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January 12, 2024 by stephen

Shared Hope’s Founder and President appears as guest on new Dr. Drew show on Fox Business channel

Linda Smith, Shared Hope International’s Founder and President, appeared on an episode of a national show hosted by Dr. Drew Pinsky in a segment about sex trafficking. The episode aired on Sunday, January 28 on the Fox Business channel.

“Health Uncensored with Dr. Drew” is a new show on the network, and Smith appeared as one of the host’s first guests on the inaugural episode. Smith was interviewed by Dr. Drew, the host of a variety of popular podcasts including the iTunes top-rated Dr. Drew Podcast, Dr. Drew After Dark, The Adam and Drew Show, co-hosted by Adam Carolla, and a live streaming show called #AskDrDrew on which he answers audience questions in real time.

Watch the recording of that segment:

January 11, 2024 by stephen

Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day; January is Trafficking Prevention Month

Today is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Declared by the U.S. Congress in 2007, the day designated for this issue occurs annually on January 11 and falls during Human Trafficking Prevention Month.

This is a day set aside for special recognition of trafficking. Awareness of trafficking is necessary because it’s the first step in addressing and eradicating this problem. You can’t fix what you don’t know; recognizing and understanding a problem are needed in order to resolve it. Awareness is needed because too often we think that the scourge of trafficking, including sex trafficking, is something that happens in other countries, other states, other cities, other communities or other families. The truth is that it is happening right here in our country, and it’s not always perpetuated by a faceless “bad guy.” Many children become victims of sex trafficking at the hands of their own family members – sometimes by their own parents. Or sex trafficking of a child can start while that child is alone in their own home, a supposedly safe place, while that child is online. Sex trafficking is happening right here, right now, sometimes in the everyday places of our lives.

Prevention – something else this period of special recognition for human trafficking in January is about – is another part of the process of addressing and eradicating sex trafficking. Prevention is making sure children don’t fall prey to traffickers in the first place. It’s helping children and their parents and other people who supervise and care for them (teachers, church leaders, health care workers, law enforcement officials, and others) be aware of how sex trafficking happens so they can take action. When awareness occurs, prevention can happen. Prevention is avoiding sex trafficking by knowing how to respond in effective ways and having the tools to do that. In these ways, the evil sex trafficking industry is slowly dismantled.

How does awareness and prevention, among other responses and interventions to this widespread and pervasive issue, happen in the first place? That’s where we, Shared Hope International, come in. In existence for the past 25 years, Shared Hope has built up the expertise and experience to tackle sex trafficking. The sex trafficking industry is well-established and complex, so addressing it can’t be done overnight or with a silver-bullet intervention like a rescue of a trafficked victim in a foreign country. Tackling this industry isn’t a marathon but a sprint.

Shared Hope does awareness and prevention and a whole lot more. Our broad, three-fold response is described using the above methods and others:

Prevent: Through training, awareness and collaboration, we seek to inspire creative prevention strategies.

Restore: Our strategic guidance and funding helps local organizations expand shelter and services for survivors.

Bring justice: Our justice initiatives accelerate legislative and policy solutions to combat injustice and protect victims.

If you aren’t already part of Shared Hope – supporting our mission financially, using our resources, carrying out advocacy or connecting with us some other way – we invite you to join us in the fight against sex trafficking. We can all be aware of and prevent sex trafficking today, during January and every day.

January 5, 2024 by stephen

Friday Facts, a new series on Shared Hope’s Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking

Friday Facts is a new series in which we will present a data point or bit of information from the latest set (2023) of Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking. On every Friday this year, we will feature a fact from one state (or Washington, D.C.). During the course of 2024, we will walk through, in random order, all states plus the nation’s capital. However, we will start this series with a fact about the whole of the United States.

Facts for the U.S. as a whole:

The national average grade on the Report Cards, out of a total possible 100 points, is 57.9. On Shared Hope’s scale of letter grades, this is an F, the lowest possible grade.
32 states – the majority – have a score of 60 or lower, which is what accounts for a low national average.
However, over the last two years, the national average has risen an impressive 10 points (from 47.9).

See more about the overall U.S. grade on Shared Hope’s Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking.

