Our Story
Children of the Street was founded in 1995, when a group of parents in BC’s Lower Mainland united after being personally affected by having a child who was sexually exploited.
Recognizing that this tragic occurrence could happen to any child in the community, they began providing a series of school-based workshops aimed at educating and preventing children and youth from being drawn into the sex trade.
Over the years, the workshops expanded to educate parents, caregivers, teachers, service providers, police, government, community agencies, and the hospitality industry.
As a result of increased community awareness throughout BC, a greater need for support was identified, which we now offer to youth, parents, and caregivers.
Since our inception, we have worked with the provincial government to implement changes to the Child, Family and Community Service Act around the issue of sexual exploitation, as well as on a federal level, resulting in amendments to the Criminal Code of Canada. We advocated, for many years, to bring changes to the Canadian Criminal Code, which in 2008 resulted in new legislation, raising the legal age of sexual consent in Canada from 14 to 16 years old.
In 2019, Children of the Street joined forces with PLEA Community Services – where we continue to offer all programs/workshops.
About Children of the Street
Children of the Street is dedicated to preventing the sexual exploitation and human trafficking of children and youth in British Columbia. We achieve this goal through education strategies, public awareness initiatives, and family support. Children of the Street is a program of PLEA Community Services Society of BC.
We acknowledge that we work, live and play on the unseeded territories of the Kwiketlem, Tseil-Waututh, Sto:lo and Qayqayt peoples.
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