Marissa Gunther, Author at Shared Hope International

September 24, 2020 by Marissa Gunther

Announcing Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking; grades based on an advanced legislative framework. Coming Nov 18, 2020

She was just 18 years old, a straight A student with dreams of becoming a nurse, when a trafficker made his move and began to groom her in preparation to sell her into the underworld of commercial sexual exploitation. Through the intervention of a high school friend and his father, the quick actions of a law enforcement officer, and Shared Hope founder and President Linda Smith, she was able to see that this friendship was not what it appeared to be. Her community recognized the red flags and prevented her exploitation.

Ten years later, Brianna continues to bravely tell her story, partnering with Shared Hope International to raise a voice of awareness so that other youth can be spared. Unfortunately, there are countless stories of children who suffer outcomes far less positive and end up falling victim to the evil in this world, with traffickers and buyers dragging them into the nightmare of commercial sex trafficking. The struggle of these survivors continues even after they leave their trafficking situation as many are often misidentified as criminals themselves, interfering with critical access to holistic care and services while the buyers suffer far fewer consequences.

Survivors like Zephi^[1]…

Zephi was a typical, happy, hard-working 16-year-old junior in high school when she met her trafficker. She was sociable, participating in community activities, including her church’s worship team, a select fastpitch softball league, and her high school drill team.

However, after an abusive boyfriend introduced her to drugs, her outlook and demeanor quickly changed due to the new emotional, mental, and physical challenges she now faced. She also would run away from home. As Zephi’s life continued to “spiral,” her community was unable to prevent what happened next.

In May of 2019, an adult acquaintance began grooming her for sex trafficking. Through use of coercive tactics such as drugs, violence, and death threats, Zephi’s trafficker forced her to participate in commercial sexual acts with other adults, resulting in her being repeatedly raped by buyers. This heinous cycle of commercial sexual exploitation ended after her trafficker killed one of the buyers. Because Zephi was present during the murder, however, she was arrested and charged alongside her trafficker for capital murder.

After enduring pain, suffering, and exploitation during her trafficking victimization, she is now being charged with a crime. How is this justice? Sympathizing with her situation is not enough; we must act.

We are committed to taking action until every survivor receives justice. Zephi’s case is another reason why Shared Hope’s work to change laws that bring justice and ensure protective responses to victims is so critically important. For the past decade, Shared Hope has graded states on their success in enacting fundamental laws to address child sex trafficking. The Protected Innocence Challenge project was our vision for mobilizing states to improve legislation that impacts the sex trafficking of minors. Ten years of grassroots mobilization, advocacy, technical assistance, and consistent collaboration has allowed this vision to largely become reality.

Now, we begin a new decade focused on achieving State Action. National Change. through the legislative changes that will result from guidance provided through Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking. The advanced legislative framework for the Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking will be officially released on Wednesday, November 18, 2020.

So what is the advanced framework for the Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking? It builds on the Protected Innocence Challenge state report card projects, identifying 40 key points of law, grouped into six issue areas, necessary under state law to provide a protective response to child and youth survivors of sex trafficking. All states now have a child sex trafficking law, and most states have made significant progress in providing laws that protect victims and hold perpetrators accountable; collectively, the country has made significant progress in those policy goals. However, little has been done to address and fund specialized services for victims or to adequately address root causes, including demand.

The past decade has led to new research and opportunities to listen to survivors, bringing ever increasing clarity to laws and policies that must be in place to finally put an end to the sex trafficking of minors. Now is the time to raise the bar and challenge states to enact the policies encompassed in the advanced framework for the Report Cards, which will support the ability of survivors to access care, opportunities to heal, and protection against future harm. Now, we begin a new decade focused on achieving State Action. National Change. through the legislative changes that will result from guidance provided through Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking.

The advanced legislative framework for the Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking will be officially released on Wednesday, November 18, 2020

In the meantime, please join us for the JuST LIVE! State Action. National Change webinar series, which will run throughout October free of charge for anyone who wants to learn more about how to effectively fight child and youth sex trafficking. The webinar series aligns with six issue areas that hang on an advanced legislative framework.

Issue Areas Include:

Criminal Provisions: Clear criminal laws, including those that criminalize buyers of sex with children, are needed to ensure all sex trafficking offenders can be held accountable.
Identification of and Response to Victims: State laws must identify all commercially sexually exploited children as victims of trafficking and provide for a protective, rather than punitive response.
Continuum of Care: To break the cycle of exploitation, state laws must provide victims access to funded, trauma-informed services.
Access to Justice for Trafficking Survivors: A range of civil and criminal justice remedies must be available for victims under the law.
Tools for a Victim-Centered Criminal Justice Response: Criminal justice procedures for the benefit and protection of victims must be provided under the law.
Prevention and Training: To help prevent trafficking and promote more just responses to child sex trafficking victims, training for child welfare, juvenile justice, law enforcement, prosecutors and school personnel, and prevention education for students, must be required by law.

