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May 6, 2021 by Guest

Pope Francis Appoints Survivor to Office to Protect Minors

On March 24, 2021, Pope Francis appointed Juan Carlos Cruz, a survivor of child sexual abuse, to the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which was established in 2015 to formally address the scandal of sex abuse of minors within the Catholic church. Pope Francis is facing perhaps the greatest crisis of his papacy due to the new wave of sexual scandals that have emerged on his watch. The Pope’s appointment of Juan Carlos Cruz is a giant leap for change.

After The Boston Globe‘s 2002 coverage of the child sexual abuse scandal in the Boston archdiocese of the Catholic Church, U.S. bishops felt compelled to formulate a coordinated response. As the breadth and depth of the scandals became apparent in dioceses across the US, the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), in June 2002, unanimously approved a Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People (more commonly known as the Dallas Charter) that pledged that the Catholic Church in the U.S. would provide a “safe environment” for all children in Church-sponsored activities¹. To accomplish this, the U.S. bishops made a commitment to developing uniform procedures for handling sex-abuse allegations against lay teachers in Catholic schools, parish staff members, coaches, and other staff and volunteers who represent the Church to young people¹.

Pope Francis’ commitment to protecting children is evident in appointing Juan Carlos Cruz, elevating his voice as a survivor, lived-experience expert and member of the LGBTQ+ community. In a tweet, Juan Carlos Cruz stated, “I am very grateful to Pope Francis for trusting me with this appointment. I deeply appreciate it. This renews my commitment to continue working to end the scourge of abuse and for so many survivors who still do not have justice².” As we know within this movement, as quoted by the DOJ Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, “the survivor voice is vital in establishing effective anti-trafficking strategies that address prosecution, protection and prevention³.”

While these cases of child sexual abuse are not necessarily considered commercial sexual exploitation of youth (CSEY), evidence shows that child sexual abuse can lead to exploitation in adolescence and adulthood. According to the CDC, “females exposed to child sexual abuse are at a 2-13 times increased risk of sexual victimization in adulthood⁴.” The adverse childhood experience can also result in depression, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and substance abuse, among others⁴.

There is evidence the U.S. Catholic church has cut down on the level of sex abuse since the Dallas Charter was implemented. According to Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate — an authoritative source for statistics on Catholicism in the U.S. — there have been fewer than 300 allegations of clerical sex abuse of minors occurring since 2005 until 2020, compared with more than 11,500 allegations of abuse occurring in the 1970s and 1980s (2018)². However, victims and victim advocates claim more must be done to reduce the number of cases and to make offenders accountable for their crimes.

We commend Pope Francis for appointing survivor leader, Juan Carlos Cruz, to this vital role in the fight to protect children and youth from sexual abuse and further exploitation.

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Dr. Kim Robinson taught at Midwestern State University for several years including in the Study Abroad Program in London, England for 5 summers. While working in a private psychiatric hospital, she worked on a military unit and specialized in PTSD. She then worked for all 4 branches of the military until May of 2019. She currently is a “train the trainer” and consultant for the Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth for Child Sexual Abuse and Sex Trafficking. She has served as an ambassador for Shared Hope International for a year. She is now working for Ranch Hands Rescue, (RHR) a sanctuary for abused and neglected humans and animals, and where animal-assisted therapy is used when appropriate. RHR will open the first safe house for male victims of sex trafficking between the ages of 18 and 24 in May 2021.

January 27, 2021 by Mark Porter

Omni Hotels & Resorts steps up to fight sex trafficking through multi-year partnership with Shared Hope International

Washington, DC – January 27, 2021 – Leveraging its leadership position in the hospitality industry nationwide, Omni Hotels & Resorts announces that it will host the nation’s premier conference on child and youth sex trafficking. In the coming three years, Omni will be the banner hotel and host for the highly regarded JuST Conference (Juvenile Sex Trafficking) that Shared Hope International has annually brought to the nation over much of the past decade.

Said Linda Smith, founder and president of Shared Hope, “Much of sex trafficking is conducted in, or facilitated through, the hospitality industry. This is where alert and trained employees can make a huge difference—literally, their awareness may actually save the life of a boy or a girl who is being targeted by a sex trafficker. Omni is an ideal partner due to the core values they hold as a corporation as well as the awareness and training programs they have already put in place.”

This exciting new relationship advances the fight against sex trafficking:

The partnership includes opportunities for Omni to participate in certain aspects of the conference which includes many survivors of sex trafficking along with disciplines such as law enforcement, healthcare, social work, policy and citizen advocates. By sponsoring elements of the conference including a networking reception, Omni will provide a unique opportunity for advocates to connect in a social setting outside structured workshops. As an authority with 25 years invested in addressing the issue of sex trafficking, Linda Smith will be available to speak at major Omni client events.

