Child and Human Trafficking
Sadly, Florida is one of the top 3 states in the nation in the number of children who are reported victims of human trafficking. http://laws.flrules.org/2019/152. Many of these children are trafficked from hotels, motels, massage parlors, strip clubs and even the child welfare shelters and group homes that are required to protect them. These children are prostituted, traumatized and drugged by their traffickers. The attorneys at Justice for Kids represent these children after they are recovered and have succeeded in lawsuits to obtain the substance abuse resources necessary to obtain drug treatment, mental health counseling and other assistance necessary to help overcome the injury caused by human traffickers.
- Attorneys Settle Case for Trafficked Child Against Child Welfare Agencies for Undisclosed Sum. Justice for Kids attorneys represented a former foster child in a federal lawsuit filed in the Southern District of Florida against community-based child welfare agencies and an emergency shelter for failure to protect the then 17-year-old foster child from being sold into sex trafficking in 2012 and held captive in a Fort Lauderdale hotel. The case resolved for an undisclosed amount against the child welfare agencies responsible for failing to provide her an appropriate placement and for placing her into the custody of the traffickers. The claim is pending as to the hotel that turned a blind eye and knew she was being victimized in the hotel. Justice for Kids attorneys Justin D. Grosz and Stacie J. Schmerling filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the former foster child against the hotel where management and staff were complicit, whether actively or passively, with human traffickers who held her captive, advertised her for sex and forced her to prostitute from a motel room for weeks. Link to:
- Miami Herald: Children’s shelter to settle lawsuit over sex trafficking
- Miami Herald: Children’s shelter didn’t protect girl from sex trafficking, lawsuit says
- Miami New Times: Lawsuit: Teen Sold Into Sex Slavery by Keys Children’s Shelter Employee
- Florida Keys News: Lawsuit: Keys children shelter, two other agencies didn’t protect girl from sex trafficking
- Daily Business Review: Litigation Trend: Florida Hotels Sued Over Human Trafficking
- Community Based Care Lead Agency, Case Management Agency and Shelter Staff Member Accused of Recruiting Child for Prostitution. Justice for Kids attorneys settled a case pre-suit against a South Florida community based care lead agency, case management agency and shelter where a staff member recruited a child for prostitution. The case settled with all agencies for undisclosed amounts.
Legal Services Provided to Benefit Children: