Host Nicole Bernard talks with Dr. Tasha Levert of Broomtree Counseling about the role of pornography in the world of human trafficking.

The Red X Podcast presents a special panel episode to explore the effect of the Coronavirus Pandemic on human trafficking and the anti-trafficking community. Guests include Leanne McCallum from the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force, Melissa Rueschhoff  who worked in Hawaii's AG office as an analyst/special prosecutor in the ICAC unit (currently working with policy and is the legislative attorney for a state representative in Hawaii), and Nick Lembo coordinator for the Just Men Arizona/Epik Project and Shared Hope International board member.

This panel discussion focuses on how the Covid-19 pandemic and social isolation is impacting service providers, vulnerable populations, and demand.  Melissa says that anti-trafficking groups in HI have all had to shift from face to face conversations to online communication for their main service providers.

Mentoring and education programs have gone online; instead of meeting in person or in groups discussions and check-ins have moved to online platforms to serve clients. Leanne also says that phones and online platforms are replacing client meetings. She says that social distancing has affected how clients are able to get to appointments and services.  And, unfortunately some clients are not able to get housing at all. In order to protect victims from virus they’ve had to limit the number of clients they allow into shelters. One shelter in NOLA has had to make the difficult decision of only allowing victims under the age of 21 to be able to be housed in their shelter.

But what about demand? Nick explains that the EPIK Project was already working through online and phone platforms. A group of men cyberpatrol communities. In other words, they post decoy ads that men respond to and a cyberpatroler then interacts with that potential buyer and tries to educated them on the reality of what they are attempting to engage in. They have worked with law enforcement and survivors on the best ways to approach these men. Patrols typically employ 4-5 men. Information collected on these intercepted transactions are then reported to law enforcement. Nick says that a week prior to recording, buyers were still active in spite of growing national concerns about social distancing and spread of the virus.Nick was most interested in ads in Seattle, Washington the state in which was hard hit by the pandemic. He asked the men if they were concerned and they were not concerned about spread of virus. As Nick explains, “addictions don’t take holidays”. And although calls may have been down by about 10-15%, people who are home and have a lot of idle time are responding to decoy ads to purchase sex. Buyers are already taking risks and it seems that the threat of viral spread is not a deterrent.

Melissa has been in contact with Homeland Security. Her contact there also affirms that buyers and traffickers are still active and that law enforcement agents are still combatting them. However, they are expecting are a lot more children being at risk of child pornography and being lured from online sources now that children are home from school and on the internet. The longevity of social distancing measures gives perpetrators a chance to build a rapport with the victims through online communications—a main way of luring someone into trafficking. Victims often they believe they are in a relationship with the perpetrator. Law enforcement is also going online to intercept and combat these transactions.

Leanne says that isolation can lead to a variety of crimes. There’s an entire spectrum of abuse and violence that we may see because of the pandemic. Where there’s a lack of opportunity, people may turn to the gray economy. There will be employers who want to take advantage of people’s economic vulnerability. Demand is not just about commercial sex, it’s also about labor. We still need people to produce medical supplies, food, and other essential items. It’s possible some will use labor trafficking to produce those goods. Although Leanne says they haven’t seen direct reports of forced criminal behavior they are simply getting less intel from community partners and have a lessened law enforcement presence, which may explain why they aren’t seeing it. She says that they do see this pattern in times of natural disaster. When a tornado hits, they see undocumented people repairing roofs and not getting paid. After Catrina, forced labor was being used to repair infrastructure. People who are homeless or in the margins are at greater risk of being exploited by false promises of fair work. The Better Business Bureau is doing PSA’s about false businesses that are luring people in.

Exploitation may be happening online. Nick references an articlein the NY Post says that camming is on the rise. Also, Pornhub is offering free premium subscription and that there is data linking porn use to being a sex buyer. Shared Hope Internationaland Arizona Anti-trafficking network are trying get the word out about internet safety.

