Safe Harbour Program

Safe HarbourFunded by the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, the Ulster 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 with the ultimate goal of identifying, responding to, and empowering youth with appropriate services and prevention education.

Safe Harbour For Exploited Children Act (2008)

Defines a sexually exploited child as any person under 18 years of age who has been subject to sexual exploitation as a result of their loitering for the purposes of prostitution or their engagement in an offer to exchange sexual conduct in return for food, clothing, a place to stay, drugs, or a fee. Forms of commercial sexual exploitation of children can include images of sexual abuse (pornography), exotic dance or performance, cyber-enticement, sex tourism, and domestic minor sex trafficking. Safe Harbour law defines children who are involved in these crimes as victims, not perpetrators.

NYS Definition For Labor Trafficking

Compelling or inducing another to engage in labor, or recruiting, enticing, harboring or transporting another by providing drugs, with-holding or destroying government documents, debt servicing, force, or a plan or pattern of coercive conduct.

CONTACTS AND SERVICES

Presentations, Technical Assistance, Referrals

Jackie Arsenuk
Safe Harbour Coordinator
Ph: (845)-340-3927
Email: Ulster.SafeHarbour@gmail.com

Safe Harbour offers educational presentations on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) and child trafficking as well as technical assistance that equips individuals with tools for engaging youth in conversations about trafficking, assistance with screening youth for trafficking, and how to make referrals to the NYS Confirmation Process. All other questions welcomed!

An additional goal of the Safe Harbour Program is to gather data for at-risk and trafficked youth in order to paint a truer picture of what trafficking looks like in Ulster County. Obtaining this data will assist us with our prevention efforts as well as securing funds for continued service provision.

Click here to refer a youth to Safe Harbour’s Case Management program or to provide confidential data on a youth that does not require services at this time.

Case Management

Nicole Martin
Case Manager
Ph: (845)-331-7080 ext. 155
Email: nmartin@familyofwoodstockinc.org

The Ulster County Safe Harbour program has contracted with Family of Woodstock (link is external) to facilitate our case management efforts. Services available to youth include clothing, shelter, medical care, legal services, crisis intervention, educational and vocational counseling, and other services as needed.

Additional Information