Mission

The San Bernardino County Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE) is a partnership of public and private entities who have joined together to develop resources in the county to educate, prevent, intervene and treat victims of sexual exploitation.

 History & Structure

The San Bernardino County Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation was formed in 2009 as an initiative by the District Attorney’s Office who saw the need to recognize children involved in commercial sexual exploitation as victims instead of criminals. District Attorney, Michael Ramos and Fourth District County Supervisor, Gary Ovitt called upon leaders from other child-serving County departments to enter into a collaborative effort to address the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) in San Bernardino County.

 Partners

The Coalition has grown considerably since 2009 and now includes the following ten County of San Bernardino agencies as well as community organizations, service providers and the faith-based community:

 Committees & Meetings

  • ​A Steering Committee consisting of one representative from each of the eight departments meet on a monthly basis to oversee program operations, review and approve expenditures and receive reports from the Coordinator regarding program updates.
  • In 2010, the County of San Bernardino, Department of Behavioral Health received funding through the California Mental Health Services Act Innovation Component to support the formation of a CASE multi-disciplinary team (MDT). That team currently consists of the following professionals:
  • Juvenile Probation Officer
  • Children & Family Services Social Worker
  • Department of Behavioral Health Clinician
  • Public Defender Social Worker
Both the Children & Family Services Social Worker and the Juvenile Probation Officer carry reduced caseloads of children who have been commercially sexually exploited. The Department of Behavioral Health Clinician assists with assessments and connecting the children on both caseloads to services in the community as well as conducts trainings for both governmental and non-governmental service providers and law enforcement countywide.
 
The addition of the Public Defender Social worker is a recent one and came about as the team discovered that many of the young people, especially on the caseload of the probation officer, were also represented by the Public Defender and had access to their team of social work professionals.
 
The MDT is overseen by a coordinator who works for the San Bernardino County Children’s Network. The Coordinator’s role is to oversee and coordinate the efforts of the program as well as to be the main point of contact. In addition, the Coordinator takes a lead role in delivering training, education and outreach to the community.
  • The Outreach & Education Committee meets on a monthly basis and is open to the public. Chaired by the CASE Coordinator, it aims to bring people from various fields together to connect with one another in their efforts to address human trafficking and the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Members include both county and non-county staff, service clubs like Soroptimist International and Rotary as well as community-based organizations and members of the faith-based community.

 Training/Events

For a list of CASE trainings and to register, please go to:  CASE

Join Our Mailing List

 

The Road to Risk

DEC and Sexual Exploitation 11 2017 Dr Kiti Handout.pdfDEC and Sexual Exploitation 11 2017 Dr Kiti Handout.pdf

 Quicklinks

To Report Child Abuse