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August 26, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Areas #2 & #3 – Expanding Victim Protections and Care

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Area #2 (Identification and Response to Victims) and Issue Area #3 (Continuum of Care)

This fall, we will release state Report Cards based on our Advanced Legislative Framework, pushing states towards a victim-centered response to child and youth sex trafficking.

The framework is based on six issue areas that review state’s policies in addressing this injustice. Last month, we reviewed issue area one—Criminal Provisions.

This month, we want to highlight two issue areas aimed at supporting victims of child sex trafficking and ending the cycle of exploitation—Identification of and Response to Victims and Continuum of Care.

Issue area #2 focuses on the importance of proper identification and response to victims of child and youth sex trafficking. All too often, child sex trafficking victims are misidentified as offenders and are directed into systems where their exploitation and trauma is overlooked. It is vital that all commercially sexually exploited children and youth are recognized as victims of trafficking and receive a protective, not punitive response from child serving systems and law enforcement so they receive appropriate care. This is true even if a third party controller wasn’t involved.

What is a third party controller? A third party controller is someone who is managing the exchange of sex with the child and the buyer, otherwise known as the trafficker. In some cases of sex trafficking, there isn’t a third party controller, but a buyer directly exploiting a child who is in need of money, a safe place to stay, or is exploiting other vulnerabilities of the victim. That buyer scenario is still considered child sex trafficking.

Not only are victims misidentified, but many are treated as perpetrators of crimes. Victims of child sex trafficking may commit offenses in response to their own status as a victim, which should be acknowledged when they interact with law enforcement and welfare agencies. This includes ending the criminalization of children and youth for prostitution. Under federal law, any child involved with commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking, but some states still penalize minors for this crime. When their status as a victim is ignored, they are further traumatized by the punishments they receive, prolonging their healing process and denying access to vital services and legal defenses.

To further help prevent or accurately identify sex trafficking, issue area #2 calls for increased trauma-informed screening of vulnerable children and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. With increased screening, policies must also be put in place to ensure that these systems are able to respond with appropriate services.

With proper identification and movement away from punitive responses to victimization, we lean into our third issue area.

Issue area #3, Continuum of Care, addresses the need of more services for victims of child and youth sex trafficking and vulnerable populations.

It is essential that the specialized services victims receive are through non-punitive means to avoid further traumatization or re-exploitation. This can be achieved through a coordinated effort amongst law enforcement, service providers, and other advocates by establishing state-wide multi-disciplinary teams working together to create a victim-centered response to child sex trafficking.

The continuation of care should also extend to youth between 18 and 24 years old. This age group is additionally vulnerable to sex trafficking because of the lack of services available to them as they transition out of child welfare programs and lose the support systems they previously had. Services should continue to support youth in this age range as they cross the bridge from adolescence to adulthood.

To reach these vital goals, it is imperative to appropriate state funding towards supporting agencies and services providing essential support to vulnerable children and victims. Funding continues to be one of the largest hurdles in providing support to victims, but by prioritizing child serving agencies, vulnerable children and victims will receive the care and protection they need.

With legislation in place that focuses on these issue areas, vital protections for child and youth victims of sex trafficking will be expanded, leading to a more trauma-informed response.

What do to next

Sign up to become a Grassroots Hero and receive monthly newsletters focused on policy initiatives, legislative wins, and urgent calls-to-action to help victims.
Contact your state and federal legislators about important bills or issues related to sex trafficking on our Advocacy Action Center.
Share this blog on social media so others can learn more about how Shared Hope is taking action against child and youth sex trafficking across the United States!
Sign up to receive the Report Cards for Child & Youth Sex Trafficking to be the first to know when your state’s grade is released!

August 11, 2021 by Gunnar Simonsen

Invading the Darkness: Culture, Language, and the Law

Have you taken time to listen to Shared Hope’s new podcast, Invading the Darkness? With episodes ranging from 8 to 20 minutes in length coupled with compelling and heart wrenching stories from our founder and president Linda Smith, this podcast will equip you with both the knowledge and the tools to keep kids in your community safe from traffickers.

