From Karen, a parent –

The age of consent was designed to support young people in accessing treatment as well as declining treatment, and while I believe the intent was good, there were not enough protections put into place for families with youth who are incapable of making healthy choices. When literally every provider, the parents, and every system touching that youth are agreeing treatment is needed, yet the youth is still not receiving that treatment, there is a problem

My 14-year-old daughter was “choosing” to live on the streets of Auburn with an adult man who was pimping her out and got her addicted to meth and heroin. The court systems were involved, we as her parents were involved, the school was involved, and yet, she dropped out of school, was living on the streets, and all that involves, and no one could help us to help her. She would end up in the hospital and a designated crisis responder would determine she needed care; however, there were either no beds or no facilities would accept her because mental health facilities wanted the substance use addressed while the substance use disorder facilities wanted the mental health issues addressed, or it was because of her sexual behaviors.

We finally got her into Children’s Long Term Treatment (CLIP) which is the state’s highest level of care and she was at Child Study Treatment Center for 15 months. However, because she met her treatment goals, she was discharged when everyone knew she would go back to her previous behaviors without the structure provided at that level of treatment. She did and it was another four years of trauma and unsafe living before she stabilized. She could have lost her life countless times, and many young people have because of the complexity of the age of consent and the gaps in supporting youth who are incapable of making healthy choices.

Lived experiences often don’t match the goal or desired outcome for a law and when barriers are identified, they must move quicker to support families. System of Care principles and values are important, because when laws are designed that don’t support those principles and values, families are destroyed. Prevention needs to be a focus, rather than being reactive. Families can tell you what will work for them, and state leaders need to listen.