Minutes from 11/26/2019

Shield NC Meeting

Attendees:
Nicole Bernard, Director, Shield NC
Lance Olive, Vice President, Board of Directors, Shield NC
Kim Adcock, Recruitment, Training and Licensing SW, Wake County Government, Child Welfare/Human Services
Jim Ahler
Jodi Bailey
Steven Bodhane
Danica Coleman
Sonya Edwards
Ines Freile
Josh Komis
Matt Mitchell
Niki Miller
Patty Patrick
Kenneth Ragland
Ellen Rose
 Kris Shuart
Britney Travis
Joi Whittington
Annette Williamson

Kim Adcock, with Wake County Government, Child Welfare / Human Services spoke today on sex trafficking and foster care. Child Welfare’s slogan is “Recruitment is Everybody’s Business.”  

Child Welfare gets involved with a family when a call is received about a prospective issue with a family. Child Protective Services completes an assessment on a child’s home situation and then decides on the safest environment for the child whether it is in their own home, a relative’s home, or foster care. 

Foster care is a temporary living arrangement for children ages 0-21 years, when they cannot remain in their homes with parents or guardians safely due to abuse, neglect, or chemical or alcohol dependency. Foster care provides a safe and nurturing home for a child with a foster parent or family where the child can get their basic needs met as indicated in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Once the child is in a safe environment, social workers work with birth parents to address issues that lead up to a child being removed from the parental home. It is the goal of foster care to eventually reunite the children with their parents or guardians. 

Currently in Wake County, 488 children have been removed from their homes and placed in foster care. Of that number, 13 have been removed from Apex homes, 10 Cary and 5 from Morrisville. Oftentimes, when children are removed from their homes, they lose connections with their schools, churches and communities, etc. Thus, it is vital every attempt is made to place them in foster homes close to their community or in their town. By removing them from their town or community, foster children become vulnerable and easy prey to sex traffickers and others who would view them as easy targets to exploit. 

From the 488 children removed from Wake county homes, 368 have been placed in foster family/kinship care, 5 in IAFT (Intensive Alternative Family Therapy), 83 in therapeutic, 7 in group homes, 15 in psychiatric placement therapy, and 1 in acute care (medical placement – possible hospital). Of the 368 children placed in foster family/kinship care, 17 have been placed in Apex homes, 15 in Cary, and 3 in Morrisville. 

Parents of foster children may be found to suffer from social and community needs such as; unemployment, mental health issues, homelessness, substance abuse or poverty. This may stem from parents having their own Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), which affects their own ability to keep a child safe. This results in parents’ possible inability to access unsafe situations and leaving children unsupervised, their needs not being met and/or developing unsafe methods of getting their needs met. Thus, what can be defined as the trauma cycle is the reason children end up in the foster care system. However, prevention services such as; employment assistance, parenting classes, financial counseling as well as a host of other services assists in breaking the trauma cycle. 

Wake County is in need of more foster families to help meet the demand they are experiencing as more people move into this area. Eligibility requirements to become a foster parent are: must be 21 years of age, a Wake County resident, stable home and income, adequate sleeping space for child, willing to complete a background check and have an open heart and mind. It takes six months to complete the process to become a foster parent. During that time, there are two four hour home visits/interviews to discuss how one was brought up and how they were disciplined. Once a family or individual has been approved as a foster family or parent, they participate in eight training sessions per year. Foster parents are Wake County’s best recruiters. 

Wake County has over 2,000 faith organizations. It is the hope of Child Welfare/Human Services that one family from each church would become a foster family to host a child. 

A placement usually lasts one year but can last anywhere from seven days to two years. Each foster child usually has two to four families. 

Once a child reaches the age of 13, they participate in Links Academy, which teaches them basic life skills such as how to rent an apartment, balance a budget, plan a meal, etc. A lot of foster children leave the system at the age of 18; however, they are eligible to return to the program until the age of 21 as long as they are in school. 

