This week’s news items of interest to me include a guilty verdict in the trial on Hanna Montessori’s murder. Another article is more explicit about some of the testimony in the trial. Here’s the link - but I need to caution you - it’s very difficult and traumatic to read - both because of the information and way it’s presented by the journalist.
In addition reports of arrests highlight different ways youth are targeted in the sex trade. A new survey by the Wilder Foundation shows on any given night in Minnesota nearly 700 kids under 18 are on the streets or in shelters and alone - which leads to increased numbers of youth relying on sex for money and survival needs.
It’s the article on Angela’s House in Atlanta that brings up the title of this post. Angela’s House is specifically for girls under 18 exiting the sex trade and have seen youth as young as 11. I’ve definitely worked with 11 year old youth as well. In the article the journalist writes that youth are wary of adults and one adult worker at the shelter
recalls one 12-year-old who softened over time. One day she asked for a doll, an encouraging sign. “Once she had become a child again, it was very common to see her playing with that baby doll”
A young person at 12 years old is already experiencing an interest in independence and identity formation that is healthy for any adolescent. The need that many journalists and advocates have to emphasize the so-called childlike behavior of youth who’ve left the sex trade, that they perceive as a sign of healthy emotional expression on the part of adolescents 12, 13, 14 years old, is problematic on many levels.
Stressing how youth are more like children than teens is designed to engender sympathy - but at what cost? In many communities in the U.S. being perceived as a child means no one has to listen to you and you’re not taken seriously.
And doesn’t anyone know about how these same behaviors are fetishized in the sex industry? So counselors could be unwittingly encouraging youth to use the same actions they used to survive in the sex trade with the counselor.
Anyone who has been traumatized will have many complicated, complex reactions. I look forward to building trust with youth that doesn’t depend on them being confined to the role of an infant.
news links for this week:
Police: Couple Confesses To Arranging For Sex With 5-Year-Old (Oregon) Wednesday, March 14, 2007 A Portland couple is under arrest for allegedly trying to trade marijuana for sexual contact with a 5-year-old girl.
Survey finds hundreds of kids alone and on the streets each night (Minnesota) Wednesday, March 14, 2007 Nearly half of all people staying in homeless shelters are under age 21, according to a new report on homelessness in Minnesota due out Wednesday. Some of these kids are with their families. But the new survey by the Wilder Foundation shows on any given night in Minnesota nearly 700 kids under 18 are on the streets or in shelters and alone.
St. Paul / Suspect guilty in sexual slavery case (Minnesota) Tuesday March 13, 2007 A convicted sex offender connected to a St. Paul family that held two teen girls captive as sex slaves pleaded guilty to three criminal counts Monday.
Tran guilty in death, and sex assaults (California) Tuesday March 13, 2007 Jurors convicted a Garden Grove man for murdering a teen prostitute (Hanna Montessori) and sexually assaulting three other girls.
Angela’s House is a haven of healing for prostituted children (Atlanta) Tuesday March 13, 2007 For five years, girls rescued from prostitution in metro Atlanta have found a haven in Angela’s House, out of the grasp of pimps and others who exploited and abused them. More than 90 girls, some as young as 11, have come to Angela’s House for help.
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I believe youth work tends to be relationship based and change will occur within the context of the relationship. This being said, the youth worker must be very self aware and cognizant of what is happening, or perhaps triggered, for them within the client/worker relationship.
Youth of 12 are part child, part young adult.(Piaget’s stages of development are still of value). I believe we have to let the young person guide us as to what stage they may be in at any given time. A 12 year old may want to play with a doll or may want to participate in older teen activities. Any youth, male or female, who has been involved with the sex trade has experienced more of the adult world than is appropriate (purely my opinion) for an individual who has only come out of childhood. It is unrealistic and unhealthy to treat this young person like a child, but if they choose to nurture the child within who was thrown away, this is very much their choice to make as they proceed on their journey (not ours) to adulthood.
I believe part of the process of working with youth is meeting as equals. We each, youth worker and client, bring something to the professional relationship and respect for the youth’s experience, whatever their age, is critical to the success of any relationship.
I agree. Within the context of nurturing youth to explore something stolen from them like the ability to be a child is powerful.
The dilemma for me comes more when media reports focus so much on the very young (and mind you I’ve worked directly with youth as young as 11 and youth who had been pimped out at 5 or 6) to the exclusion of talking about older teens (unless they display the same child-like traits). Way too often I hear youth workers talk about how difficult youth are when they are more demanding and wise beyond their years, and are so happy when youth act younger or bring out younger parts of themselves.
I’m more about embracing the wholeness of youth.
Claudine, I agree with your statement on embracing the wholeness of youth, I’d extend this, however, to embracing the wholeness of any human being whatever their age. Once one appreciates the validity of anothers’ experience whether they are “difficult”, challenging, mature, immature or ….the life experience then becomes part of the process of being with them on their journey. We do not need to like their behavior, but we need to recognize it is not personal and it exists for a reason.
One of the aspects I enjoy about working with “behavioral” youth is the relief of knowing at any given time, where I am with them. Yes, working with youth who are behavioral (difficult) is a challenge. Yes, they can be demanding, but what are they demanding? “Wise beyond their years”, does this mean street smart? If so, isn’t this what a youth worker should expect? How else has the young person survived?
I don’t know how to respond to “so happy when youth act younger or bring out younger parts of themselves”, I’ve seen street youth sitting on the floor laughing and being kids over some game or a joke; I’ve seen the same kids relax and play games outdoors, reveling in what could be construed as childlike behavior. It’s all age appropriate. Too often at risk youth have not had the privilege to play and be a kid.
I think it probably all comes down to context. In the event a youth reverts/resorts/moves to baby talking and child like behavior when under stress or has the perception the situation may be outside of their comfort zone, I believe there is need for concern.
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