Bay Area Legal Welcomes Equal Justice Works Fellow Focused on Human Trafficking & Victim’s Rights

Bay Area Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm serving the Tampa Bay area, welcomes Mary Rose S. Maloney, an Equal Justice Works (EJW) fellow focused on advocating for foster youth in Hillsborough County who have been victims of human trafficking. Mary Rose will provide critical support to these vulnerable children through direct legal representation, community education, and collaboration within the child welfare system.

Approximately 60% of child sex trafficking victims in the U.S. have experienced foster care, and Florida ranks third in the nation for human trafficking. Within Florida, Hillsborough County has the highest number of foster children who are suspected or confirmed trafficking victims. Given the complexity of these cases, attorneys unfamiliar with this area often face delays in legal proceedings due to the extensive research required. Despite this urgent need, Hillsborough County lacks a full-time attorney solely dedicated to representing foster care youth who are human trafficking victims.

Mary Rose will fill this gap by offering specialized legal representation and empowering trafficked youth to recognize and seek help when being exploited.

As a human trafficking attorney at Bay Area Legal’s L. David Shear Children’s Law Center, she will provide direct legal representation in dependency proceedings for foster youth who have been trafficked.

Additionally, Mary Rose will add a human trafficking section to FosterPower, a program launched by 2018 EJW Fellow Taylor Sartor that offers youth in foster care information about their benefits, protections, and legal rights through a mobile app and website. As FosterPower's human trafficking project manager, Mary Rose will provide educational materials to attorneys, youth, and child welfare professionals.

Mary Rose was sworn into The Florida Bar on September 23, 2024. She earned her law degree with a concentration in social justice advocacy from Stetson University College of Law and received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and international affairs, magna cum laude, from Florida State University. Before law school, Mary Rose worked with trafficked youth as a dependency case manager.

Mary Rose S. Maloney’s two-year Equal Justice Works fellowship is sponsored by Greenberg Traurig, LLP, and hosted by Bay Area Legal Services.