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December 27, 2016 by Jo Lembo

And It Comes Full Circle

In September 2016, a community event was held in Vancouver, Washington, to educate the public about the signs of trafficking and how to protect our children. It was held in a church on NE 78^th Street, and was attended by several law enforcement officers. But it wasn’t just any church, and it wasn’t just any law enforcement in attendance. And it wasn’t just any citizens in the audience.

Seven years earlier, in the same church, a similar training had been held.

The same law enforcement officers had come to hear Linda Smith share about the signs of trafficking, how it happens, what makes a kid vulnerable and what any citizen can do to help. When those uniformed officers left, they knew what they had been seeing, but hadn’t known what it was. Now they began to see what had been in front of them all along.

A probation officer listened intently and left to go to the hospital where one of her charges was…again. The teen had been beaten up again. She’d run away again. She’d been truant again. Only this time, her probation officer knew the questions to ask her. And this time, the girl known as ‘Lacy’ felt safe enough to ask for help and was soon under police protection and moved 4,000 miles away for her safety.

In that room was a young man and his family. They listened intently. And just a short while later, when his friend asked him to help her move out and give her a ride back to Seattle to her newfound ‘friends’ after she brought back her dad’s car… well, Evan knew enough to ask questions and set in motion an intervention that saved Brianna’s life.

That night seven years ago, at that community presentation, the ordinary people in the room were instruments to help retrieve the two girls, whose story was later told in the video, Chosen. Lacy and Brianna were safe now because of a community presentation on the signs of trafficking.

And the video? It was filmed in that same church, in their school hallway, stairwell and classroom. In 2016 it was shown to more than fifteen thousand teens across the nation. The difference in the film is stark: Lacy’s friends didn’t know what was happening to her or how to help her and she was enslaved for nearly two years. Brianna’s friend knew and took steps to rescue her and she was never sold into the horrific sex industry. The difference was knowing.

So in September, when we stood on the same stage in the same church, and talked to an audience of nearly 200 ordinary people, and showed Chosen, we were fully aware that the message had come full circle. The officers who shared their stories and spoke in workshops were passionate to say, “You can prevent trafficking! It will be people like you who make the difference. We didn’t know and then look what happened when we did know! You will be the eyes and ears to recognize the signs and warn young people so they’re smarter than the predators who would do them harm. We will catch the bad guys, but please don’t make us rescue your kids too.”

And Brianna stood on the stage and shared how she was tricked. Because she didn’t know.

There we were, on the same stage with the same people who learned about trafficking seven years ago. And look at all that has happened to educate young people across the nation. Now this crowd will make a difference because now they know.

It’s good to come full circle.

November 17, 2016 by Susanna Bean

Despite Sex Trafficking Laws, Kids Can be Charged with Prostitution in Majority of States While Exploiters Walk Away

WASHINGTON, D.C., Every state now has a law covering child sex trafficking according to an annual State Report Card released by Shared Hope International (SHI), the only U.S. NGO working in every state to end child sex trafficking through legal reform.

“But kids can still be prosecuted as criminals in 31 states because law has not kept up with reality – the reality is that these children are victims of sex trafficking and cannot be criminals at the same time for the same thing,” said SHI founder Linda Smith, at a press conference in Orlando, FL where the National Foundation for Women Legislators is meeting.

SHI started the annual report card—known as the Protected Innocence Challenge—six years ago, in 2011, when 26 states got Fs and 15 had Ds. This year 30 states have As and Bs.

While she commended legislators and activists for the progress they have made, “We must stop criminalizing kids for crimes committed against them!” declared Smith. “Domestic minors are twice condemned: first by sex buyers and the voracious commercial sex trade, then by the juvenile justice system.”
“Only when buying sex becomes very costly—meaning steep fines and jail time—will we be able to prevent this crime from happening in the first place,” Linda observed. Shared Hope research shows that a very small percentage of buyers are arrested and even fewer do time.

Although the majority of minors identified in the commercial sex industry are girls, an increasing number of service providers across the U.S. say young men are victimized too.

Dr. Brook Bello, founder of More Too Life and Florida’s 2016 Advocate of the Year, has worked with hundreds of sex trafficking survivors.
Regarding sex buyers, Dr. Bello admonished, “Bringing cash to the scene of the crime should not give you immunity.”

Alyssa Beck, Survivor Advocate said, “The system failed me at age 15 by not recognizing that I was a victim. Instead I was arrested. Men who bought sex with me were never brought to justice.”

