WHEREAS the issue of sexual exploitation of children and youth is an increasing problem in communities throughout the province; AND WHEREAS the provincial government has ceased funding toward services that support communities to develop prevention, education, enforcement and intervention strategies to address the sexual exploitation of children and youth: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that UBCM request the provincial government to identify the issue of sexual exploitation of children and youth as a priority and reinstate long term, dedicated funding for communities throughout the province to develop and maintain services for sexually exploited children and youth.
Ministry of Children Family Development Addressing sexual exploitation of children and youth remains a priority for the Province of British Columbia. A collaborative response from a number of ministries and levels of governments, along with police is required to effectively target sexual exploitation. The Ministry Children and Family Development and its service partners in the Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health via Health Authorities continue to support young persons who may be caught in such exploitation. While child welfare legislation primarily addresses the care of children within their family home, the Ministry has established and continues to fund a number of services that support sexually exploited children and youth. The Ministry annually allocates over 23 million to contracted community youth support services, which focus on at-risk and high-risk children and youth to help them leave homelessness, street entrenchment and situations of sexual exploitation. The aim is to help such youth return to family, enter into a longer-term service plan with the Ministry e.g., foster care or Youth Agreement, or connect with other available community services. Funded services include youth outreach and support workers and approximately 85 safe house and emergency shelter beds province-wide. Funds for contracted community youth support services are distributed to the Ministry Service Delivery Areas that determine, in partnership with communities, where best to allocate funds at the local level. In addition, the Ministry invests approximately 5 million annually for Sexual Abuse Intervention Programs SAIP to support children who have experienced sexual abuse, as well as their families and to reduce potential vulnerability to further sexual exploitation. These services are delivered by 49 ministry-contracted SAIP agencies across the province and are also available through the Ministrys community-based Child and Youth Mental Health teams.