December 6, 2023 by stephen

St. Nicholas: Patron saint for people caught in sex trafficking

By Stephen Padre

Today, December 6, is the feast day of St. Nicholas. He was the Bishop of Myra, which is part of modern-day Turkey, and lived from 270 to 343. While he’s the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, pawnbrokers, and students, you may know him best as the model for Santa Claus because he had a reputation for secret gift-giving.

There are various legends surrounding St. Nicholas, and many of them center on him helping people in dire circumstances. In one of the most famous legends, Nicholas rescued three girls from being forced into sexual slavery by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them. For this reason, Nicholas is also the patron saint for victims of sex trafficking as part of his protection of people who are oppressed and vulnerable.

The Christian traditions that honor saints like Nicholas do not worship the saints themselves but view them as models of a godly life. As individuals and through our collective work under the banner of Shared Hope International, we can follow the examples of saints like Nicholas in our own efforts to live as God intends us to.

Whether true or not, the story of Nicholas rescuing three girls from a life of sexual slavery has some lessons that we might apply to our work and some parts we might emulate. Shared Hope does not engage in actual rescues of people involved in sex trafficking. But we see in Nicholas’ actions in his rescue that he was aware of what was happening to the girls and recognized that action needed to be taken. He did what he was able to given his position in life and the resources he had at hand.

In what ways are you able to act to end sex trafficking given your circumstances? If you have the means to support the work of Shared Hope through donations, you could give money. If you have time and are able to use a computer to send messages to your state legislators about pending legislation related to sex trafficking, you could engage in Shared Hope’s advocacy efforts. If you are good at talking to and influencing others, you could become an Ambassador of Hope and speak to groups you are part of or seek out other groups like schools or social clubs to make presentations to. There are many ways to take action that are rooted in the awareness and concern that you have about sex trafficking like Nicholas did.

Saints like Nicholas can inspire us to carry out God’s work in the world. God also equips us to do God’s work in the world. Sometimes that is through our association as individuals with organizations like Shared Hope that have the history, expertise, and connections to address big problems like sex trafficking. We at Shared Hope invite you to join us, either for the first time or more deeply in our work in bringing an end to sex trafficking.

For many, St. Nicholas Day is an occasion for giving candy to children, who leave their shoes by the door of their house the previous night and hope they don’t receive a lump of coal instead. But given Nicholas’ supposed connections to victims of sexual slavery, he is a worthy example to follow in our work of ending sex trafficking. He is also known in song as “jolly old St. Nicholas.” Surely we can be jolly with him at Christmastime, but we can also live like him and remember people who are sex trafficking victims and survivors in our prayers and actions.

Stephen Padre is the director of communications and public relations at Shared Hope International.

Photo: Portrait of St. Nicholas from the first half of the 13th century at Saint Catherine’s Monastery, Sinai (Egypt). Source: Wikimedia Commons

November 27, 2023 by stephen

Shared Hope partner in Missouri helps new and old clients

In Missouri, a Shared Hope partner provides care for young teen girls who have been sexually trafficked or exploited in a residential setting and counseling, educational and support services for youth and adults in the community.

The organization recently brought its prevention and intervention program to youth at a juvenile detention center. Teens at the center have often had challenging pasts. The risk factors that may have led them to make decisions that landed them in the detention center also make them vulnerable to sex trafficking and exploitation. These risk factors include the lack of consistent, fully functioning adults in their lives.

The program is teaching the youth about trafficking red flags, healthy boundaries and relationships, and online safety. Program staff report that the information has resonated with the youth, who are already seeing where it applies to real-life examples. At the first session in the detention center, one of the teens identified that she had been trafficked. This was confirmation that the organization’s services are needed for this population of youth. This teenager is now receiving further services from the organization.

The organization is also serving two young sisters, ages 6 and 8, in its community-based services program. The girls were being exploited by a family member, but they are now in a foster home and are receiving therapy and case management through organization.

A former client at the organization’s residential home reached out to become a client of the organization’s community-based services program. The organization is supporting her with case management and life skills training as she works to maintain her housing. Staff say they are grateful she knew she could reach out to them for further support.

Shared Hope is proud to partner with organizations like this one as they work with survivors who are restoring their lives and to prevent other young people from becoming victims of sex trafficking.