King County Superior Court - Juvenile and Family Court CSEC Screening Program

King County proposes to increase the identification and corresponding referrals to services of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) by expanding the King County Superior Court CSEC Program. The applicant proposes to accomplish this by: 1) expanding the CSEC Training Catalog to include additional high level trainings; 2) expanding a well-established Juvenile Court CSEC Program by integrating with King County Superior Court Family Court Becca Programs; 3) enhancing identifications made by the CSEC program by implementing the Commercial Sexual Exploitation – Identification Tool (CSE-IT) developed by the WestCoast Children’s Clinic to universalize CSEC screening in the Juvenile and Family Court Becca Programs; 4) increase referrals to specialized CSEC services with survivor centered, trauma informed, community-based agencies; and 5) continue collaborating with the Children Justice Center of King County’s CSEC multi-disciplinary team to track identified youth. Through this funding, the applicant proposes the following products and deliverables: 1) additional training curriculum with corresponding training opportunities for both court staff and community members provided at no cost to attendees; 2) formal partnership between Juvenile Court Services and Family Court Operations Becca Programs; 3) collection and storage data identified via the CSE-IT; and 4) data collection and storage, of referrals to community-based services. With a population of over 2.25 million, King County is the most populous county in Washington State. Situated on the I-5 corridor, Seattle, the King County seat, has the greatest number of commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) cases in the entire state. A 2019 study by Dr. Debra Boyer found that there were 231 youth aged 18 and under who connected with service providers for CSEC related services in 2018 in King County, Washington. While these numbers are troubling, it can be assumed that these cases are largely under-reported, as youth not already connected to service providers were not included in this study. It is likely that the total numbers of trafficked youth are much higher. Dr. Boyer estimates a minimum of 300 to 400 under age 18 youth being trafficked in King County annually. King County, intends to increase identification and corresponding referrals to services of CSE youth by expanding the King County Superior Court CSEC Program. We will accomplish this by: 1) expanding the CSEC Training Catalog to include additional high level trainings; 2) expanding a well-established Juvenile Court CSEC Program by integrating with King County Superior Court Family Court Becca Programs; 3) enhancing identifications made by the CSEC program by implementing the Commercial Sexual Exploitation – Identification Tool (CSE-IT) developed by the WestCoast Children’s Clinic to universalize CSEC screening in the Juvenile and Family Court Becca Programs; 4) increase referrals to specialized CSEC services with survivor centered trauma informed community-based agencies; and 5) continue collaborating with the Children Justice Center of King County’s CSEC multi-disciplinary team to track identified youth. These enhancements will result in the following products and deliverables: 1) additional training curriculum with corresponding training opportunities for both court staff and community members provided at no cost to attendees; 2) formal partnership between Juvenile Court Services and Family Court Operations Becca Programs; 3) data collection and storage, of youth identified via the CSE-IT; and 4) data collection and storage, of referrals to community-based services; Approximately three thousand youth are engaged with King County Superior Court – Juvenile Court Services and Family Court Operations Becca Programs. All of these youth will receive screening and CSE identified youth will be connected to appropriate services.