Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman announced his administration is contributing $500,000 toward the construction of a new facility to help shelter children who are victims of human trafficking.
The social services organization Young Women’s Christian Association of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County will construct the more than 7,000-square-foot building, which is expected to cost about $5.2 million. Once completed, the facility will feature a 24-hour call center, on-site case managers, residential managers, education and counseling. CEO Molly Knipe said the team expects to break ground this fall and open its doors to 13- to 18-year-old victims of sex trafficking, or forced prostitution, the following summer.
“It’s a residential feel but with a very secure environment,” Knipe said.
The grant was set aside in the county’s fiscal 2023 budget and will be supplemented by $1.35 million from the General Assembly. Knipe said the remaining $3.35 million came from private foundations, individual donors and event revenue.
“This facility will be a place where these girls can be safe, where they can get education, where they will get services, where they will have the ability to heal,” Pittman said during a news conference Tuesday morning.
The county’s proximity to the I-95 corridor and BWI Marshall Airport make it an especially attractive locale for sex traffickers, according to a YWCA report from 2018. Those factors also make it the perfect spot to locate a safe center for victims of the crime, said Pam Jordan, deputy chief administrative officer for Health and Human Services. She said the location of the safe house is not public for the privacy of the victims.
The facility will be the only human trafficking safe house for children in the state, Annapolis state Sen. Sarah Elfreth said during the news conference.
“It will be serving the entire state of Maryland, which is why Sen. [Pam] Beidle and I made it our number one priority in this year’s budget,” Elfreth said. “We’ve seen an uptick in domestic violence. We’ve seen an uptick in child abuse, and we’ve seen an uptick in human trafficking.”
Data from 2020, the most recent available, showed 136 human trafficking cases were reported in Maryland. The year before, 187 cases were reported, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Sex trafficking in Maryland can be quite profitable, according to a 2016 report from the Maryland Rescue and Restore Coalition, which states that a trafficker makes $200,000 on average from one victim.
Unaccompanied immigrant children, homeless and runaway children and children who have run away from foster care or juvenile services are the most at risk, said the YWCA report.
“This is a very, very real problem and it’s happening certainly right here in Anne Arundel County,” Knipe said.
The county’s YWCA, founded in 1918, is the only comprehensive domestic violence and sexual assault center in the county. It provides therapy, legal representation, abuse intervention and support groups to about 10,000 people a year.
