UKIAH, CA., 2/2/26 — The Ukiah branch of the Court Appointed Special Advocates teamed up with the California State Highway Patrol to offer training on human trafficking awareness at the Pinoleville Rancheria Thursday. The court advocates monitor foster youth in counties across the nation. The program was hosted by the Pinoleville Missing and Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) group; about 20 people attended the training, held in the rancheria’s gym.
Court advocate Brandy Maxwell gave real life examples of trafficking, neglect and abuse of Native American children in Mendocino County. In the 2024 Mendocino County Grand Jury report on county child services, Native American children represent 24 percent of the children in foster care and nearly 30 percent of children placed in emergency transitional care. This overrepresentation (Native children make up approximately 4.1 percent of the county’s population under age 18 according to Kidsdata) meant the presentation was frighteningly relevant.
“It’s happening here. It’s not just some big cities,” Maxwell said. “It happens here more often than we want to know.”
Maxwell told the story of how a Native American teenage girl was trafficked off of Bush Street in Ukiah and was missing for more than a year and a half before being found in Mexico; she was able to return to the U.S. three months later. Maxwell said the girl was in foster care and had had multiple placements, putting her at a higher risk of being trafficked.
Maxwell pointed out that social media played a major role in this case as the trafficker who took the girl knew many things about her, her family and her living situation from her social media. The trafficker threatened to take all of the girl’s siblings if she didn’t comply.
Maxwell used this story to show how traffickers use force and blackmail to coerce their victims. Other traffickers threaten or use physical violence, some use gifts and flattery, and some use fraud and the promise of an opportunity.
Maxwell noted several issues that contribute to Native Americans being twice as likely to be trafficked than any other race: higher rates of homelessness, gangs and exposure to gangs, exposure to the commercial sex industry, historical trauma, substance or alcohol use, violence or exposure to violence and a lack of services.
Racism, the erasure of Native identities and blood quantum requirements have also contributed to high trafficking of Native Americans. And being in foster care with multiple foster placements is another issue that can lead to trafficking, Maxwell said. She mentioned that often cultural differences result in several placements and cited an example of a boy, placed in a vegetarian household, who refused to eat. If culture were considered in foster placements, she said, she believed there would be fewer changes and thus more stability for foster youth.
Also presenting was CHP Sgt. George Smith, who described the Feather Alert program, the statewide missing person alert program to help find Native Americans who suddenly disappear. Smith stressed the importance of contacting law enforcement early on.
“If you have a family member that goes missing, you don’t have to wait 24 hours,” Smith said, addressing a common misperception and the topic of several audience questions. “Just contact local law enforcement, local PD or sheriff’s office, Tribal PD. They need to be notified first.”
Smith explained how the Feather Alert works regarding jurisdiction. The Feather Alert is the only alert out of seven different alerts, like Amber Alerts or an Ebony Alert, that CHP can activate without the cooperation of local police departments. For example, if a Native person is missing and local police or tribal police in that person’s area aren’t sending out an alert or working to find them, CHP can be contacted to activate a Feather Alert.
“If [local police] don’t do anything, you can call our CHP communication centers and they will forward you to my team,” Smith explained.
Smith also noted that having an up-to-date photo of your loved one is crucial to helping find them. An alert sent out without a picture is often ineffective at helping to locate a missing person. When a photo is issued, the person is sometimes spotted on the street within hours, Smith said.
Once the program started, people took notice: In the first year, 2023, Smith said only one alert rolled out. 2024 saw 14 alerts, and 2025 had 45. According to CHP Lt. Kenji Takahashi, there have also been five alerts so far in 2026. Statistics prove the worth of Feather Alerts: Takahashi said that the only reported missing person was found in 2023, 12 of 14 found in 2024, 41 of 45 in 2025. Of the five missing so far this year, four have been located.
The criteria for the Feather Alert changed last year. Two more questions have been added and must be determined to be true before an alert is issued. These are:
“The law enforcement agency determines that the person is missing,” and “The law enforcement agency or tribe believes that the person is in danger and is missing under circumstances that indicate any of the following: 1. The missing person’s physical safety may be endangered. 2. The missing person may be subject to trafficking. 3. The missing person suffers from a mental or physical disability, or a substance use disorder,” according to the CHP website’s Feather Alert page.
At the end of the presentations, Maxwell showed a list of statistics regarding human trafficking in California from the National Human Trafficking Hotline website. In 2024, there were nearly 1,300 human trafficking cases reported in California. There were 1,000 victims and survivors of sex trafficking, and there were more than 350 cases of children being victims of trafficking in the state.
Maxwell handed out resources about trafficking, what the warning signs are, how to seek help and how to talk to your kids about it. Maxwell also highlighted an app called 24/7 Help (available on the Apple app and Google play stores) with health, human and social service resources for Lake and Mendocino counties. Additional resources are added regularly.
I find it sad that the “reporter” took statements out of context and misrepresented information by me and CHP! This is just a story to you but will destroy relationships with your misinformation! Also, the reporter stated she would reach out to make sure there were no mistakes in quotes or comments. That didn’t happen.