Two years ago I sat in my City Hall office reading a city-commissioned report on children involved in street prostitution. I was shocked at the documented number of kids throughout King County caught up in what is a coercive, violent and predatory environment.
As I finished the report, I reflected on what I could personally do to help rescue these children, mostly young girls, some as young as 12 and 13 years of age. I focused on one of the report's recommendations . . . establish a safe house where the kids could receive the specialized care and services they would need to escape from their pimps and the men who prey on them. It's been a two year journey and today we were able to announce that the City has raised the necessary funding to open just such a safe house, only the fourth of its kind in the United States.
Here's a press release announcing the launch of the program. And this Q & A document provides more details. Today's Seattle Times carries a front page story with the news.
Here's what I've written previously on this topic.
This is an issue not normally brought up in dinner conversations. But it's one we can't avoid. We must take a side and advocate strongly for our children who are victims of this domestic trafficking. A unified and strong community voice is being heard on this issue and today signals yet again that we won't turn away.