For the past year I've been working alongside Human Trafficking victims who are being prosecuted by DCFS.
And as a Mandatory Reporter this has brought serious questions about how reports are made and to who. Buckle up kids and sorry for how dark this is about to get. But I need to say something...
After observing and mapping the protocols and structure of DCFS's decisions (as someone who does this professionally) Ive been unable to discover any pathway through this system that doesn't endanger victims or benefit their captors.
Not only that... Exhaustive efforts are taken by CSWs at the direction of their supervisors to suppress evidence, avoid record keeping for posterity, and interfere with other law enforcement investigations. Because I've tried to take this to EVERYONE up the ladder. It's designed this way.
At a profit of $4bn a year. That's right, most DCFS agencies are contracted to a for profit company- Maximus… with the privileges of a government agency.
For all the mechanisms we've put in place to believe women and investigate violence against them, it seems we've only delivered them to a more dangerous predator to devour them before eventually returning their corpses to their captors.