Melissa suggests some concrete steps parents can take to protect their youth from cyberexploitation:

• Check in with your children. What social media are they using? Make sure they are using privacy settings
• Sync your device to your child’s. What information is being sent and received?
• If youth own a cell phone, where did they get it and why are they using it?
• Are youth allowed to have the cell phone in their rooms? Turn phones over to their parents at night.
• Remind children never to give out their address, their name, their school name or other personal information.
• Remind children to never agree to friend or to meet someone in person they just met online.
• Remind children what’s appropriate to post online and not. Even one image can stay on the internet forever.
• Monitor apps. How did they meet the people they are talking to through them? Encourage youth to be cautious.

It’s difficult for children to understand how something they do now will affect them in the future, so it’s important for parents to be vigilant about how children are interacting online.

How could the pandemic and social isolation affect vulnerability to trafficking? Leanne says that human trafficking doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There’s a whole spectrum of abuse that can happen. Child abuse and domestic violence may increase for some as children and domestic partners may be in close proximity to their abusers. Also stress may exacerbate the abuse. Additionally, there are far fewer interactions for people to disclose their abuse or to find ways to get away. In terms of elder abuse, it isn’t possible for some family members to be in touch with their elderly families. Staff may be stressed and overworked due to staff shortages, which could lead to abuse or neglect of elderly clients; this also applies for residential institutions serving people with disabilities. Furthermore, elders may be at risk of financial exploitation.

Looking ahead, how can we plan to combat trafficking following the pandemic? Melissa says we need to look at our state laws. Are our laws strict enough for perpetrators? If not, we need to change those so we can prosecute buyers and traffickers. We also need to make sure that we are reaching out to the vulnerable. Leanne says that they are encouraging case managers to really address what basic needs clients may be saying they need. They are also suggesting for survivor services to integrate risk management into their care. And for providers themselves, how do they reduce vicarious and secondary trauma so they can continue to serve well. She says that service providers need to think about contingency plans and sustainability plans in case they fall ill and create transition plans for someone else to take over if they can no longer serve.

Leanne has created a toolkit for service providers. Nick adds that men can join the efforts in combatting trafficking by starting a men’s group to begin cyberpatrol. The work they do educates buyers, supports law enforcement, and identifies traffickers.

Dr. Karen Lambie joins Lance and Nicole to talk about the foster care system and how it crosses paths with the trafficking of children.

Lance and Nicole welcome Sonya Edwards, a volunteer for Shield North Carolinaand foster mother. Sonya and Nicole interview Dr. Karen Lambie, a Shared HopeAmbassador on the link between foster care and human trafficking.

As the nation becomes more aware of human trafficking, it seems that the public’s reaction is to cling to tightly to their children in parks and stores. Media stories circulate about a mothers and young children followed in large businesses such as Costco or Ikea and the assumption is that kidnappers are lurking, ready to grab a toddler at the first instance that the mother looks away. But according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, less than 1% of missing children are from non-family abductions;and although those abductors have only nefarious intent, even that 1% is not comprised of all human trafficking. However, of the 23, 500 runaways reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, one in seven were trafficked.

Traffickers are typically looking for vulnerable youth to prey on. Children without homes or family. Kids who have already experienced neglect and abuse so that they can be more easily manipulated. Given those facts, it should come as no surprise that, according to the National Foster Youth Institute, 60% of trafficking victims have had the foster care system in their history. In 2018, there were more than 400,000 children in foster care.

In 2014, the US passed the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, which requires each state’s plan for foster care and adoption assistance to develop policies and procedures for children within their care who might be trafficking victims. The Family First Prevention Actalso seeks to improve the quality of foster care by giving state agencies the option of using funds on prevention care for foster candidates to keep children placed with their families.

Although there are national and state efforts to improve the foster care system, more attention must be focused on preventing trafficking within the system. Foster children often run away from their placements, however it was until the past decade that states started passing legislation that mandated missing children from foster care be reported. Not all foster families or social workers are given adequate training on identifying the signs of human trafficking and in many states, there is a lack of resources for children who have been identified as trafficking victims.

