Programs that provide a safe, secure shelter environment for individuals who have been abducted, sold, recruited under fraud or pretense or otherwise brought under the control of another person, and forced, by means of threats, intimidation, violence or other forms of coercion, into unpaid or underpaid labor, servitude, prostitution or forced marriage, either domestically within their own country or internationally.

Programs that provide shelter and a safe place to sleep as well as access to food, medical care and other types of assistance for children and/or youth who have run away from or been pushed out of their homes, or who are acting out and at risk for abuse pending return to their own families or a suitable alternative placement. The most common causes for youth becoming homeless, in addition to being kicked out of their homes or running away, are being abandoned or neglected, experiencing financial hardship, aging out of foster care, conflicts related to their sexual orientation, having a substance use disorder or experiencing the death of a family member or guardian. Such facilities usually provide in-house individual, group and family counseling and the full range of other secondary services related to runaways and other homeless youth including referral to appropriate resources. Homeless youth are different than homeless adults because they often have not learned the essential life skills needed to live on their own such as how to drive or ride a bus, get a job or pay bills. Homeless youth are also more likely than other youth their age to experience mental illness, suffer poor health, drop out of school, and become involved with or victims of criminal activity, including being exploited, abused or even killed.

Individuals who are generally between the ages of 18 and 25 depending on the ages that specific programs use for qualification.

People who are currently staying in a temporary shelter for children and/or youth who have run away from or been pushed out of their homes or who are acting out and at risk for abuse pending return to their own families or a suitable alternative placement.

Individuals who have needs and interests in common as a result of similar experiences, concerns or expectations as female children or adolescents

Children or adolescents who have been abandoned by the adults responsible for their care or who have left their homes without notice or parental consent and who have no fixed place of residence.

Individuals younger than age 18 who have been persuaded or coerced to perform sexual acts in a film or photograph or who have been introduced to juvenile prostitution and forced or persuaded to perform sexual acts in exchange for money.

Individuals who have been forced into prostitution against their will or to serve as "sex slaves". The commercial sex trade can include street prostitution, massage parlors, escort services, strip clubs and residential brothels. Sex trafficking can be defined as the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age.