OJJDP Demonstration Project
In the last five years, the issue of the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has gained increased public attention. The sad fact is that there are adults in our country who make money selling vulnerable children to others who would use them for selfish pleasures. This heinous situation has existed across time, but with the introduction and growth of the Internet, this problem has expanded exponentially. Whereas before a pimp operated in his/her own locale, exploiting local children on local streets, now the pimp has access to a virtual universe of customers, can seduce victims off of social networking sites and can traffic them with ease across state lines.
In 2003, JJF was selected as one of only two sites nationwide to receive a three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to develop and pilot a national model to help communities fight child sexual exploitation. The OJJDP Demonstration Project features intense training of law enforcement, school and social works, court officers, medical staff and other community stakeholders to recognize the signs of a sexually exploited child, and to understand the nature of sexual victimization.
Outcomes of the OJJDP Demonstration Project include bi-weekly Child Abuse Investigation Team (CAIT) meetings that provide an opportunity for a multi-disciplinary team to come together and review any new cases and follow-up on old cases, allowing for a comprehensive and systematic process to provide support for CSEC victims and build more solid cases for prosecution. JJF’s Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation (CEASE) staff attends these CAIT meetings to identify and flag children with high risk indicators and provide intervention and prevention services through volunteer and staff advocates.
The outcomes of the OJJDP Demonstration Project also include the development of an exceptionally comprehensive and effective database system called CACTIS, which is used by Atlanta and Fulton County service providers to access, review and monitor the cases of child abuse and exploitation victims.
Perhaps the greatest systemic outcome under the OJJDP grant has been the CSEC Interagency Protocol that was developed in the last year of the grant award. This protocol is the first of its kind nationwide and represents the commitment of fifteen agencies within Fulton County to work together to improve the response to and handling of CSEC reports, as well as the support and treatment for CSEC victims. The protocol also provides law enforcement with the support they need to prosecute the perpetrators of CSEC crimes in an effort to cut off the source of this crime. The CSEC Interagency Protocol, developed with technical assistance from Fox Valley Technical College, represents the best practices for CSEC to date. JJF has received several requests from cities nationwide for copies of the completed protocol.