“Local market leadership is one of our core values, and we are committed to our partnership with Shared Hope International to ensure we’re supporting the communities in which we operate to end sex trafficking,” said Peter Strebel, president of Omni Hotels & Resorts. “Understanding that sex trafficking is very prevalent within the hospitality industry, we know we have to do our part in helping to educate our associates, who in turn, have the power to prevent these horrific acts.”

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ABOUT OMNI HOTELS AND RESORTS

Omni Hotels & Resorts creates genuine, authentic guest experiences at 60 distinct luxury hotels and resorts in leading business and leisure destinations across North America. With more than 25 iconic golf courses and 16 award-winning spas featured in dynamic locales nationwide, every Omni proudly opens its doors to share the true spirit of its destination. Reflected through local color, personalized service, unique wellness options, signature restaurants and creative culinary offerings, Omni leaves a lasting impression with every guest and a heightened level of recognition and rewards delivered through its Select Guest® loyalty program. As a founding member of the Global Hotel Alliance, Select Guest is further expanded through the DISCOVERY loyalty program offering members additional global benefits. Omni is committed to reducing hunger and is on a mission through its Say Goodnight to Hunger initiative to provide millions of meals each year for food banks to feed children, families and seniors in communities in which it operates. Through its partnership with Shared Hope International, Omni is dedicated to the education and training of its associates to help combat human trafficking.

Omni Hotels & Resorts is the official hotel of the PGA TOUR® and PGA TOUR Champions. For information or to book accommodations, visit omnihotels.com or call 1-800-The-Omni.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brittany Peck, Director of Training, brittany@sharedhope.org, 360-830-6095.

Learn more about the 2021 JuST Conference: https://www.justconference.org/just-conference-2021/

January 27, 2021 by Mark Porter

Omni Hotels & Resorts steps up to fight sex trafficking through multi-year partnership with Shared Hope International

This exciting new relationship advances the fight against sex trafficking:

###

ABOUT OMNI HOTELS AND RESORTS

Omni Hotels & Resorts is the official hotel of the PGA TOUR® and PGA TOUR Champions. For information or to book accommodations, visit omnihotels.com or call 1-800-The-Omni.

MEDIA CONTACT: Brittany Peck, Director of Training, brittany@sharedhope.org, 360-830-6095.

Learn more about the 2021 JuST Conference: https://www.justconference.org/just-conference-2021/

January 22, 2021 by Guest

Daily Prayer to end Child Sex Trafficking in a Broken World

This blog post was written by Rev. Marian Hatcher.

Daily Prayer is a Must

Our connection to God through daily prayer and supplication is a must. God never promised us we wouldn’t face difficulties. He let us know we would have storms, encounter mountains and valleys; yet in the end He assures us He will bring us through in all of His sovereignty, mercy and grace.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This scripture brings us great comfort and encouragement and in the next verses, He points us to communication with Him to help us achieve and stand firm as His purpose plays out.

Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.”

Spiritual Success through Daily Prayer

On a personal and corporate level, we maintain this connection with God to be successful in our spiritual lives and well as in the natural. When we ignore or do not nurture our prayer life, we feel weary and sometimes exhausted because we are trying to handle things on our own. But the Word of God tells us that such struggle is unnecessary once we have Christ. There is a source of abundant life and it is identified as the Spirit of God which indwells believers and demonstrates beautiful characteristics, or “fruits.”

Galatians 5:22-23: “…the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control…”

We must make it our business to tap into God as our source through daily prayer. When we do this, we acknowledge our need for Him to maintain our “fruitfulness.” We acknowledge our love for Him. We acknowledge our thankfulness and gratitude for His grace and mercy. It becomes a “we thing”, God and His children against the evil of this world driven by the enemy of our soul. The battle was already won at Calvary, but the Word of God lets us know we must stay close to Him until Jesus returns.

Motivated by our Identity in Christ

The knowledge of our identity in Christ and His great sacrifice and love for us motivates us to acknowledge Him daily and ask for His help to demonstrate spiritual fruit in our daily lives. Without it, we would have no hope of following the instruction in Paul’s letter to the Philippians:

Philippians 2: 1-4 Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Caring for others more than for ourselves? This is a tall order without daily prayer, as our flesh wants us to focus on self and make our prayers and petitions about ourselves, our needs and wants. Without constant communication with the Lord we easily revert to that posture and fall short. Even when we are consistent in our prayer life, we will stumble, but the odds of pleasing God are so much better when maintain focus on Him daily.