In episode 3 of Invading the Darkness, we discuss culture, language and the law as Linda Smith takes you on a journey back to 1910, and shares with you how sexually trafficked children were looked upon during that time. Linda will also draw clear lines that connect back to culture, language and the law.

Here’s an excerpt from episode 3 with Linda Smith:

“How would I tell people what I just saw? I’m in a hotel room I’m thinking through how do I even tell my husband what I just saw. In India, in Mumbai, I just spent the night in a brothel area and was sick to my stomach. Thousands of women and children were lined up standing stalls. The hands of girls were coming out the windows on the second floor. And man after man was shopping, shoulder to shoulder crowded choosing the person he wanted to lay a few rupees and use in any way he wanted to use.

I felt overwhelmed. But God I don’t have any idea what I’m going to do. But I knew I needed to do something. The next day, I was still thinking this through. I was only going to be there for a short time. I was between votes in Congress, I was a member of the US Congress at that time. And they asked if I wanted to go out and see the little girls and little boys who had been taken out of the brothel. Because their mommies were concerned about them. They would keep them under their beds when they were born and some men like them pretty young. So the mom’s heart would come out and she would be asking for help.”

You can listen to episode 3 in its entirety of Invading the Darkness on Apple or Spotify as well as anywhere podcasts can be found.

What You Can Do to Help Us Invade the Darkness

There are several ways that you can partner with Shared Hope and fight against Child Sex Trafficking. By supporting our podcast, using your voice as an Ambassador of Hope or by making a donation.

Spread the Word: Shared Hope’s New Podcast

We invite you to share Invading the Darkness Podcast with your friends and community as well as consider writing a review like this recent one we received that read, “Great episode. It was filled with good and relevant information. I definitely learned something new listening to this podcast.”

Use Your Voice: Become an Ambassador of Hope

Are you passionate about preventing sex trafficking in your community? We invite you to apply to become an Ambassador of Hope and make a difference in your hometown!

Ambassadors are trained volunteers, active in their communities preventing trafficking through education. Whether it is hosting a table at a local event, speaking to students, advocating online for a state bill, or leading a session for parents, Shared Hope equips you with all the training and tools you’ll need to educate your community and prevent sex trafficking. You can apply to become an Ambassador of Hope here.

Fund the Fight Against Child Sex Trafficking

You can also help Shared Hope continue our work by helping to fund the fight against child sex trafficking where your gift will support and empower those who are victims and survivors of child sex trafficking as well as help move forth Shared Hope’s mission to provide what they need to recover and our belief-in-action that there is hope for them; that they are worth the fight—that they are loved—that they have a future. Your gift will also bring justice to survivors through our policy initiatives, and it will prevent the crime of sex trafficking from ever happening to those that are vulnerable. You can support the work of Shared Hope International here.

Who Is Shared Hope?

Shared Hope International was established to provide hope to the hopeless women Washington State Congresswoman Linda Smith found enslaved in the brothels of Mumbai in 1998. Our early efforts targeted the international sex trafficking industry. As we became established leaders in the international movement to end slavery, our eyes were opened to the scourge of sex trafficking in the U.S. We could not ignore this injustice and expanded our impact to bring hope to American women and children victimized in the commercial sex industry. Today, we lead prevention strategies, restoration programs and justice initiatives to combat trafficking in the U.S. and abroad.

August 5, 2021 by Gunnar Simonsen

What if EVERY SCHOOL had an Ambassador of Hope?

As children across the country begin their transition back to school, Shared Hope offers many resources to help educate and equip schools to bring awareness to DMST (domestic minor sex trafficking).