Please participate in this important experience — and share the registration information on all your channels!

To stay up to date on this exciting project, sign up here to guarantee the advanced framework will be delivered directly to you the moment it is released on November 18^th!

To support implementation of the advanced legislative framework for the Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking, our Policy Team will remain available to provide rapid technical assistance to support legislators, advocates, and state agencies; technical assistance requests can be submitted here.

DirectlyTo, Zephaniah Trevinos Defense Fund, https://go.sharedhope.org/e/234702/phaniah-trevinos-defense-fund-/k4d74/307424383?h=WZ-miPH5rhOSTaJQE4-OkhEy2Q4WePnS3vBQjdxJtdk(last visited Sept. 23, 2020).

July 29, 2020 by Marissa Gunther

Honoring First Responders This World Day Against Trafficking in Persons – July 30

(Brianna, Survivor Leader, has a special message for law enforcement)

For the past 20 years, Shared Hope International has been working to bring justice to vulnerable adults and children who have survived and overcome being commercially sexually exploited. Our small but powerful team of 18 staffers has managed to secure a global network and reach, leading prevention strategies, restoration programs, and justice initiatives to combat trafficking in the United States and abroad.

The women and children we serve are no strangers to having their lives turned upside down, and as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc, many of the women and children we serve domestically are being made more vulnerable as resources are cut off with the reality of school closings, lack of childcare, layoffs, and more.

Due to the limitations on schooling and resources caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a substantial increase in screen time for children; with limited ability of parents to supervise all online educational programming, there is an increased vulnerability to online exploitation. The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children has experienced a 90.46% increase in CyberTipline (the nation’s centralized reporting system for the online exploitation of children) reports of suspected child sexual abuse between January and June 2020 versus the same time period in 2019.

Unfortunately, we’re hearing from our law enforcement friends and our community-based partners that sex traffickers and buyers aren’t slowing down during this pandemic and are continuing to entrap more vulnerable youth with false promises. Despite the challenges that have risen during these uniquely challenging times, our resolve to protect children and restore survivors has only strengthened and we will not quit until every child is safe.

That’s why we support this year’s United Nations’ global plan of action which includes concrete actions to prevent trafficking in persons, protect and assist victims, prosecute related crimes and strengthen partnerships among Governments, civil society organizations and the private sector, including the media. The Action Plan also includes the decision to establish a United Nations voluntary trust fund for victims of trafficking in persons, especially women and children, to be managed by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Additionally, the issue of human trafficking will be mainstreamed into broader United Nations policies and programs on economic and social development, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, education, and natural disaster and post-conflict reconstruction.

The UN’s global plan of action includes World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and this year’s theme focuses on recognizing the work of first responders. These are the people who work in different sectors – identifying, supporting, counseling and seeking justice for victims of trafficking, and challenging the impunity of the traffickers. During COVID-19, the role of first responders has become even more important, particularly as the restrictions imposed by the pandemic have made their work even more difficult. Still, their contribution is often overlooked and unrecognized.

(Rev. Marian Hatcher, Survivor Leader and Ambassador-At-Large for United Nations, on working with law enforcement)

We see this day not just as an occasion, but as an opportunity to educate the public about the scourge of human trafficking and to mobilize a political force and the resources needed to truly address the source of the problem. We are running full speed towards the UN’s call to action. Everyone, not just first responders and government entities, can take action to stop trafficking before it ever happens.

So what can you do to support World Day Against Trafficking on July 30th? Consider the following actions as a great place to start.

Celebrate and highlight the work of first responders in your county, community or organization.
Share, like, and comment on our World Day social media posts or messages about World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
Offer to volunteer or donate to services that provide on-the-ground assistance and protection to victims of trafficking. For more ideas, check out Shared Hope’s Action Center for simple take action tools and ways to give.

We hope you will join our team at Shared Hope International as we stand with the UN on World Day Against Trafficking, carrying forward our mission to end this evil. We believe that together we can end human trafficking once and for all.

March 18, 2020 by Marissa Gunther

Traffickers Are Taking Advantage of COVID-19

Our Shared Hope International team hopes you and your loved ones are coping with the unprecedented disruption we are all experiencing and that you are doing well in the midst of so much change. Know that we are praying for you.

