When I first got an agent in New York, I slept on the owner’s sofabed at his apartment. This was the accommodations the agency provided for me. I’d also slept on my booker’s sofabed in Milan, so it wasn’t a huge surprise. When the agency owner hit on me one night, it wasn’t a huge surprise either. I shut him down and promptly moved. I was 24. The other model sleeping on the sofabed was 14. Unaccompanied in New York. Sleeping on her agent’s sofabed.

Parents, girls, be smart. The Model Alliance is fighting hard to raise awareness and to ramp up regulations that will protect models who are minors, but for now, the modeling world is still like the Wild West. A number of articles and posts in my Facebook newsfeed lately illustrate why teenage girls who are modeling need someone looking out for them, and it’s probably not going to be their agent or clients. The controversy regarding accusations against photographer Terry Richardson of sexual harassment of models gives you an idea of a worst-case scenario on set. Former child star model/actress Milla Jovovich got into the biz at 11, but said her mom was with her every step of the way. Wise woman. Even scarier are the dangers of the Internet and sites like Model Mayhem which render aspiring models vulnerable.

3 Missing Aspiring Models Linked to Model Mayhem

Here’s my advice for models under 18…

5 Places a Mom Should Go With Her Teenage Model

1. Any bookings or test shoots with photographers you don’t know and trust 100%.

2. Any important meetings with your agent (especially if held after dark, with alcohol involved!)

3. New York, Milan, Paris—really any big and/or foreign city where a model is sent to work/build her book

4. Any modeling trips where you will be traveling and staying overnight

5. Any model parties/places where modelizers (especially rich, older men) are lurking and eager to prey on your daughter!

Please note: Your job in chaperoning your young models is to keep them safe, not to meddle. Stay out of the photographer’s/client’s/stylists’ way, don’t gab on set and distract them, or worse give input on how you think they should shoot your daughter/style her hair/line her lips. However, when it comes to removing a lecherous man’s hand from your 16-year-old’s thigh, by all means go ballistic.

Don’t forget to enter the perfectly safe Modeling Mentor Model Search. If you are under 18, please have a parent or guardian submit your photos!