Hot Topics – Child Marriage in Florida
If you think child/forced marriage is not happening in the United States, sadly you are misinformed. Research shows that nearly 315,000 children as young as 10 were married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2021 – mostly girls wed to adult men.
Child marriage can easily be forced marriage. The age of majority, when children become legal adults and get the rights of adulthood, is 18 or higher in every U.S. state. Children who have not yet reached the age of majority face overwhelming legal and practical barriers if they try to escape a forced marriage, get help from an advocate, enter a domestic violence shelter or retain an attorney.
Becca Powell, Director of Advocacy and Outreach at Unchained At Last will provide an update on the fight to end child marriage on a state-by-state basis and specifically talk about the situation in Florida.