The women and children we serve are no strangers to lives turned upside down; and now we see that sex traffickers are taking advantage of this current nation-wide disruption to entrap more vulnerable youth with false promises.

Children are out of school for social distancing, and are now likely spending more time on the Internet or gaming than during a normal school week. With everyone being encouraged to stay indoors and children are home from school due to COVID-19, porn companies are offering free viewing of their content in select countries as a marketing strategy. And according to Google Analytics, porn searches skyrocket by 4700% when kids are out of school.

Shared Hope is working to counteract traffickers and Internet-based dangers by getting our Internet safety materials in as many hands as possible, to help you and other caregivers keep children safe from the lure of traffickers during social distancing. If we work together, we can stop the traffickers in their tracks.

Help us stand in the gap through prevention. Download and share our free resources and Internet Safety Video Series. The more people who know how to take action, the less traffickers are able to move in the shadows of the Internet.

Our policy team is actively working with US Senators’ offices that are sponsoring The Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies (EARN IT) Act, which will improve protections for children online by establishing best practices for the technology sector to combat online child exploitation. We created an advocacy campaign so that you can let your legislators know how critically important this bill is to you and to the children in your community. Taking action only takes a couple minutes and can easily be done from your couch.

And our international Villages of Hope are working hard to keep the homes healthy and safe, and paying close attention to levels of supplies; local stores are experiencing large amounts of shoplifting and hoarding. Those we are serving domestically are being made more vulnerable as resources are cut off; the reality of having to face school closings, lack of childcare, lack of options for hourly workers, and the list goes on.

Your faithfulness in giving will help us counteract the threat of economic instability for the women, men, and children we serve.

You will stand in the gap for survivors like Serana**.

Serana was born in small village where most of the girls born to poor families are prone to be trafficked. She was sold to India by her cousin at 13-years-old and there, she lived a life of Hell in the famous Red light District of Kamathipura. She was then moved to Mumbai with the brothel owner who highly indebted her. She had no control over her home or money. She was trapped for years. Our Village of Hope in Asha Nepal paid her debt to the brothel owner. She was rescued and offered a place at Asha Nepal. Now, she desires to serve and share her story to those who are still enslaved in the brothels of Mumbai. She is leading fellowship in Asha Nepal, helps in the kitchen, is receiving an education and growing skills in bag making.

In the coming weeks of uncertainty, your faithfulness and generosity are more important than ever — to make sure our critically important work is not diminished. Recoveries like Serana’s are made possible because of our supporters’ belief that no child should live the life that Serana had to live. Times of crisis should strengthen our resolve to serve, to band together and take care of each other.

Please help us counteract the traffickers.

Your sustained support will ensure those we serve remain stable and continue to thrive. If you had planned to give to Shared Hope soon or in the future, now is the time to do so. Your actions and giving will help us ensure stability and certainty for the women, men, and children we serve. Thank you.

**name was changed to protect survivor’s identity

January 1, 2020 by Marissa Gunther

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month

January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month. Do you know the warning signs?

As you read this, millions of women, men and children around the world are subject to being trafficked. To address this evil injustice, it helps to define and know exactly what it is.

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act defines human trafficking as:

The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act where such an act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age, or
The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.”

Human trafficking can take many forms, such as domestic servitude; factory labor that resembles prisons; farm work by migrants. War has created a new market for traffickers to exploit refugees fleeing a war that has torn apart their communities or countries – in many cases these migrants pay a fee to board a ship and are at the whim of their smugglers.

Human trafficking is a problem everywhere, including the United States. Including your neighborhood.

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST) occurs when a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident minors (under the age of 18) are commercially sexually exploited. Children can be commercially sexually exploited through prostitution, pornography, and/or erotic entertainment.

We’re talking about U.S. kids, under the age of 18, being bought and sold for sex.

The age of the victim is the critical issue — under federal law, there is no requirement to prove that force, fraud, or coercion was used to cause the minor to engage in commercial sex.

The law recognizes the effect of psychological manipulation by the trafficker, as well as the effect of threat of harm which traffickers/pimps use to maintain control over their young victims.

But cultural bias continues to influence access to justice and services for minor victims. Even when protective laws are on the books.

Under the leadership of the Shared Hope Institute for Justice and Advocacy, we are working hard to address the issue of human trafficking in combating one of the most vehement forms: domestic minor sex trafficking. And there is no time like today to JOIN US in our efforts to end this terrible evil once and for all.

