Domestic violence is pervasive, and affects everyone. In the United States alone, 15.5 million children live in families where domestic violence is perpetrated.
We recognize that serving children and teens is critical to breaking the cycle of abuse. Check back throughout Domestic Violence Awareness Month as we post updates from our Children’s and Youth Services Program staff about the successes and challenges in serving our youngest clients.
In the meantime, you can take action to educate others about the realities of domestic violence. Join us.
We were proud to honor tireless advocates against gender violence.
Last week, members of New York’s legal, civic and anti-gender violence communities gathered to honor United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Judge Pamela K. Chen and Jennifer L. Kroman, Director of Pro Bono Services at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, at the Nineteenth Annual Abely Awards.
Co-hosted with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Columbia Law School, The Abely Awards recognize individuals who make a difference in the lives of domestic violence and sex trafficking survivors.
This year’s honorees have each used their distinguished legal backgrounds to provide survivors of sex trafficking with opportunities to live their lives free from violence and control.
We were grateful to be joined by The Honorable Judith S. Kaye, retired New York judge and the first woman to occupy the State Judiciary’s highest office, who with Legal Director Dorchen Leidholdt presented the awards.
While US Attorney General Loretta Lynch could not attend the event, she accepted her award by video, recounting her experiences working with Sanctuary to prosecute traffickers during her time as US Attorney for the Easter District of New York. Watch her full video thanks:
We were also proud to honor Judge Pamela K. Chen, a federal district court judge in the Eastern District of New York, and a true pioneer in the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking crimes.
We also honored Jennifer L. Kroman, Director of Pro Bono Practice at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, and a longtime Sanctuary supporter and Board Member. Jennifer leads Cleary’s award-winning pro bono practice and maintains an active docket representing survivors of sex trafficking in vacatur cases.
Since 1997, the Abely Awards have celebrated the life and legacy of Maryellen Abely, a pro bono attorney at Sanctuary for Families’ Center for Battered Women’s Legal Services.
An alumna of Columbia Law School, and an associate at Davis Polk, Ms. Abely was a tireless advocate for the rights of victims of domestic abuse and one of Sanctuary’s first pro bono attorneys. She died in 1995 after a long battle with cancer.
Maria was just 13 when Jose approached her one afternoon in a park near her home in Central Mexico. He was handsome, charming, and promised her a happier future in the United States. They journeyed together to New York and arrived at a dingy apartment in Queens. Instead of encountering a world of new opportunities, Jose promptly locked Maria up and forced her to service men – sometimes as many as 30 a day.
When she resisted, Jose beat her so severely that she later needed reconstructive surgery. He threatened to kill her sister back in Mexico if Maria went to the police.
“He controlled me psychologically. He knew where my family lived,” Maria recalls. “I was angry but what could I do? I didn’t know English. I had no money. He had my papers so I couldn’t leave. I didn’t know how to get home.”
A brave escape
Eventually, the pain became so unbearable that Maria could no longer take it. During a rare moment alone, she fled the apartment and hobbled to the police station. Officers rushed her to a hospital and contacted one of Sanctuary’s anti-trafficking attorneys. Maria’s first stop on the path to her new life was a safe house, where she stayed while receiving legal help, counseling and English lessons through Sanctuary.
A year later, she’s learning to live a life of freedom. Her physical injuries have healed, and she has gained back the 30 pounds she lost. Today, at 18, she works in a restaurant, not a brothel.
Maria’s story is not unique. Throughout New York City, countless adults and children are trafficked for sex every day. Like Maria, many are young, vulnerable and far away from home.
You can help
Sanctuary’s Anti-Trafficking Initiative provides high-quality counseling and legal services to support survivors like Maria in escaping violence and starting over. But with few residential shelters available to victims of trafficking in New York City, many of our clients struggle to find a safe place to stay.
You can help. Sanctuary has the opportunity to establish a shelter exclusively for survivors of sex trafficking. Your donation helps provide a trafficking victim with a month of safe shelter, food and transit while she receives services and works to make a new life.
With your support, more survivors like Maria can take their critical first step to safety. We hope you will consider making a donation today.
Executive Director Judy H. Kluger welcomes you to our new website.
If there is one thing we’ve learned at Sanctuary in the thirty years since our founding, it’s that we can’t do it all on our own.
As we strive to create a world where freedom from gender violence is a basic human right, our staff and our survivor-leaders increasingly need your support to face the challenges ahead.
This new website offers a range of options to get involved with Sanctuary’s services for survivors of gender violence, along with our extensive outreach, training and advocacy.
Looking for more updates about our work? You can discover insights and get the latest news right here on our brand new blog, and find inspiration in the stories of some remarkable survivors.
And – finally – you can do it all on your mobile phone or tablet.
More importantly, we’ve made it easier to get help. Large “get help” buttons are visible throughout the site, and lead to descriptive Get Help pages available in English and Spanish. A permanent escape button ensures you can exit the site quickly if someone enters the room.
I welcome you to take some time to navigate through our new site. Thoughts? Questions? Ideas? Reach out to me on Twitter at @judykluger.
And be sure to check back soon for updates!
– By Hon. Judy Harris Kluger, Executive Director
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