I wrote up a long post and lost it. Frustrating. Gain their trust, this takes time. Catch the scum that prays of them via prostitution with minors which is a terrible crime, you can use a video cam to catch the lisence plates, etc like I saw some dude do on TV then he would follow the cars to where they would go do their business and walk up to the car and catch the guy with his pants down right on his video tape. Such a mans wife, or the police, might be interested in such tapes.
I suggest you differentiate between different sub groups. The hardcore street kids on heroin who hook and it’s become their lifestyle. And the shy kids who are more likely newly homeless, maybe not on drugs yet, maybe not prostituting yet. They are more ‘reachable’ IMO.
And if your program doesn’t contact family, get that message out there. Use flyers. Use the hardcore kids to test you out to see if that is the truth so the kids who want or are open to help won’t be afraid to be sent back to abusive homes. And you might catch them before they become hardcore.
Figure out if needles are going to be given that are clean and free. I personally as an intern of such a program wouldn’t want to see the look on the parents faces while they morn their dead son and a clean needle might have saved his life and the lives of dozens of others.
Establishing trust will be hard. These kids had terrible childhoods. They dont’ trust people. When I was 19 I knew I had major problems but didn’t understand the system and felt I needed a psychiatrist but thought if I told them what was going on in my mind (thoughts of doing grave harm to my mother- even though I knew I wouldn’t do it and wasn’t violent at all) I thought I would be put in a straight jacket and in a rubber room. I simply didnt know that as long as I wasn’t going to act on those thoughts I could remain free and engage in treatment (talk and/or meds or whatever). So getting them the honest truth about what your program offers and what it will and won’t do with respect to contacting family or police if they are say 14/15 is important. Many (no wonder) choose homelessness over being raped by step dad or whatever. Flyers are an easy tool to use and you could use the hardcore kids to get the message out to the newbies who got sent away b/c they are gay. They may be timid and weak and are going to be eaten alive on the streets. And the hardcore kids probably don’t have the best morals so may introduce them to hooking and drugs or whatever and make the lifestyle appear appealing.
Getting them into services is what is appealing. This is the message they need to hear. And don’t expect any of them to trust you quickly. I didn’t trust a soul due to my childhood abuse and neglect. But if I had a non judgemental adult who talked to me over a period of time, maybe I could have learned to trust him…and then trust and follow his recommendations. I will never know.
You’ve got your work cut out for you. But you can learn where the kids hang to do drugs, listen to music and talk, as well as get customers to prostitute with. I think it would be a great service if you got the make, model, color and plate number of cars picking these kids up. Not sure who would be best to give that info to…maybe the cops. Maybe some internet group that tries to catch predators or whatever. But old men praying on abused children is BAD. The hardcore kids probably see it as no big deal, and a means to get money for heroin if they have been on the streets for a while. But it’s not OK and it would be best if you could prevent even one new kid from engaging in prostitution. The hardcore kids are not going to have a problem (I’m guessing) teaching them how to hook and introducing them to drugs like heroin.
If you can gain the trust of a few kids, that would be great. Maybe consider running one or more groups, they could be informal with relaxed rules so the kids actually show up and don’t consider it totally lame. The one’s shunned by their parents maybe they would even be open to 1 to 1 counseling and fully investing in taking advantages of services. These kids you have the chance to save, the chance to turn their lives around and get them off the streets before it becomes their lifestyle.
So if you can separate the hardcore one’s who are content with their life (as minserable as it is) from those who are open to participating in some sort of rehab or services I think your chances to ‘reach’ the newer one’s, the meaker ones, and helping some of them completely turn their lives around.
The one main factor that makes the difference in an abuse child’s life is whether or not they have at least one adult who is calm, caring, etc who they can talk to and learn to trust. The one’s who don’t have this and don’t find this mostly wind up lost (chronic homeless, dead, jail, whatever). It should be no surprise. Do what you can. And use rational detachment so you don’t take your work home with you. It’s hard to be effective at this type of job if your staying awake at night constantly worrying about the kids. Separate work from your home life. And at work do what you can.
God Bless,
Bill