Advocate: See laws change in your state. January is the beginning of legislative sessions all over the country; now is the time to contact your legislators and have your voice heard through our Advocacy Action Center. We make it easy and quick for you with pre-written emails and tweets.

Volunteer: Receive comprehensive training and empowered to join a team of volunteers raising awareness and providing prevention education in all communities across the nation. Connect with other volunteer Ambassadors of Hope and work together to help make all communities safer for children.

Give: Empower Shared Hope’s work to prevent the conditions that foster sex trafficking, restore and empower survivors, and bring justice to victims with a gift.

Help us make freedom a priority this Human Trafficking Awareness Month.

We can win this battle.

August 16, 2019 by Marissa Gunther

Nowhere to Hide: Shared Hope’s New Tools Shine Light on Predatory Grooming and Internet Safety

By: Marissa Gunther, Director of Growth Strategies, Shared Hope International

As I prepared this announcement for Shared Hope’s Internet Safety Series, the children in your life were on my mind.

And, transparently, I have a son of my own. He turned eight earlier this month. He is curious, creative, and energetic – imagine a walking, talking pile of puppies – that’s him. And much like your kids or grand-kids are to you, he is my heart walking outside of my body.

While I’d like to tell you his favorite toy is Legos, I am certain he would quickly correct me and tell the world that his Kindle Fire is his actual favorite, thank you very much! So, despite being allowed one hour of heavily controlled tablet time per week, my son and his tablet stayed at the forefront of my mind as our Growth Strategies and Awareness team researched predatory online grooming and technology dangers.

As we’ve peeled back layers of the online world as experienced by children and teens, one emotion has grown stronger the deeper we’ve dug…

Fear.

Predators are luring kids on any internet device that may come to mind. They are using tablets, smartphones, smartwatches, even video game consoles, and multi-player gaming. In these online venues, children and teens are being enticed, entrapped, and then sold for sex.

That common saying – where children play, predators prey – it’s so true.

We experienced this predatory behavior firsthand at Shared Hope, and you need to know what we saw and what we were asked to do.

While researching commonly used mobile apps, our staff member posing as a 15-year-old female was solicited within minutes by an adult male. She was sent pornographic images, asked to remove her clothing, and in one case to meet in-person. Another adult male groomed her with friendship over several days; then, his messages started to become sexually explicit. His profile picture was a puppy.

Worse still, the solicitors were decades older… decades!

Screenshots taken by Shared Hope’s staff researcher

Seeing and experiencing the evidence right before my eyes, I thought: How do I keep my son safe in an ever-changing, anonymous digital world? How do we help other parents and caregivers keep their kids safe? How do we help kids develop healthy boundaries and resilience when they are being tricked and fooled?

The answer?

We start the conversation now and we do it together – with courage, persistence, and the facts in our hands.

Thanks to the work of our team here at Shared Hope, and with the input and support of our Ambassadors of Hope, survivors, and law enforcement, we now have new tools available to start the conversation. We are thrilled to be able to put these important resources on Internet Safety in your hands today.

A new Internet Safety Guide on grooming tactics and warning signs to help keep children from being enticed by online predators.
A new resource and supporting research on mobile apps commonly used by children and teens.
A new educational video series to you help navigate the latest technology and apps that predators use to target children and teens — facilitated by Kelly, Shared Hope’s Community Engagement Manager and internet safety specialist.
And coming this month a comprehensive Internet safety toolkit — with information and resources on technology dangers, parental controls, networks, mobile apps, gaming, and sexting, along with “how-to” safety tips.

These resources will empower you to:

Teach your children and teens about grooming and sex trafficking.
Navigate the latest technology and apps that predators use to target children and teens.
Let friends and family know they can learn to identify the warning signs.
Make children aware of the dangers of the online world and what they can do to develop safe, healthy boundaries and resilience.

But we’re not stopping here. With an ever-changing digital world, our team is making a promise to stay on top of the latest technology to get new information into your hands as it develops.

You can sign-up for our Internet Safety newsletter HERE

I’d say at this point that I’ve said enough, but we can’t stop here friends. We just can’t. We need to have this conversation with as many people as possible – to get these resources in as many hands as possible – to keep the conversations going.

Let’s start a ripple. Let’s shine a light in every community across the nation.

The more people are equipped to spot the dangers and signs of predatory grooming and child sex trafficking, the easier it will be to put an end to it. There will be nowhere left for predators to hide.

I hope this information empowers you to ensure the safety of the kids in your life. I truly believe that, together, we can be lights in the darkness….

…in our homes, in our communities…and online.