about whether we strike the right balance,” Winton said. “We remain committed to open, transparent conversations, and we can adjust this process if it means the child is better served.”

Among the descriptors Atkinson said he’s seen DFCS use for some kids in the foster care system: “promiscuous,” “prostitutes,” or kids who are “placing themselves in dangerous situations.” He’s also found that when his clients reach out to DFCS about feeling unsafe, or the need for therapeutic or other services, they are met with “disbelief, dismissiveness, and often no response at all.”

“At the end of the day, DFCS is the legal guardian for these children, and it is their responsibility to make sure these kids are given spaces that are safe and comfortable.”