For survivors of domestic violence, financial insecurity is often a huge problem. Without money to support themselves and their families, survivors can struggle to gain independence. In this New Thinking podcast, Michael Hayes from the Office of Child Support Enforcement and Krista Del Gallo from the Texas Council on Family Violence talk with Robert V. Wolf about strategies that states and the federal government are promoting to help survivors safely access child support.
The goal of this guide is to increase the capacity of civil judges and self-represented litigants to identify and respond to domestic violence risk factors in civil protective order hearings.
This report is a process evaluation designed to document the first nine months of the Strong Starts Court Initiative, a collaborative problem-solving approach for infants (three years or younger) and families involved in child abuse and neglect cases in Bronx Family Court. The program includes collaboration with court and community-based stakeholders, comprehensive assessments, intensive case management, community-based referrals, regular court appearances and clinical conferences.
This study in San Francisco and Oakland, Calif. included 136 interviews with youth engaged in the sex trade. Findings show that young people’s involvement in the sex trade mostly fell into three categories: pimps, renegades, and street kids. Although the Bay Area site saw the highest percentage of youth working with pimps (29%) as compared to the other five sites in the study, the large majority of those interviewed were identified as “renegades”—a term used to describe individuals who work on their own without anyone to facilitate their involvement in the sex trade.
This study of youth engaged in the sex trade in Miami, Fla. included 264 interviews with young people ages 13-24, nearly all of whom were black or Hispanic and from lower income backgrounds. Most of the respondents faced various social and economic challenges throughout their young lives, and engaging in the sex trade served as a way to support an insecure living situation. Many worked on the streets year-round, given Miami’s warm weather even in winter months.
This report discusses the context and findings from 169 in-depth interviews conducted with youth ages 24 and younger in Las Vegas, Nev. Researchers found that many of the youth drifted in and out of the sex trade, engaging when quick money was needed, but also going through non-working periods, mirroring the instability that participants also faced in their living situations and in their relationships with family and school.
This study in Dallas, Tex. included interviews with youth, ages 13-24, who were engaged in the sex trade. Most of the youth interviewed worked on their own and were not closely networked to others in the sex trade. Researchers repeatedly found strong-willed survivors who enjoyed substantial autonomy in the selection of customers, work hours, and living conditions. For many transgender and gay youth, personal or familial struggles as a result of their sexuality and/or gender identity may have led them into the sex trade.
This study of youth engaged in the sex trade in Chicago, Ill. included interviews with over 200 young people, ages 13-24. The sample was composed of a considerable number of males—47%, the highest percentage of male interviewees from any of the sites in the larger study. An additional 11% were trans female.
This report discusses the context, methodology, and findings from in-depth interviews conducted with nearly 100 youth in the sex trade in Atlantic City, N.J. Classic street ethnography gives this study strong insight into the nature of street-based sex trade in Atlantic City and its surrounding environs. Findings suggest that very few of the street-based sex workers in that area are younger than 18 years of age and that the typical market-involved youth in Atlantic City is white, between ages 19 and 24, uses drugs regularly, is a runaway from a challenging family situation, has experienced
This report presents findings from nearly 1,000 youth interviews conducted across six sites, a population estimate for underage youth in the sex trade in the United States, arrest patterns and prosecution and recidivism outcomes for these youth when they encounter the juvenile or criminal justice systems, and findings from interviews with service providers and police officers. The findings revealed that youth who are engaged in the sex trade are a diverse population in their identities and experiences.