Pray Daily without Ceasing

Jesus himself gave us the mandate, model and example for prayer. The mandate is found in 1Thessalonians 5:17 where Paul encourages the Thessalonians to “pray without ceasing.”

The model and example for prayer were given by Jesus directly to His disciples. Although we call it the Lord’s Prayer it is actually the Disciples’ Prayer. No doubt they wanted to understand how Jesus was speaking to and hearing from His Heavenly Father. It was the gift Jesus gave them in response to their desire to comprehend the mystery of prayer. Thankfully, these many centuries later, it is ours too.

Matthew 6:9

In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11Give us this day our daily bread.

12And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Jesus gave us the example, as He faced the cross. He asked God the Father to spare Him from having to go the cross. He ended that prayer, with “nevertheless not my will but yours be done”.

Let us likewise pray this for ourselves and our organizations as we continue working to eradicate human trafficking.

As part of our Faith in Action initiative, Shared Hope is mobilizing our faith networks and faith communities to fight sex trafficking and protect children. As we enter this new year, our 30 Days of Prayer will take place in January to coincide with Human Trafficking Awareness month beginning January 1, 2021 to culminate with a National Day of Prayer to End Child Sex Trafficking.

Due to overwhelming interest, our initial 4pm ET event has filled up, so we have opened up a second, earlier prayer event at 1pm ET/10am PT, also on January 31, 2021.

January 8, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Charges against Zephi Trevino must be dropped

Zephi Trevino was 16 years old when she was first trafficked by a young adult, Philip Baldenegro, who originally posed and acted as her boyfriend. Just prior to meeting Baldenegro online, Zephi had been abused and introduced to drugs by another boyfriend, resulting in trauma that manifested in depression and anxiety, a significant departure from the happy, healthy and engaged child she had always been. Exploiting her trauma, Baldenegro gave Zephi drugs, threatened her and her family, and sold her for sex to adult men. Zephi’s exploitation and trafficking ended the night that Baldenegro shot and killed a man he had arranged to buy and rape Zephi; however, her horrific experiences of injustice, misidentification, and unanswered calls for help did not cease.

Miscarriage of justice.

The night of the murder, Zephi should have been identified by law enforcement as a victim of sex trafficking. Instead, she was arrested as an accomplice in the murder of the very man who had paid to rape her. Upon further investigation, prosecutors and detectives on the case, who were immediately presented with evidence of her exploitation, should have identified her victimization, dropped charges, and referred her to specialized service providers. Instead, Zephi was held in detention for over a year on capital murder and aggravated robbery charges. Only after public outcry and the retention of new counsel was she released on bond and house arrest. Texas state law and federal law clearly define Zephi as a victim of child sex trafficking, yet her victimization is continuously denied by her trafficker’s defense team, whose perceptions of child sex trafficking and sexual violence victimization are both inaccurate and self-serving.

Realities of sex trafficking .

The blatant denial of Zephi’s victimization reflects the persistent misunderstanding of sex trafficking victims’ behavior. Despite concerted efforts by survivors and anti-trafficking allies to decry the “perfect victim” myth and shed light on the realities of victimization and resulting trauma behaviors, we continue to see survivors being denied the rights and protections afforded to victims of sex trafficking due to misidentification of their experiences. Rather than looking at the legal definition, prosecutors and even defense attorneys struggle to see victimization even when the facts spell it out, just as they do in Zephi’s case. Survivors of sex trafficking have endured and survived horrific sexual violence, in addition to often-present physical, psychological and emotional abuse, substance use, stigmatization, commodification, and isolation from healthy and safe support. These experiences, often result in trauma, mental health challenges, and substance dependency linked to self-blame and shame. For these reasons, child sex trafficking survivors almost never self-identify or report their victimization. They don’t seek help from law enforcement, service providers, or even family and friends. Indeed, their traffickers often train them on how to hide their victimization, as Zephi’s trafficker did in this case.

One of the greatest challenges we face in combatting child sex trafficking is the lack of awareness that survivors’ trauma manifests in behaviors and decisions they see as necessary to survive their abuse. However, these are often behaviors and decisions that our systems then use to punish or discredit the survivor. This is the exact injustice Zephi is being subjected to; a history of substance use, running from home, and seeming indifference to violence are red flags of exploitation and abuse, not behaviors that discredit her experiences of trafficking victimization. Failing to fit within the fabricated box of “perfect victim” has not only resulted in additional trauma, it has her facing capital murder charges for a crime committed by her trafficker, deepening her involvement in a punitive system and isolating her from family and systems of support.

Your voice.

Your support matters! Using our collective voice to signal support for Zephi will encourage DA Creuzot to stand with sex trafficking survivors and bring justice to the plights they have experienced by dropping unjust charges against Zephi. Sign the petition today!