When the pandemic hit, closing most schools and driving students online, we upped our focus to help further protect our kids online with our internet safety series. In this, regardless if students are attending their schools online or in person, Shared Hope is ready to meet them and their teachers where they are.

But, to do this, we need your help.

Connecting Resources To Needs: One Example

Recently, we received a report from one of Shared Hope’s Ambassadors of Hope on what they are doing to plant a seed with their school district in bringing our curriculum to their schools. If you ever wondered about what you can do to help make a difference in protecting our kids at school, here’s a glimpse of Ambassador’s Butch and Jean meeting with their local school board as well as a great example of what Shared Hope has to offer in resources for schools.

“My wife and I met with the School Board at our local school district this week. We had requested a month ago to be added to the agenda to talk about DMST and Shared Hope’s education tools we can offer to the district this coming school year.

The meeting went well with fifteen people in attendance. We only had a short time, so we made envelopes of Shared Hope International info for each of the 6 board members, the District Admin. and the new JR/HS Principal. This seemed to work well and they appreciated the ability to look over examples of what SHI has for resources. We also had our display poster board as an example titled “It is happening here” to help dispel the myth that we are isolated from DMST. The meeting went well and we were able to engage the school board to consider working HT into this coming year’s curriculum. We were quickly able to reference our flexibility to meet the need for awareness and prevention for students, staff, as well as parents.

I want to highlight that the letter to parents explaining what “Chosen” is and the talking points tip sheet with bullet points is a great resource to include in the info pkgs. I was able to reference that sometimes when parents hear that the school is considering having a presentation in their curriculum about Human and Sex Trafficking there may be anxiety and questions. We highlighted that the school could use this letter as a template to help parents understand what is being presented. We also included the bullets of what Chosen is and other helpful materials, such as the “How to Keep Kids Safe Online” booklet.

The new principal transferred from another school district where we have not yet been able to present. In being able to support him here, we feel it may have opened a door of opportunity to reach that northern district as well.

Overall a good evening and having the info packages was a really good way to give them more information when we only had a short time to speak on the agenda. Looking forward to the upcoming school year and the ability to be in the classroom with students again.”

What If?

Did you know that there are approximately 13,800 public school districts in the United States? These districts collectively educate approximately 55.2 million students. What if we could reach each one with the message of Shared Hope and the awareness that DMST is real and is happening there?

What Are Ambassadors Of Hope?

Are you passionate about preventing sex trafficking in your community? We invite you to apply to become an Ambassador of Hope and make a difference in your hometown!

Like Butch and Jean, you too, can help make a difference. You can apply to become an Ambassador of Hope here.

What if every school in America had an Ambassador of Hope to help connect resources to needs and to further protect our children from DMST? What if that Ambassador of Hope was you?

August 2, 2021 by Gunnar Simonsen

Where Shared Hope Began: A Podcast with Linda Smith

“Here I was on what was supposed to be a five-minute call in my congressional office and I listened for 45 minutes. Just not able to put the phone down, hearing about children being sold for horrible acts and labeled prostitutes.” – Linda Smith, Founder & President of Shared Hope International.

If you haven’t heard, Shared Hope has joined the world of podcasts.

Invading the Darkness: stories from the fight against child sex trafficking podcast, features Linda Smith, the founder of Shared Hope International. We invite you to join Linda as she shares stories from her 23 years of fighting the battle of domestic minor sex trafficking.

Invading the Darkness is available now to stream on the most popular podcast platforms including Apple and Spotify.

In episode 2 of our inaugural season, Linda Smith shares how she first encountered the sexual exploitation of children. Listen as she recounts the pain of that moment and the resolve that came upon her to pierce the darkness with the light of hope.

