Don’t get me wrong. I am not some sheltered
upper middleclass woman that was protected from the evils of this world. I
practiced medicine for decades, traveled and provided medical care in some of
the poorest areas in the world but it
was my experience as the Medical Director of the Juvenile Justice Department
during the 1980s-1990s in Michigan where I saw ignorant miscarriage of justice
in young victims-the victims of human trafficking. In the 1980s we had just
started learning about HIV and AIDS. The data was pretty plain at that time
that male-male sex and IV drug use were the two main high-risk behaviors. It
soon became clear to me that many females were soon going to be at risk even if
they were not using IV drugs.
Around 1987 a 16 year old female was
remanded to a correctional facility for committing a “crime” when the health
clinic staff found her to be infected with three sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs). She was tested subsequently for HIV and found to be positive for her 4th
STD. This child now had a death sentence as no treatment was available at that
time. Now, the real story of her “crime” – prostitution – was ascertained! Her story was sad but not uncommon then or
even now. Her “boyfriend” - who was twice her age and bi-sexual - had trafficked
her and was the likely source of her HIV infection. This story began to be
repeated as we saw other HIV positive females. They were young and always with
older “boyfriends” and some young males were being trafficked as well.
But it’s 2015 and we know better and do
better now than we did in 1987. Those under 18 years of age are juveniles,
children, and they are understood to be victims. Right? So, we don’t lock them
up in jails and prisons anymore. I hope. They do not have felonies and
misdemeanors relating to being trafficked put on their records forever anymore.
Right? They get multi-modality and specialized treatment for their health,
mental health, and addiction issues by trained professionals. They get
individualized education, employment training, appropriate housing, and
mentoring services. Yes? Clearly, we have made some progress in the last 30
years. Recent Michigan legislation is having an immediate impact on what is
happening in the courts. Courts are now
viewing these children as victims even though the youth do not see themselves
as being victimized. This is a great accomplishment
but more needs to be done.
We need more effort in the prevention arena
and that must be done at home and reinforced in the schools. Many parents need
help in effective parenting and information about the easy access predators
have to their children through internet sites like “backpage”. Sadly though,
many of the youngest victims are trafficked by a relative. While we say that
any youth is at risk, the data is clear that runaways, foster care youth and
gay/ bi-sexual and transgender youth are more at risk. All the factors that may
lead to the higher risk of LGBT youth are not clear to me but many are without
stable housing and more easily preyed upon.
The laws in Michigan are being quickly
updated and police officers are being trained but much remains to be done in
prevention, detection (especially by healthcare personnel) and the treatment of
our traumatized youth. My personal crusade is that all health care providers be
trained to recognize the victims! No
excuses for missing the victims that come into ERs and clinics. I am
working to develop a screening tool that may “flag” likely trafficking victims
when they seek health care. No excuses! We
know that we need more safe houses for victims. The perpetrators are
ruthless and have been known to track down their “property” across the country.
No excuses! As we become better at
detection, we need appropriate supportive services in place to ensure healing for
victims.
Dr. LaClaire Bouknight M.D., is the director of Eaglevision Ministries and the International Dreamcenter of Lansing. She heads the Capital Area Anti-Trafficking Alliance, a part of the Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force. Dr. Bouknight who practiced for several years adult and adolescent Medicine for the Juvenile Justice system for the State of Michigan, is certificed in Addiction Medicine and in the last ten years has administered employment services for youth /adults with barriers to employment.
