Objective

To determine the extent of implementation of the nine recommendations included in the initial audit report, Identifying, Reporting, and Providing Services for Youth at Risk of Sexual Human Trafficking in New York City (Report 2021-N-2).

About the Program

Reliable data on the commercial sexual exploitation of children does not exist because of the underground (in-the-shadows) nature of this crime. New York City (NYC) reported an average of 2,249 children each year were sexually exploited or at risk of sexual exploitation during the 4-year period from January 2017 through December 2020. This number declined to an average of 730 children per year during the subsequent 4-year period from January 2021 through December 2024.

In September 2008, the Safe Harbour for Exploited Children Act (Safe Harbour) was signed into law in New York State. It became effective in 2010, making New York the first state in the nation to recognize sexually exploited minors as victims and not perpetrators of crimes.

In 2014, the U.S. Congress enacted the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, which requires the screening of children within the child welfare system for potential sex trafficking and the timely reporting of sex trafficking incidents to law enforcement. It also requires data collection on sex-trafficked and at-risk youth. In 2015, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) issued Administrative Directive 15-OCFS-ADM-16: Requirements to Identify, Document, Report and Provide Services to Child Sex Trafficking Victims. This Administrative Directive assists Local Departments of Social Services, including the NYC Administration for Children Services (ACS)—which is overseen by OCFS—and voluntary agencies on how to identify, report on, and provide services to exploited children.

In 2013, OCFS began allocating Safe Harbour funds annually to certain counties—$1.6 million in 2013, $1.7 million in 2014, and $3 million in 2015 to 2020—to leverage and strengthen existing systems and to create a more effective and efficient response to youth who have experienced or are vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation or trafficking. The goal was to bring counties up to a functioning level and provide programmatic support that would allow the counties time to integrate policies and procedures into practice and to be able to continue serving the youth once the funding is reduced. The annual funding was reduced to $2 million in 2021. ACS was selected to plan and distribute these funds in NYC. According to ACS, the annual allocation of the Safe Harbour funding to ACS has declined significantly, decreasing from $622,220 in 2013 to $50,000 in both 2024 and 2025. For 2026, Safe Harbor funds decreased again to approximately $17,000.

Until 2020, ACS provided some of the funds to the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) for developing and providing services to sexually exploited youth. DYCD contracts with community-based organizations (providers) to provide various youth welfare services, such as after-school and employment programs, school-based community centers, and runaway and homeless youth services.

As part of their reporting requirements under Local Law 41 (LL41) of 2016, both DYCD and ACS are required to submit an annual report to the Speaker of the NYC Council documenting the number of youth in contact with DYCD and ACS who are referred to, self-report as, or are later determined by DYCD or ACS to be sexually exploited children.

The objective of our initial audit report, issued on June 6, 2022, was to determine whether ACS and DYCD identify, report on, and provide services for victims of child sex trafficking and those at risk of child sex trafficking. Our audit covered the period from January 2017 through January 2022 for ACS and from January 2017 through September 2021 for DYCD. ACS and DYCD have developed, promoted, implemented, and funded initiatives and programs to improve the safety and well-being of NYC children and to mitigate the sexual exploitation of children. However, the audit also found both agencies need to do more to identify, report on, and provide services to child sex trafficking victims and those at risk. For example, we found ACS’ staff and providers failed to support the number of sex-trafficking screenings completed for the period February 15, 2017 through December 31, 2020. In addition, ACS and DYCD did not provide support for the sex-trafficking numbers in their LL41 reports for calendar years 2017 through 2020. We also found that both agencies did not adequately monitor staff and/or providers to ensure mandatory training was completed or completed timely. Moreover, neither agency provided documentation to support that sex-trafficked or at-risk youth received adequate services, such as safe housing and medical, mental health, legal, educational, and/or vocational assistance.

The objective of our follow-up was to assess the extent of implementation, as of March 6, 2026, of the nine recommendations (the first four recommendations were addressed to ACS and recommendations five through nine were addressed to DYCD) included in our initial audit report.

Key Findings

ACS and DYCD have made limited progress in addressing the issues identified in the initial audit report. Of the initial report’s nine audit recommendations, two (addressed to DYCD) were implemented, three (two addressed to ACS and one to DYCD) were partially implemented, and four (two addressed to each ACS and DYCD) were not implemented.

Key Recommendation

ACS and DYCD officials are requested, but not required, to provide information about any actions planned to address the unresolved issues discussed in this follow-up within 30 days of the report’s issuance.