Amanda Smith
Amanda Smith is a legal professional working in Suffolk County, New York, with a focus on juvenile delinquency prosecution and child welfare–related cases. In her current role, she handles juvenile delinquency matters as well as abuse and neglect cases involving families engaged with Child Protective services. She also leads Suffolk County’s Specialty Human Trafficking Court, a program designed to support individuals who are actively experiencing or are at risk of human trafficking by connecting them with services such as mentorship, education, counseling, and other stabilizing resources.
Prior to her current position, Amanda spent approximately four years with the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, where she prosecuted child abuse and sexual offense cases. Earlier in her career, she worked with the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, contributing to both administrative and criminal hybrid roles focused on safeguarding vulnerable populations. Across these roles, her work has consistently centered on victim advocacy, accountability, and intervention in high-risk cases involving children and vulnerable individuals.
Alongside her legal career, Amanda is building a venture focused on creating greater time flexibility and financial independence for women and mothers, particularly those balancing family responsibilities such as school drop-offs and pickups. She plans to use this platform to support broader advocacy and education efforts around health, wellness, and emotional well-being, with a particular emphasis on children who are frequently impacted by the systems she has worked within. Her long-term goal is to help establish a safe housing resource for victims of human trafficking in Suffolk County or Long Island, addressing a critical gap in local services for survivors.
• Law School
• Bar Association
• Starting entrepreneurial team to fund advocacy and education around health
• Wellness
• And emotional wellness for children
• Working toward establishing safe housing for trafficking victims in Suffolk County/Long Island
What do you attribute your success to?
I really feel like it's the advocacy portion, what I've personally experienced and what I've seen. A big push of my platform that I'm trying to launch with the education and advocacy is safe, healthy kids. So many things are marketed to us as good options, like Dreft is marketed for babies but it's completely toxic, or learning how to eat healthy food. A lot of it's just the marketing and media influence of this is what things should be. Victims of trafficking are stigmatized as if they chose to become workers. I'm trying to educate people and change as much as I can. Any impact that I can make, obviously a greater impact would be better, but anything that I can do, I'm just trying to accomplish whatever I can. That keeps me motivated to keep going on all of these things.
Locations
Suffolk County
Huntington Station, NY 11746