Here’s an excerpt where Linda take us to where Shared Hope began:

“I think it would be easier for me to start from the beginning of Shared Hope, that’s where I realized how dark it was. Here I was on what was supposed to be a five minute call in my congressional office and I listened for 45 minutes. Just not able to put the phone down, hearing about children being sold for horrible acts and labeled prostitutes. I couldn’t sleep, I got a ticket to India and that very first night I asked to be taken to that place I’d been told about. I couldn’t believe what I saw and what I felt. I was on the streets of Bombay, India. I was still a member of the US Congress. I’d been told about the women and children who were being prostituted, but I just couldn’t believe it. They said that there were hundreds of thousands of women and children, I just couldn’t believe it.

In politics, people stretch the truth a little bit and I thought, “Oh, they’re not telling the truth,” but I couldn’t sleep. So they took me down to the brothel area called Falkland Road and there before my eyes was a crowded street and two storey places that there were little hands sticking out of the bars on the second storey and women and young girls standing in front of doors. I was shocked. The smell of incense, and urine, and diesel, body odor and we in America have a way of kind of not managing that real well. We don’t like things that smell bad, but I was more overwhelmed by the crowded streets of man after man, shoulder to shoulder shopping along both sides, two storeys with women and children who they would buy for a brief sex act or maybe longer for a few rupees and then walk on.”

You can listen to the entire episode here, or by subscribing to the podcast and listening on Apple or Spotify. Over the course of the next few months, you can expect a brand new episode each Tuesday.

Our desire is that each episode of Invading the Darkness will help you understand the importance of fighting child sex trafficking as well as equip you to join in that fight. Thank you for joining us. Together, we are invading the darkness and sharing hope with the many.

July 23, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Area #1 — Criminal Provisions

In November 2020, Shared Hope released an advanced legislative framework that will take our annual state report cards to the next level, urging states to focus more deeply and more effectively on victim protections and services.

This fall we will release the inaugural Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking, grading all 50 states and the District of Columbia on the six issue areas that make up the advanced framework.

The first issue area, Criminal Provisions, focuses on creating clear criminal laws to hold sex trafficking offenders accountable, especially those who purchase sex with minors. Of particular importance is ensuring that any buyer of sex with a minor can be held accountable as a sex trafficker, as this directly impacts victim identification and ensures those who exploit children by purchasing them for sex are held accountable for the fundamental role they play in the crime of child sex trafficking. Unfortunately, many states do not recognize exploiters who purchase children for sex as sex trafficking offenders.

Why must states continue to improve their criminal laws?

As Shared Hope has seen over the years through its Protected Innocence Challenge Project which analyzed states’ laws from 2011 to 2019 with a particular focus on state criminal laws, states have made considerable progress in improving their criminal laws.

And yet, the demand for commercial sex with child victims remains high. Indeed, it is the main motivator behind child and youth sex trafficking, and without properly acknowledging these exploiters’ role in the crime of child sex trafficking and penalizing them accordingly, demand will continue to exist. Without legislation focused on criminal provisions for exploiters who purchase children for sex, they won’t be afraid to take the risk of engaging in commercial sex with minors.

In many states, sex trafficking offenders can also assert a “mistake of age” defense if law enforcement went undercover as a minor to investigate and arrest them for soliciting or recruiting a child into sex trafficking. It is imperative that trafficking exploiters are held responsible for their roles in child sex trafficking and not given this opportunity to lessen their penalties and shift the weight of their mistake to the child victims they exploit.

Lastly, financial penalties imposed on convicted perpetrators can be directed to support victim services that will help survivors overcome their trauma. In this way, programs such as cognitive therapy, case management, and job skills development can be paid in part by the exploiters who caused the harm in the first place.

What do to next

Sign up to receive the Report Cards for Child & Youth Sex Trafficking to be the first to know when your state’s grade is released!
Sign up to become a Grassroots Hero and receive monthly newsletters focused on policy initiatives, legislative wins, and urgent calls-to-action to help victims.
Contact your state and federal legislators about important bills or issues related to sex trafficking on our Advocacy Action Center.
Share this blog on social media so they can learn more about the importance of criminal provisions against sex traffickers.