Orange County ranks fourth in Florida for child sex trafficking victims
Orlando, Fla. (February 16, 2022) — Voices for Florida announced that FLITE Center was awarded a contract to provide Open Doors Outreach Network services to sex trafficked children and young adults ages 10 – 24 in the Central Florida region. FLITE Center anticipates it will begin accepting referrals this Spring to provide Open Doors services in Orange, Lake, Seminole, and Osceola counties. In 2021, Orange County ranked fourth in the number of Florida counties in with reports of verified child sex trafficking victims.
Voices for Florida’s Open Doors Outreach Network is the state’s leading trauma-informed 24/7 network for helping sex trafficked children and young adults. Victims are supported by a team of professionals, including Survivor-Mentors, Regional Advocates, Clinicians, and Victim Services Coordinators that work together to provide emergency stabilization, individualized wellness plans, ongoing support and more to help victims heal.
Over 1,300 Victims Have Received Open Doors Outreach Network Services
“In our past four years serving sex trafficking survivors, we’ve seen that victims often intersect with the child welfare system,” said Deborah Foote, Voices for Florida President. “The FLITE Center has a proven track record of serving foster youth. Their Central Florida services will be a major asset to the Open Doors Outreach Network.”
Open Doors Outreach Network services are currently available in five other Florida regions: Big Bend, Gold and Treasure Coast, Northeast Florida, Southeast Florida and Suncoast. Since 2017, over 1,300 sex trafficked child and young adult victims have been served by the Open Doors Outreach Network.
“With the amount of sex trafficked children and young adults in Central Florida, the Open Doors Outreach Network approach to services is greatly needed in our community,” said Christine M. Frederick, CEO of FLITE Center.
All Children are Vulnerable
Florida is a hot spot for human trafficking, ranking third in the nation for reports to the National Human Hotline. There were 738 reports of human trafficking in Florida to the National Human Trafficking Hotline in 2020, the latest statistics available. Most of the reports (517) were for sex trafficking and 142 reports involved minors. In 2020 there were 25 verified child sex trafficking victims in Orange County, 8 in Seminole County, 7 in Osceola County and 5 in Lake County. Orange County consistently ranks in the top 5 of counties for prevalence of verified victims.
“The unique approach of the Open Doors Outreach Network allows for standardized high-quality services are always available for sex trafficked children and young adults. This ensures better outcomes for those most vulnerable,” said Christine M. Frederick, CEO of FLITE Center.
The average age of a child sex trafficking victim is just 12-14. Both boys and girls are victimized. All children are vulnerable, but foster children, runaways and homeless youth are especially at risk.
About Voices for Florida
Founded in 1976, Voices for Florida is a statewide non-profit with a long history of teaming with others to create transformational change for vulnerable children. The organization specializes in advancing innovative service models based on promising practices and insight from people most affected. Voices for Florida serves as the backbone organization for the Open Doors Outreach Network, which is its latest collaboration. As the backbone for the Network, Voices for Florida mobilizes resources to plug service gaps, advances training and education and monitors evaluation and outcome measures to ensure successful outcomes for victims and more. For more information, visit voicesforflorida.org.
About FLITE Center
FLITE (Fort Lauderdale Independence, Training & Education) Center was created in 2009 through a partnership of the Community Foundation of Broward, the United Way of Broward County and Junior League of Greater Fort Lauderdale, with the intent of offering comprehensive access to services for youth aging out of foster care. FLITE Center’s mission is to guide those aging out of foster care and other vulnerable youth for a successful transition to independence through housing, education, employment, and system of care coordination. FLITE Center has extended its reach to include survivors of human trafficking, LGBTQ+ youth, homeless youth and others experiencing barriers to reaching self-sufficiency due to negative life experiences and limited familial support. The vision is that no youth face the journey to adulthood alone.
Services range from assistance with education, affordable housing, and employment, to life skills that include budgeting, living with a roommate, interviewing, parenting, etc. FLITE Center also offers onsite wellness supports that include mental health counseling, medication management and preventative pediatric and adult health services.
For more information, please visit www.flitecenter.org.
