On August 4th, Adela Rodarte, assistant director of WestCoast’s Transition Age Youth Services Program was a guest on KQED’s Forum: OPD Sex Scandal Puts Spotlight on Bay Area Sex Trafficking. In the wake of extensive media coverage about police abuse of an 18-year-old, Forum host Dave Iverson turned our attention to “the children who were exploited the day before that story broke, the day after, and who continue to be exploited today.”
Drawing from eleven years of experience working with exploited youth, Adela spoke to the risk factors that make children vulnerable to trafficking and why we must respond to exploited youth as victims of abuse rather than punishing them.
To listen to the full episode, click here.
Other guest panelists included:
- Nancy O’Malley, district attorney, Alameda County
- Kate Walker Brown, attorney, National Center for Youth Law
- La Toya Gix, human trafficking survivor; advocate, Alameda County’s District Attorney office
Related Articles:
- Police Abuse of Trafficking Victims Weakens Fragile Help System (San Francisco Chronicle)
- Bill would end criminalizing children for prostitution (San Francisco Chronicle)