Linda Smith, served as a state legislator and Member of Congress from Washington State (1983-1998), and is the author of Renting Lacy (2009). She founded Shared Hope in 1998.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Susanna Bean
717.608.1039
Susanna@sharedhope.org

MEDIA MATERIALS:
For media convenience, a variety of resources are available at our Press Center. Video clips, including sex trafficking survivor comments, are available at this location: https://vimeo.com/user12564384/videos. Videos are password protected, please enter password sharedmedia1 to access media clips.

November 17, 2016 by Susanna Bean

National Foundation of Women Legislators Passes Resolution on Child Sex Trafficking

Today at the annual conference for the National Foundation of Women Legislators the members passed an important resolution on child sex trafficking. Shared Hope International has worked with NFWL to craft a resolution that addresses the key issues currently confronting legislators responding to child sex trafficking victims.

You can read the whole resolution below.

Resolution regarding the critical importance of improving protections for child sex trafficking victims.

WHEREAS child sex trafficking is a form of modern slavery that exploits some of the most vulnerable members of society;

WHEREAS online exploitation has exponentially expanded the market for child victims who are bought and sold through online classified websites and other online venues developed around the commercial sex market;

WHEREAS child sex trafficking victims suffer serious trauma resulting from commercial sexual exploitation, regardless of whether they have an identified trafficker;

WHEREAS buyers of sex with children are central perpetrators in the crime of sex trafficking and failure to address the conduct of buyers as a crime of sex trafficking creates barriers to critical protections, services and resources for child victims;

WHEREAS children, who cannot consent to engage in commercial sex, must not be criminalized for commercial sexual conduct that is inherent to their victimization;

WHEREAS children who are exploited through commercial sex are victims of sex trafficking in need of specialized, trauma-informed services in lieu of being arrested and detained for their own victimization; and

WHEREAS strong state laws are critical to preventing children from becoming victims of sex trafficking and for protecting those children who have been exploited; and

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that members of the National Foundation of Women Legislators—

(1) strongly condemn the crime of child sex trafficking;

(2) recognize the need for states to develop mandatory response laws on behalf of child sex trafficking victims that ensure access to services and resources for recovery;

(3) call on every state to set a clear goal and plan for eliminating criminalization of minors for commercial sexual conduct and other conduct that is a result of their trafficking victimization; and

(4) urge every state to statutorily recognize all commercially sexually exploited children as child sex trafficking victims and align the state sex trafficking law with the reality that children are exploited by both traffickers and buyers by ensuring both types of offenders are acknowledged as perpetrators under the state’s core sex trafficking law.

October 12, 2016 by Ernie Allen

MY NEW ROLE WITH SHARED HOPE

I was recently asked to serve as a Special Advisor to the President of Shared Hope International, Congresswoman Linda Smith, a request I easily accepted. I met Linda when she came to Congress in 1995. At the time, I was the President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) and she and I would have an opportunity to work together on the protection of children during the next two decades.

From the day she arrived on Capitol Hill, it was clear that she cared about children and would be a tireless force for hidden victims everywhere. In 1998 she traveled to Mumbai and saw women and children enslaved in brothels, sold as commodities. She was angry. She returned home and undertook an unprecedented effort to evaluate the situation in her own country. She found that this was not just a problem on the other side of the world; it was also a problem in the United States. She turned her anger and indignation into action, founding Shared Hope International and beginning a nearly two decade long campaign to eradicate domestic minor sex trafficking.

Simultaneously, I launched an Exploited Child Unit and CyberTipline at NCMEC. Because Linda and I shared the conviction that too little was being done, we worked together. When she left Congress and focused her energy exclusively on Shared Hope, our collaboration continued.

Shared Hope has awakened policy makers and citizens. It investigated buyers, facilitators and traffickers in four countries, concluding that sex trafficking is demand-driven. It performed field research in 10 cities for the US Department of Justice, helping shape US policy. It did much more. Shared Hope is a leader in many areas, but I am particularly impressed by its extraordinary impact in three: Changing laws, rescuing victims, and reducing demand.

Shared Hope’s Protected Innocence Challenge has resulted in new laws nationwide. Based on a legislative framework of 41 laws, Shared Hope reviews progress state-by-state each year and issues report cards. The first year, 2011, 26 states received an F, in 2015, no states had an F grade.

Shared Hope is also a strong voice for victims. Rescue and rehabilitation services for victims were woefully inadequate. Shared Hope advocated a victim-centered approach, creating shelters and services, keeping victims out of detention centers, ensuring they are eligible for restitution and other civil remedies, and more. It is changing the way America assists these victims.

