Mary’s Path: After-Care Support for Sex-Trafficked Teen Moms

Support for foster and systems-impacted youth

County of Los Angeles (select only if your project has a countywide benefit)

Expand existing project, program, or initiative (expanding and continuing ongoing, successful work)

Teen moms in the foster system are likely to experience severe trauma, and are disproportionately impacted by mental health issues, homelessness, and exploitation by Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC). In addition, they are all also learning to become mothers. The current foster system is disjointed, under-resourced, and insufficient to meet the complex needs of these teen moms – a systemic failure that leaves these teen moms vulnerable to continued trauma, victimization, and exploitation.

Mary’s Path is one of only four STRTP facilities in California with the capacity to stably house and meet the complex needs of these teen moms and their babies. But when teen moms exit Mary’s Path, their needs do not stop. Coordinated mechanisms are lacking to ensure that these teen moms remain housed and connected to needed resources. These teen moms need support to ensure that they maintain healthy behaviors, are good parents, live independently – and do not become re-victimized.

Annually, 70% of Mary’s Path’s teen moms are referred from Los Angeles County (LAC). When they exit, they choose to live in LAC. Mary’s Path case managers initially help them find housing, but the reality is that many lose their housing and/or become disconnected from Mary’s Path. LAC previously funded limited After-Care for six months, but has stopped all STRTP After-Care funding effective July 2025.

Recognizing the importance of robust After-Care services to navigate the disjointed foster system and that the journey to independent living realistically exceeds six months, Mary’s Path proposes an enhanced After-Care program that will provide services for those teen moms who remain connected. Mary’s Path will also employ an innovative “street outreach” strategy to locate and re-engage disconnected teen moms. This work will use knowledge of trafficking “hubs” and locations of shelters, and leverage relationships with community partners. Services will be provided for up to three years.

Due to gaps in data collection for the child welfare system, there are no reliable statistics regarding the number of pregnant and parenting foster teens in LAC, but estimates put the number at 4,000 to 6,000 at any given time. Parenting foster youth are at significant risk of mental health challenges, CSEC victimization, and homelessness, as well as having their own children involved in the foster care system. A robust system of trauma-informed After-Care supportive services will mitigate these barriers and help facilitate the greater likelihood of positive outcomes for all of these teen moms. LAC will be markedly different with healthy, happy, and productive teen moms and babies from the foster system versus ones who are traumatized, exploited, and likely homeless.