Safe Harbour Program
Funded by the New York State Office of Children and Family Services, the Genesee County Safe Harbour Program seeks to raise public awareness and educate human services and law enforcement professionals about the commercial sexual exploitation of children and child trafficking. The program’s goal is to identify, respond to and empower youth through appropriate services and prevention education.
The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a global problem. Genesee County’s Safe Harbour Program works with partners across the County and surrounding areas to promote awareness of youth trafficking and identify and provide comprehensive services to potential victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
Services for Youth
The Genesee County Safe Harbour Critical Team provides case coordination and advocacy for commercially sexually exploited youth. The team can help youth access:
- Medical care
- Mental health counseling
- Financial assistance
- Emergency shelter
- Other basic living and safety needs
Internet safety education is also available for youth and parents who need information about social media, apps, grooming and other tactics traffickers may use to target youth online.
Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act
The Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act was enacted in 2008. It defines a sexually exploited child as a person under 18 years of age who has been subjected to sexual exploitation as a result of loitering for the purpose of prostitution or engaging in an offer to exchange sexual conduct for food, clothing, a place to stay, drugs or a fee.
Forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children can include:
- Images of sexual abuse, including pornography
- Exotic dance or performance
- Cyber-enticement
- Sex tourism
- Domestic minor sex trafficking
The Safe Harbour law defines children involved in these crimes as victims, not perpetrators.
New York State Definition of Labor Trafficking
Labor trafficking includes compelling or inducing another person to engage in labor, or recruiting, enticing, harboring or transporting another person through methods such as providing drugs, withholding or destroying government documents, debt servicing, force, or a plan or pattern of coercive conduct.