I am particularly enthusiastic about Shared Hope’s pioneering efforts to address demand. This problem persists because it is easy, low risk, enormously profitable and because there is massive demand for commercial sex with children and youth. Shared Hope has worked to ensure that laws are enforced that will hold a buyer of sex with a minor accountable for that act and be punished for the crime.

Shared Hope is a powerful voice and advocate for change. I am proud to be able to play a role as a Special Advisor to its remarkable President, Congresswoman Linda Smith and look forward to our continued collaboration on behalf of children.

About the author: Ernie Allen serves as an advisor to governments, law enforcement, technology companies and others on the digital economy, public-private partnerships and child protection. Appointed by UK Prime Minister David Cameron, he chairs a global initiative to combat online child abuse and exploitation for the British government. He is a founder and the former President and CEO of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

August 10, 2016 by Guest

The Role of Child Advocacy Centers in Sex Trafficking Cases

By Iona Rudisill, Baltimore Child Abuse Center

I became a nurse because when I was ten years old I went to a doctor who missed the signs, and that was my last chance at telling someone about what was going on in my life. My last thought was, ‘Maybe somebody could rescue me. Maybe I could have a different life.’ When that guy missed the signs, it devastated me…I just decided what would have made a difference for me—and that was the medical professionals.
–Jen Spry, RN and survivor of human trafficking

The sex trafficking of juveniles is now recognized as a critical public health concern. The burden of identifying, referring and treating victims requires multidisciplinary education for health care providers and a coordinated community response, one that Child Advocacy Centers nationwide are prepared to provide. In 1987, Baltimore Child Abuse Center (BCAC) was the first Child Advocacy Center (CAC) developed in the State of Maryland, and for decades BCAC has been providing a resource to the community with a comprehensive approach for youth who have personally experienced sexual trauma and witnessed various forms of violence. BCAC is an accredited Child Advocacy Center that understands when providing services to youth who have been trafficked or are highly vulnerable to being trafficked, a holistic response (i.e. forensic interviews, treatment, advocacy, healthcare) is needed – from prevention to aftercare for youth and their families. Given their background and experience in trauma-focused and multidisciplinary approaches, CACs can provide an excellent healthcare response for DMST cases. BCAC as well as some other CACs have board-certified forensic pediatricians as part of their multidisciplinary team. This forensic pediatrician collaborates with medical and non-medical colleagues regarding multiple public health care needs such as malnutrition, tattoo removal, forced pregnancies, substance abuse, mental health diagnosis, visionary problems, dental care and burns. These healthcare risks can leave a permanent scar on the life of a youth, if mishandled or overlooked. Therefore, Child Advocacy Centers are an essential component in providing a necessary healthcare response in the best interest of the youth by performing such medical procedures as non-acute forensic examinations and testing for STIs, as well as healthcare education and necessary referrals.

Collection of forensic evidence in acute cases (sexual violations occurring within 72 hours) may be challenging in the CAC setting due to the extensive time involved in conducting these evaluations and the need for physicians who are comfortable with and experienced in doing these exams. Even if CACs do not have the personnel, space or time to complete these acute examinations, being able to refer to another healthcare provider is a necessity. BCAC has addressed this through an active partnership with Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore, MD that is equipped to provide Sexual Assault Forensic Examinations (SAFE) for acute sexual abuse and assault cases, which would include DMST. Therefore, Law Enforcement and Child Protective Services investigators could transport a child who has received a forensic interview to Mercy for a forensic examination, which would provide the space, equipment and personnel to collect necessary evidence for their investigations.

The healthcare response in a CAC helps to provide consistency for a youth who has experienced DMST because they won’t have to travel to different places or be interviewed by different professionals, who all want to provide the necessary care for them. Therefore, ensuring that CACs have the critical resources and healthcare providers on staff who have knowledge about the multiple dynamics involved in these case investigations is essential. Overall, it is vital that health professionals of all branches receive the training and education needed to address the complexities of human trafficking.

In response to this need, Shared Hope International recently released i:CARE, a guide for health care providers to recognize and care for victims of domestic minor sex trafficking. Resources like this one are so important in advancing the knowledge needed to improve the responses to juvenile sex trafficking. If the doctor who missed the signs in Jen Spry, the survivor quoted above, had been trained, and had the support of other trained professionals in the medical community, she might have been saved from further abuse and might have received the specialized treatment victims of child sex trafficking require.

i:CARE was written in collaboration with physicians, psychologists, nurses, professors, experts and survivors of trafficking, and is accompanied by four short training videos. Visit the Shared Hope Store online to purchase your copy of i:CARE today.