Nicole Singletary, Injury and Drug Prevention Consultant, with Wake County Drug Overdose Prevention and Tobacco Use Initiative, will be speaking on January 28, 2020. 

Minutes from 10/29/2019

Shield NC Meeting

Attendees:

Nicole Bernard, Director, Shield NC

Tommy Bernard, Emergency Medicine Physician

Lance Olive, Mayor of Apex

Kim Adcock

Steven Bodhaine

Danica Coleman

Matt Curry

Ryan Doherty

Sonya Edwards

Josh Hill

R. J. Haggard

Mitchell McKinney

Mike Merker

Karen H. Morant

Patty Patrick

Kenneth Ragland

Kristofer Shuart

Brittany Travis

Joi Whittington

Annette Williamson

Deputy Chief Mitchell McKinney, Apex PD, spoke briefly on how significant a problem human trafficking is for our state. He indicated that the Town Manager of Apex has made human trafficking training mandatory for all Town of Apex employees. Officer McKinney introduced Officer Shuart and then departed for another meeting. 

Master Police Officer Kristofer Shuart, one of the Community Outreach Officers, introduced the subject of Christmas with a cop. The program called Shop With A Cop, takes kids to Target where each child gets to spend $200 – $300 picking out gift items. Officers take the kids back to the police station where they watch a movie, complete a craft, eat snacks and wrap gifts. He asked for help in locating Apex families who are in need of help. He indicated that Officer Kenneth Ragland is also a Community Outreach Officer and either of them can be contacted with the names and contact information of families. 

Nicole spoke briefly and introduced the speaker, Dr. Tommy Bernard. Dr. Bernard is an Emergency Medicine Physician who is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area and is a NCEEP Board Member. He was appointed to the NC Human Trafficking Commission by Governor Cooper. It is Dr. Bernard’s hope to make a difference as physicians are often the first point of contact for victims. Nicole said Dr. Bernard speaks on the state level and is responsible for getting Shield NC off the ground. 

He is currently leading a subcommittee on public health. The committee is studying the public health effects that human trafficking has on NC. They are evaluating and creating training for people who will most likely interact with victims. He indicated the committee will need buy in from agencies for training. 

Dr. Bernard shared one of his first experiences in identifying a human trafficking victim. He said because he had overheard Nicole talking about some of the signs of a victim, he was able to identify a human trafficking victim who came into the ED where he was working and get her help. 

Dr. Bernard shared examples of human trafficking victims. 

• 23 year old female presents to ED for opiate withdrawal and facial trauma.
• 17 year old female for STD check for 5^th time in 2 months and possible pregnancy.
• 35 year old male for heat exhaustion. 

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery in both sex and/or labor. It is a multibillion dollar industry. Those at risk of being trafficked are migrants, teens who run away, those with mental health issues, and substance abusers. 

Since 2007, they have had 5,569 total contacts and 1,290 total cases. In 2018, they have had 287 cases with 186 females and 41 males with 54 presenting as minors. Victims may bring in $1,000 per day for their pimps. 

Wake Med has developed a toolkit – TUIT: What the ED Nurse Needs to Know. The toolkit is effective in providing markers for identifying victims and how to treat them. It also helps them in providing ways of separating the victim from the pimp. In bathrooms, victims can apply blue stickers on a urine specimen cup which alerts the doctor the victim wants to talk alone. 

Many victims will go to an Urgent Care facility because they can pay with cash or credit cards. If they go to an ED, they have to pay and show a form of identification. 

Dr. Bernard shared that it is the committee’s intention to reach out further in educating tattoo parlors, school nurses, dentists, smaller EDs, and local colleges and universities in helping them to identify human trafficking victims. 

Dr. Bernard addressed some human trafficking myth busters.

