Shared Hope International has been working in Wisconsin, across the country, and internationally for over 20 years to guide and support appropriate responses to protect survivors, hold offenders to account, and ultimately prevent the crime entirely. 11 years ago we launched the Protected Innocence Challenge project (i.e. State Report Cards) to assess the status of […]
Bridge to Success– National Foster Care Month
Bridge to Success May marks National Foster Care month, prompting an annual focus on a system response that impacts nearly half a million children and youth in the U.S. at any given time. During a normal year, advocates and policymakers highlight promising trends, practices, and challenges for supporting foster care youth, including those transitioning out […]
States’ Laws Say “Kids Are Not Prostitutes.” So Why Are They Still Being Punished?
During the 2019 legislative session, nine states passed[1] critical legal reform measures to protect child sex trafficking victims from being prosecuted for prostitution, commonly referred to as “Safe Harbor” laws. However, as first pointed out in 2017, not all “Safe Harbor” laws actually insulate child sex trafficking victims from a punitive response for engaging in […]
How to Make an Ocean Rise – Celebrating Cyntoia Brown’s Release
“Ripples. When you create a difference in someone’s life, you not only impact their life, you impact everyone influenced by them throughout their entire lifetime. No act is ever too small. One by one, that is how to make an ocean rise.” –Danielle Doby, Author Eight months ago, we learned that Cyntoia Brown, a […]
Nonprofit Partnership in South Dakota Leads to Groundbreaking Law
In 2017, South Dakota passed a groundbreaking law to ensure survivors of sex trafficking, ages 16 and under, are protected from criminalization. This effort began two years ago when Becky Rassmussen, Executive Director of Call to Freedom, an awareness-raising and survivor-serving organization, recognized the important perspective she could bring to the legislative process. Seeking to […]
