Children can still be charged with prostitution in Texas after Greg Abbott veto

Children in Texas can still be charged with prostitution after Gov. Greg Abbott this month vetoed a popular bill prohibiting prostituted minors from being arrested or going to juvenile court.

House Bill 1771, authored by Rep. Shawn Thierry, D-Houston, would have changed the Texas penal code to not include children in its definition of prostitution. Law enforcement officers would still have the power to apprehend minors they suspected were involved in prostitution, but instead of going to jail, the children would be returned to their parents or the Texas Department of Family Protective Services.

More >> Children can still be charged with prostitution in Texas after Greg Abbott veto

Children in Social Services System Most at Risk of Being Sex Trafficked

Among children reported as likely victims of child sex trafficking upon running away from home, most have one thing in common—they were supposed to be looked after by the government.

In 2014, some 10,000 endangered runaway children were reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), a nonprofit that serves as a clearinghouse for reports on missing children. Nearly 1,700 of them were likely victims of sex trafficking and of those, 68 percent were in the care of social services when they went missing, be it a group home, a government facility, or foster care.

More >> Children in Social Services System Most at Risk of Being Sex Trafficked

Group Home Supervisor Sentenced to 10 Years for Sex Trafficking Minor

A supervisor at Blackstone Valley Youth and Family Collaborative group home contracted by the Rhode Island Department of Children Youth and Families (RI DCYF) who repeatedly sex-trafficked a missing 17-year-old girl has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.

More >> Group Home Supervisor Sentenced to 10 Years for Sex Trafficking Minor

Ex-Group Home Worker Gets 10 Years for Sex Trafficking Teen

A former supervisor at a Rhode Island group home that contracted with the state child welfare agency has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl.

The U.S. attorney says 29-year-old Reysean Williams was sentenced Thursday after pleading guilty in November to sex trafficking a child.

More >> Ex-Group Home Worker Gets 10 Years for Sex Trafficking Teen

Rape. Sex trafficking. Is Detroit youth home endangering girls?

They're among metro Detroit's most vulnerable children: teenage girls who have been abused, neglected or suffer from mental health issues.

But the place that's supposed to protect them is putting many in harm's way, police and court records allege.

More >> Rape. Sex trafficking. Is Detroit youth home endangering girls?

Man kidnapped Keller girl in foster care and advertised her for sex, feds say

An East Texas man was indicted Friday after he was accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old Keller girl, sexually assaulting her and sending recordings of the abuse to men online.

More >> Man kidnapped Keller girl in foster care and advertised her for sex, feds say

Shelter runaways being pulled into human trafficking

The problems at Davenport Shelter began long before a 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped after running away from the state licensed housing facility for troubled girls on Detroit’s east side.

According to state records, The Department of Health and Human Services launched a number of special investigations into the shelter dating back to 2011.

More >> Shelter runaways being pulled into human trafficking

Detroit police, FBI save teen girls from sex traffickers, youth shelter blamed

A disturbing story of sex traffickers targeting teenage girls in Detroit as a family found out their loved one is one of the victims.

Police are still investigating but right now two men, a 21- and an 18-year-old, are under arrest for what allegedly happened to that young lady and another teenage girl. They are said to have been runaways from a state licensed shelter on Detroit's east side.

More >> Detroit police, FBI save teen girls from sex traffickers, youth shelter blamed

Presidential Proclamation on National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2019

Human trafficking is a modern form of slavery.  It is not enough merely to denounce this horrific assault on human dignity; we must actively work to prevent and end this barbaric exploitation of innocent victims.  During National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, we pledge to continue the battle to abolish modern slavery and restore the lives of those affected by human trafficking.

Human trafficking harms adults and children of all ages and demographics.  Through force, fraud, and coercion, traffickers push their victims into demeaning forms of abuse, including domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation.  These crimes often remain hidden because victims are reluctant to seek help for a variety of reasons, including language barriers, fear of traffickers and law enforcement, and lack of trust.  Human trafficking destroys precious lives and threatens our Nation’s security, public health, and the rule of law.  It is a scourge on the global community.

More >> Presidential Proclamation on National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, 2019

Kids missing from group homes a common thread in Milwaukee sex trafficking

Many sex trafficking victims in Milwaukee have a history of being reported missing from group homes.

Most have experienced significant trauma — such as witnessing or being the victims of sexual assault, domestic violence or child abuse — by age 13 or younger, according to Milwaukee Police Department reports.

More >> Kids missing from group homes a common thread in Milwaukee sex trafficking

Ashley Goodrich pleads not guilty to trafficking a minor who lived in Saugus group home

A 27-year-old Lynn woman accused of using her position at a Saugus group home to recruit a child to perform sex acts for money in Boston and Worcester last year, pleaded not guilty to charges in Suffolk Superior Court Monday.

