Kristi House Project GOLD Girls Owning Their Lives and Dreams

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Kristi HouseProject GOLDGirls Owning Their
Lives and Dreams

• Sandy Skelaney
• Program Manager
• sandys_at_kristihouse.org
• www.kristihouse.org
• [phone]

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Kristi House Mission

• Kristi House is the Child Advocacy Center of
  Miami-Dade County that provides a healing
  environment for all child victims of sexual abuse
  and their families, regardless of income, through
  prevention, treatment and coordination of
  services with our community partners.

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Lisas Story

• Lisa was 12 years old when child protective
  services removed her from home due to abuse.
  Shortly after, she ran from a group home and was
  picked up by a pimp who convinced her to stay
  with him.
• In the course of 4 years, Lisa had been
  prostituted in 7 different states by several
  different pimps. She saw 5-10 men/night and was
  forced to prostitute 7 days/week, every day of
  the year including holidays.
• Lisa experienced abuse from many places. Her
  pimps would often beat her for not meeting her
  nightly quota or having a smart mouth. At the
  hands of pimps, johns and strangers, she survived
  sexual and physical abuse, degradation,
  kidnapping and attempted murder.
• Lisa escaped an abusive boyfriend in Chicago and
  ended up in Miami pregnant, destitute and alone
  where she continued to engage in prostitution,
  the only thing she knew how to do, just to
  survive.

name changed
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Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

• The engagement of a person under 18 in the
  commercial sex industry
• Prostitution
• Pornography
• Exotic dancing
• Severe form of human trafficking and sexual abuse

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The Victims

• 12-14 years average age of entry
• Many are runaways
• 300,000 children at-risk annually in United
  States
• of victims in Miami?
• 70-80 of girls have pimps
• 80-90 sexually abused in the home
• Sexually abused children are 4x more likely to be
  commercially sexually exploited than children who
  were not

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Tragic Life Intensive Needs

• Safe housing
• Crisis counseling
• Basic needs
• Medical
• Psychological
• Legal
• Educational
• Life-skills
• Non-judgmental
• Etc

• Trauma history
• Repetitive abuse
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Stockholm Syndrome
• Social stigmatization

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Project GOLD
Girls Owning Their Lives and Dreams

• Dedicated to

• PREVENTING children from being exploited

• HEALING SURVIVORS through mentoring, case
  management and mental health services

• EDUCATING about the reality of children being
  bought and sold in the local commercial sex
  industry

• BUILDING COMMUNITY CAPACITY to treat and heal
  victims through coordination of a
  multi-disciplinary team

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Comprehensive Approach
PREVENTION
RECOVERY
ADVOCACY
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MICRO LEVEL

• Street Outreach Manual written / volunteers
  trained

• Case Manager / youth advocate provides
  intensive services for current caseload of 25
  girls 12-18 years old

• GEMS Youth Leadership Program conducted at 3
  schools

• Therapist trained in TF-CBT, Trauma Resiliency
  Model and Motivational Interviewing specialized
  for CSEC victims

• Bimonthly Street Outreach begun in prostitution
  zones

• One-to-one risk assessments

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MACRO LEVEL

• Safe Harbor legislation drafted to be presented
  to the Florida State legislature
• Grass roots movement through network of Child
  Advocacy Centers at the state, regional, and
  national levels

• Program Manager asked to provide expertise in
  local, national and international forums

• Bimonthly meetings of multidisciplinary group
  of 75 members.

• Protocol subcommittee working with the USDOJ
  and the Child Advocacy Center MDT

• Representation in several working groups

• Outreach/training subcommittee supported by
  Federal funds and Child Advocacy Center Network

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What does this mean for Lisa?

• Lisa called child welfare to help her get off the
  streets and learn how to care for her baby.
• Because of Kristi House awareness raising and
  collaborative work, she was brought to Project
  GOLD for services.
• Through Project GOLD she received mentoring,
  specialized counseling and therapy, advocacy and
  participated in the leadership group.
• She is now living independently with her child,
  working part-time and attending school regularly.
  She cites the support and services she received
  from Project GOLD as one of the main reasons she
  did not return to the streets when her challenges
  in recovery seemed overwhelming.

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For more information

• Kristi House
• Project GOLD
• Girls Owning Their Lives and Dreams
• Trudy Novicki
• Executive Director
• tnovicki_at_kristihouse.org
• 305-547-6800
• Sandy Skelaney
• Program Manager
• sandys_at_kristihouse.org
• 305-285-5931
• www.kristihouse.org
• www.csecinmiami.blogspot.com OUR BLOG!