Galvanizing a community to combat underage prostitution

Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 3:27 PM
Seattle Times

Some estimates are that 300 to 500 children may working as prostitutes in King County. A forum at Seattle's Town Hall ought to draw more attention and resources to this heartbreaking problem.

THE heartbreaking problem of child prostitution has been battled admirably in this region with a combination of smart public policies and a united front on strategies by law enforcement, child-welfare authorities and elected officials.

The public gets an opportunity to learn more fully about this issue, including how juveniles as young as 13 get pressed into prostitution, at Thursday's Town Hall forum on sex trafficking.

Washington has been battling this problem for a while. In 2003, it became the first state to criminalize sex trafficking, A new criminal category for the commercial sexual abuse of a minor was created in 2007. Tougher penalties in 2010, along with a 24/7 victims hotline, added to a worthy arsenal of crime-fighting tools.

Yet, too many children are still working the streets. A study commissioned three years ago by the city of Seattle estimated the number in King County at from 300 to 500. A national law-enforcement effort to rescue underage prostitutes through annual "sweeps" recover only a fraction.

Efforts must culminate in more children rescued and safe places for them to go. Some children turn to the streets after suffering abuse or neglect at home. FULL STORY

RE: "Some children turn to the streets after suffering abuse or neglect at home" .  Perhaps that should be "after suffering abuse or neglect in state custody".
"As many as 75 percent of all children in foster care, upon leaving the system, will have experienced sexual abuse. One study by Johns Hopkins University found that the rate of sexual abuse within the foster-care system is more than four times as high as in the general population; in group homes, the rate of sexual abuse is more than 28 times that of the general population." --Sexual Abuse: An Epidemic in Foster Care Settings? By Orlow, Orlow & Orlow July 17, 2009