Meet our new US executive director… What’s a “Not a Red Gala” anyway?… Our “My Body is Mine” flipchart debuts in Sierra Leone… Our Philippines Survivor Care team led a training for families about earthquake preparedness… Making recommendations to states through the National Advisory Committee on the Sex Trafficking of Youth in the United States… Our latest Impact Report… and our social media takeover by Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ian Urbina.
Facebook has a long history of taking a vocal and ardent stance against child sexual exploitation, yet it continues to be one of the most popular platforms traffickers use to groom and recruit the youth we serve. Still, Facebook knows and encourages children to use its platform, and does nothing to further protect the privacy of the children who use it. But there is one tweak they can make that will actually help address the problem.
“My father, now 89 years old with Alzheimer’s Disease, can’t recall my name. But my memories of him from my early years are more vivid today than ever— including what he taught me by example about being a father, and how I see a similar approach in how Love146 cares for children.”
How can we equip a youth in a short period of time to protect themselves from the dangers they could be facing?
Connecticut lawmakers are considering a number of bills that impact child trafficking. Among them is a bill would be a powerful tool that will help bring traffickers to justice. And two others that could actually harm children who have been affected by trafficking. You can help: Please call your legislators and let them know you stand with children who have been trafficked.
What happens when you bring a group of eight wary young survivors in our long-term services to a Wilderness School for a day of trust-building outdoor activities? They soar.
What does justice look like for the youth in our care? For one youth in our survivor care program, justice includes having the person who trafficked and abused her convicted, sentenced, and publicly admonished by a judge.
Many say they can’t relate to others their age; they date older men, and explain to me that since they’re more mature they need to be with more mature men. They see other children their age as “kids,” whereas they themselves are “adults.”
I’m in this sticky position where I need to acknowledge the fact that they have been through more than any child should have to go through, and yet encourage them to be a child. To put down that burden of “adulthood,” and to experience childhood. They deserve to be children.
At Love146, we cultivate a long-lasting relationship that models healthy boundaries and allows the youth to “dig” when they feel safe, trusted, and valued. Youth then allow us to bear witness to their stories in their own time, in their own way. They are in control, which is one of the most important things we can restore to their lives.
Our Rapid Responses help youth understand how a perpetrator uses manipulation, tricks, and force to take advantage of them. We talk about how easy it is to be taken advantage of. How everyone has things they need, things they struggle with, and how someone could use these things to build trust for the sole purpose of exploitation. This may be the first time that he or she is told: “It is not OK that someone treated you this way.” It may be the first time they hear: “It is not your fault.” Or that: “You are valuable and important.”
“I’ve heard of pimps and I knew to be scared of them – but I didn’t realize that the person I thought was protecting me was actually my pimp.”
— Brianna, one of more than 200 youth who have been served by our U.S. Survivor Care program
I open my email and begin reading the details about another youth coming into our care. I’m infuriated that another kid has experienced this. Infuriated that another adult thought it was okay to use a child as a sex object. Infuriated that all the adults who should have protected this child, have failed her so horrifically.
When listening becomes one of your true, living values it can be a powerful tool for social change.
What makes my work with Love146 so special is that no matter how many times a young person is uprooted or shuffled around from place to place, I can promise them that I’ll stick around. Our relationship to them won’t be uprooted and wiped away.
Suddenly, all of her usual sarcasm and joking disappeared. Jade began to share that the hurtful things that she’d heard from the people raising her. She just wanted to feel at home somewhere, but they made her feel like she was “more than they could handle.” That moment was so heavy — she just sat there, brave and silent, with these feelings of rejection, waiting to see how I would respond.
We had people over for the Super Bowl last weekend. We had a Patriots themed party for goodness sakes, with Patriots plates and napkins and cups and banners. But really? I had this persistently surreal moment and all I could keep thinking is: It’s a game. It’s not real life.
I met with a high-risk youth so we could talk and do some safety planning. She made clear that she wasn’t going to cooperate, that there was nothing I could say that would matter to her. That is, until I mentioned sexual assault, how it was never the fault of the person who got hurt. Then, something happened that surprised both of us.
For a lot of us, the holiday season has its challenges. It reminds us how things “ought to be,” and we may find ourselves wishing our lives and families looked more like the happy, healthy ones we see in movies and Christmas cards. This is true for many children in Love146’s global survivor care programs. We’re determined to do whatever it takes to help them feel important and loved during the holidays!
We can’t undo the events that made them grow up so fast. But we can show them that there is so much more to who they are than these experiences. When a survivor in our care starts to breath deeper, laugh, discover who they are and what they’re passionate about, and experience their childhoods… that’s the day abolition arrives in their life.
Our US Survivor Care program has meant the world to children in Connecticut, children we know by name. Individual donors helped start this from scratch. That’s hope. Now, it will be expanding substantially, thanks in large part to contributions from fines and penalties paid by convicted federal offenders. That’s justice.
While notable progress has been made in terms of buy-in, some agency leaders and personnel continue to not see human trafficking as a concern in their local communities. We need a strong on-the-ground understanding and enforcement of current laws, as well as tools and protocols for identifying, investigating, and prosecuting these crimes.
A survivor learned enough of the warning signs to seek help, and a community mobilized quickly to help keep her safe.
Note: Love146’s Survivor Care Program Manager, Erin Williamson, has been given a…
“No one was looking for them.” These are the words used by…
Let me tell you a story about family… the gritty, beautiful real…
Found in a hotel room, barely awake after a nightmare, a place…
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