• Only women/girls
• Why don’t they run away?
• Usually a stranger
• Went willingly so not trafficking
• Held against their will/trapped
• Kidnapping victim
• Usually associated with violent crime
• Only people who are sent from out of the country
• Not here in NC or my town

Mayor Lance Olive shared that the Apex PD shut down a massage parlor used for human trafficking. There were Chinese ladies bussed down from NY who were used for those purposes. It became a federal case because it was a much larger operation. 

The Mayor implied one should look at human trafficking from a business viewpoint. It is not always associated with poverty. People with disposable income want access. Teens who have time on their hands and money but not enough affection from family may fall prey to this lifestyle. 

Dr. Bernard shared that Nicole Bernard had written a book on the process. He shared that some people cannot leave the lifestyle because of family needs, money or threat of exposure. He said some of the red flags for human trafficking victims are: working and living conditions, branding or tattoos, unable to make decisions without approval, rolls of cash, multiple phones and gift cards. 

In October, Shield NC had a freedom week where UC/PCP participated in office visits and worked on developing relationships. 

Dr. Bernard shared that Shield volunteers are needed to help with outreach to Apex medical staff. He asked that human trafficking training be added to any ministry. He indicated it would be helpful to attend HTC meetings, lobby legislature, and research medical responses nationwide to get best practices. He shared vital telephone numbers 888-373-7888 (Human Traffickking Hotline) and 919-410-6586 (Project Flight). 

Nicole Bernard spoke on how to prevent human trafficking. She said Shield NC is investing in peer to peer education through youth groups. She indicated childhood trauma is often the beginning for victims and traffickkers. She shared that the correction system wants to get involved. She said TN has combined opioid coalition with Shield. 

Mayor Olive shared if there is no buyer then there is no business. He said one way to reduce demand is by informing the buyer s/he is known. Another way to reduce business is by having churches share sermons on prevention. 

Nicole explained that SBI human trafficking is in limbo until the NC budget is approved. There currently is one SBI agent in NC focused on human trafficking. 

For churches:

• In infancy stage to get faith leaders trained
• Congregations receive sex addiction training
• Foster families provided

Brittany Travis spoke briefly as a representative from Wake County. She said currently there are only 200 foster homes for 500 foster kids. She said the County is in need of additional foster homes. At present, some kids have been moved from Wake County into adjoining counties. Thirteen kids alone have been moved from Apex because of the lack of foster homes. 

The topic for the November 26, 2019, meeting will be foster care. 

Shield NC Meeting Minutes

From Tuesday, 8/20/2019

Attendees:
Angela Padgett
Nicole Bernard
Nikki Miller
Josh Komis
K. Ragland
Debra Henson
Danica Coleman
Kris Shuart
Annette Williamson

Nicole Bernard, Founder and Director of ShieldNC, provided lunch today for the committee meeting.

Angela Padgett, a volunteer with Design for Joy, spoke to the committee at today’s lunch meeting.  Design for Joy is a nonprofit, faith based ministry in downtown Raleigh. It provides a transitional work environment and vocational training for people coming out of sex trafficking, homelessness, prison, overcoming drug addiction or other vulnerable situations. Design for Joy works with individuals 6 – 9 months providing them with living wages ($13.76/hour) while helping them establish work records, build confidence and resumes, and learn about work ethics. They pay 3,000 living wage hours annually. 

Design for Joy teaches participants how to make jewelry and sew. The items they make (bags, earrings, bracelets, and textiles) are sold at a space in Boylan Heights and on line currently but will be moving to Gateway Plaza in the near future. 

Design for Joy offers workshops Monday and Tuesday each week so participants can share what they are going through and experience community.  It is one piece of the puzzle. They partner with Salvation Army, Oxford House, Caring Connections, and Healing Transitions. They currently are in need of a CPA or CFO. 

The core truths for Design for Joy are prayer, truth, hospitality, communications and global mindset. 

A group from Design for Joy will be travelling to Africa to meet with artisans in the near future. Inspiration for DFJ comes from international friends