Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth

In 2008 Governor Paterson signed the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth Act into law. The law forces the family court system to recognize underage girls and boys who are caught in prostitution as victims and would create specialized services and housing for them. NOW-NYC advocated for a policy that would address the ways in which these kids, predominantly girls, were criminalized and further victimized by a system that lacked the ability to help them effectively. Instead of providing adequate services- including emergency short-term and long-term housing, counseling, support, medical care, and education- these girls were funneled into juvenile detention programs and youth prisons that failed to address their specialized needs.

The Safe Harbor Act was scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2010, but the state of the economy and the New York State budget crisis has put the funding necessary to make Safe Harbor a success at risk.
The good news for the bill is that training is already under way in the family courts that deal with these cases, and emergency shelter is being put into place within existing shelters. The downside is that a lot more is going to need to be done, especially to establish the long-term housing and the training of police, nurses, judges, attorneys, and advocates that are necessary to make this program effective.

Sexually Exploited Youth Fact Sheet

Learn about Very Young Girls, a documentary expose of trafficking that follows thirteen and fourteen year old American girls as they are seduced, abused, and sold on New York's streets by pimps, and treated as adult criminals by police.

If you are looking for help, you can find resources in New York City here.