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Program Information
CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION (CAP) COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS
COALITION AGAINST SEXUAL EXPLOITATION (CASE)
MENTORING YOUTH TASK FORCE
Children’s Network was involved in a number of collaborative efforts in a variety of areas. Of particular
note is the involvement in Loma Linda Children’s Hospital’s Keep Me Safe Parenting Conference, Too Hot
for Tot campaign, health and resource fairs, and Safe Sleep for Infants campaign.
An integral part of Children’s Network is disseminating child abuse prevention materials to the greater
community. Children’s Network was also involved with video and theater advertising, billboard and bus
ads, distribution of ABC’s of Safe Sleep Resource kits and Dial 2-1-1 to report child abuse.
The commercial sexual exploitation of youth is a serious and pervasive issue affecting individuals,
families, and communities around the world.
Exploiting children is a form of child abuse and those
being exploited are victims of this serious crime. It is a complicated issue and in response, the County of
San Bernardino has formed a coalition made up of law enforcement and social service agencies at a local
level to coordinate their activities in order to best connect exploited youth to needed services.
The Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE) includes partnerships between the District Attorney,
Public Defender, Probation Department, Sheriff’s Department, Children and Family Services (CFS),
Department of Behavioral Health (DBH), County Superintendent of Schools, and Children’s Network.
Early in 2011, a multi-disciplinary team was formed consisting of a juvenile probation officer, a social
service practitioner from CFS and a therapist from DBH. Together, with staff from the Public Defender
and the District Attorney’s Offices, they are responsible for providing education, prevention,
intervention, referrals and direct services to youth who are at risk of or who have been victims of
commercial sexual exploitation.
The Mentoring Resource Coordinator continues to develop collaborative efforts between DBH and CN
to assist with connecting high-risk system-involved youth with mentoring programs.
High-risk, system-
involved target populations include foster and kinship youth, probation youth, transitional age youth, and
other underserved populations of youth throughout the County.
The Mentoring Youth Task Force was created to bring existing mentoring programs, County staff, and
community partners together to share information and facilitate greater mentoring relationships between
high-risk and community-based mentoring programs.