Road to Recovery For Prostituted Children

By Rose Scott

Atlanta, GA – A recent nationwide sweep by the FBI rescued 45 minors involved in child prostitution. Two were in the Atlanta area. For kids caught up in web of prostitution the road to recovery is tough WABE's Rose Scott reports.

Sometimes they're called runaways, castoffs or throwaways.
Children who flee their homes for various reasons
Not getting along with their parents or escaping an abusive home life.
Trying to survive on the street often leads them to the dark sordid world of prostitution.
Kaffie McCullough says it can happen in minutes:

"it's very easy for them to get picked up by someone who will exploit them on a one basis buy them some food in exchange for sex or will pick them up and keep on in terms of a pimp and prostituting them"

McCullough is the campaign manager for A Future. Not A Past.
It's an organization that brings awareness to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of children in Georgia.
McCullough says recent reports show Georgia is a major hub for child prostitution:
"between 2 and 3-hundred girls a month are prostituted on the street, over the internet through escort services and major hotels"

Some of the girls are as young as 12 and once they're in ---it's not easy for them to get out---even if they want to.
Often it takes a police arrest or court appearance to separate the girls from their pimps.

And that's when some of the girls meet Melba Robinson:
"we help young ladies go through the court system and help them not to be labeled or charged with prostitution"
Robinson is with CEASE --- the Center to End Adolescent Sexual Exploitation.
And the road to recovery begins at a facility called Angela's House.
Robinson says -it's a safe undisclosed place for the girls:br>Once the girls complete Angela's House and are ready to transition back home or to foster care there are follow up visits.
But not every girl gets referred to a recovery program.
And there are success stories and Robinson says that makes her job worthwhile:
"it could be your daughter,niece or cousin--I treat them like my family"