In Maryland, underage survivors of child sex trafficking can still be arrested for prostitution and other crimes they were forced to commit while being trafficked.
The Safe Harbor Bill under consideration in the Maryland Assembly will protect children and youth from being prosecuted for crimes resulting from their exploitation by traffickers. Instead, these kids will be referred to service providers — like Araminta — where they will receive support rebuilding their lives.
It’s past time for Maryland to pass this common-sense law. There’s no such thing as a child prostitute.
Throughout Maryland, Araminta reduces the threat and trauma of trafficking through prevention, education, and restorative services for survivors of what is universally defined as modern slavery.
You can help.
Children in Maryland are exceptionally vulnerable to trafficking. Individual vulnerabilities include housing instability and homelessness, domestic violence, sexual abuse, low self-esteem, social isolation, and untreated mental health or substance abuse in the family. Children in the child welfare system, including foster care, are disproportionately at risk.
In Maryland, these factors are compounded by the state’s disparity of extreme poverty and extreme wealth, along with the increased presence of gambling facilities. The intersection of a major seaport, international airports and interstate highways used to transport children within and without Maryland further foster an illicit marketplace for children.
Services We Provide
Educational Services
Heightening awareness of child sex trafficking—a danger that many people know little about—is essential to reducing the threat it poses to children everywhere. Therefore, we take steps to educate the public about child sex trafficking, the factors that put youth at particular risk, red flags that a child may be being sexually exploited and the trauma commonly sustained by those who are trafficked.
Prevention Strategies
While no child is immune from the threat of child sex trafficking, some youth are particularly vulnerable based on factors ranging from social isolation to their exposure to the child welfare system. These and other factors are why we develop and implement prevention strategies with local communities.
Survivor Services
Sex trafficking is inherently traumatic. However, many survivors of child sex trafficking have experienced trauma over the course of their lives—emotional, physical and sexual abuse, for example, or parental alcohol and substance use—that put them at particular risk of trafficking. Araminta adopts a trauma-informed approach when providing clinical and support services to survivors of child sex trafficking so they can lead peaceful, productive and self-determined lives.