Ashley Goodrich was indicted by a statewide grand jury Sept. 27 on four counts of trafficking a minor for sexual servitude; one count of deriving support from prostitution of a minor; and four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to the office of Attorney General Maura Healey.

More >> Ashley Goodrich pleads not guilty to trafficking a minor who lived in Saugus group home

In Worcester court, former group home worker faces charges of prostituting teen girl

A Lynn woman who worked at a group home for adolescents in Saugus was released on personal recognizance Friday after pleading not guilty to charges of prostituting a teenage girl who lived at the home.

Prosecutors from the office of Attorney General Maura Healey allege that 27-year-old Ashley Goodrich, a former employee of Eliot Community Human Services, targeted and recruited the teen while working at the group residence, which has since closed. Ms. Goodrich allegedly posted online ads offering sexual services for a fee and drove the girl to sexual encounters in Worcester and Boston at times when the teen had run away from the home.

More >> In Worcester court, former group home worker faces charges of prostituting teen girl

Child trafficking in India: When children are bought and sold in the quest for a 'better life'

Babubhai* ran a unique matrimonial service out of a small shop in a busy Ahmedabad locality. He bought girls from Gujarat’s tribal areas and sold them as brides to rich Patel farmers. The ‘grooms’ were men who couldn’t find wives in their own communities because sex selective abortions over several generations had led to a severely skewed gender ratio. The few eligible women from the community didn’t wish to live on remote farms.

Babubhai was very proud of his ‘service’ – he didn’t think of it as trade. “I am saving them from poverty and starvation,” he’d say, of the girls involved in his transactions. “What sort of lives would they lead in their own tribal villages? Drunken husbands, more children. And I am giving these men healthy and obedient young wives. They are well worth their price.”

More >> Child trafficking in India: When children are bought and sold in the quest for a 'better life'

Ex-Kentucky judge sentenced to 20 years in prison for human trafficking

A former Kentucky judge has been sentenced to 20 years in prison on human trafficking charges.

Timothy Nolan, a 71-year-old former Campbell County District Judge, pleaded guilty to human trafficking and other felony sex crimes involving minors, according to multiple reports.

More >> Ex-Kentucky judge sentenced to 20 years in prison for human trafficking

Without family, U.S. children in foster care easy prey for human traffickers

Children removed from unfit families and put in foster care are terrifyingly vulnerable to being trafficked, a fact that Amy Andrews knows all too well.

She spun in and out of her abusive family home into the child welfare system, starting when she was 10 years old. By 14, she was selling sex on Hollywood’s Sunset Boulevard, working for traffickers who exploited her naivete and need for attention.

More >> Without family, U.S. children in foster care easy prey for human traffickers

DHS takes efforts to help foster kids that fall victim to sex trafficking

PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - The Oregon Department of Human Services is ramping up efforts to help foster kids who are victims of sex trafficking.

Caseworkers say it's a problem they can't ignore and are partnering with law enforcement to identify victims across the state.

More >> DHS takes efforts to help foster kids that fall victim to sex trafficking

Runaway foster kids raise sex-trafficking fears in Kansas

She was 13, living in a Kansas group home, when an older girl convinced her to run away.

That led to her being sold for sex for the first time.

More >> Runaway foster kids raise sex-trafficking fears in Kansas

510 Arrested in California Human Trafficking Sting

Of the 56 victims rescued, 11 were juveniles, and all were female. Officials said the average age of a juvenile human trafficking victim in California is between 12 and 14 years old, and 70 percent of victims come from the foster care system, but did not provide details on the specific victims rescued this week.

More >> 510 Arrested in California Human Trafficking Sting

Traffickers lure UK children in foster care with 'web of lies'

housands of traumatized children in foster care in Britain go missing, with some returning to traffickers who feed them "a web of lies", charities said on Thursday, urging better protection.

UK children's charity Barnado's said on Thursday that 16 percent of children referred to its fostering network had been sexually exploited or abused, and 17 percent were trafficked.

More >> Traffickers lure UK children in foster care with 'web of lies'

Texas has hired its first ever director of human trafficking prevention

Earlier this year, the Tribune’s Sold Out series examined how state policies — including a severely underfunded child welfare system — failed to help child sex-trafficking victims. Since then, lawmakers set aside a budget increase of more than $500 million for the foster care system, and the governor’s office approved new funds for trafficking prevention initiatives — which includes the state's first-ever Director of Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation.

More >> Texas has hired its first ever director of human trafficking prevention