Given the realities, to effectively address the exploitation of children, we must take a hard look at one of our country’s most burdened but overlooked social services: the foster system.

Dr. Karen Lambie has a PhD in educational psychology. There is a complex relationship between foster care and commercial sexual exploitation of children. As a foster parent, Karen learned about this connection as a foster mother. Karen had a young girl in her home who had become pregnant through her stepfather trafficking her for drug money. In her case, she was trafficked by a family member (familial sex trafficking) before she entered foster care. There are some foster parents that will actually traffic their foster children. Sonya had a child in her home who was trafficked by uncle in Texas. She was originally from Honduras and then sold to another ring in Tennessee.

Karen says that 60-80% of our trafficked children are in foster care or have been in foster care prior to. In considering children in general who are at-risk, adverse childhood events (ACE’s) must also be considered. ACE’s could be suicide of a family member, domestic violence, drug dependency, etc. These ACEs make children more vulnerable; ACE’s are often what puts children at risk of trafficking.

Foster children often want to run away in the foster care system. Running away puts them at very high risk. 1 in 3 children who run away are approached by traffickers within the first 48-72 hours. Traffickers are looking for them at homeless shelters. If traffickers may use children in a shelter to recruit others within the shelter. Truck stops and bus stops are other places where children may go. Lyn Leeburg of Truckers Against Trafficking provided information on outreach through the trucking industry.

What are some signs that a foster child might be trafficked or is being trafficked? Grades might start to drop, the mood might change to anger or depression, if they become secretive, if the child is on drugs (traffickers often use drugs to control them), tattoos/branding, evidence of physical abuse, burn marks in areas covered by clothing, or the child may have new items of value that the trafficker has purchased for them. Tattoos may be in a place on a child’s inner lip.

The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Florestells the story of how she was trafficked by some high school boys in the 80’s. For 18 months she was trafficked while also going to school. Theresa was from a 2 parent, stable home.

Often these children feel like “throw-aways” and so they may stay with their trafficker who makes them feel wanted. The trafficker may also use elements of fear and there may be trauma-bonding that makes it difficult for the child to leave.

NCMEC said that 1 in 7 of the 25,000 runway children are actually trafficked. These children may be in a strange city, cold, hungry and homeless and may take up someone on an offer. Part of the solution is to teach the kids the signs that traffickers use, internet safety, and the dangers of running away.

But how realistic is it that a 14 year old girl will not get lured in? Karen says that these conversations need to be a continuous part of school curriculum and parents should also be educated to talk to their kids about these dangers? Florida passed legislation to do human trafficking prevention in elementary through high school. It’s also important to equip a community to be a safety net and educate peers on the signs if they have a friend who might be being trafficked.

Boys are also trafficked and the element of shame is often even higher in boys. It’s important to approach the children very delicately. Also important to connect to the right resources such as a court appointed advocate for foster children and a certified counselor.

The child in Sonya’s home who was trafficked was threatened that money would not be sent to her father. She saw her trafficking to support her impoverished family. In the case of Theresa Flores, the trafficker threatened to harm her younger brothers.

Another sign of trafficking may be dressing in a very sexual way for a young child. Sonya said that her foster child needed intensive in-home therapy to in part help her understand how to adapt to being a teenager.

Karen says that foster care does not have enough services for victims or people who are trained to respond to their trauma. There are physical problems and lots of psychological problems. Appropriate counseling can help them cope with the psychological components.

In one example of sex trafficking that was reported on a previous podcast episode, offering a recovering victim inappropriate resources and counseling for their specific trauma can just lead to more trauma.

Also, Dr. Heather Pane-Seifert(on a previous episode) gives some insight into why trafficked children behave the way they do—their behaviors may help them survive. Treatment that reduces these survival behaviors if the child is still being trafficked may put them in danger.

Sonya says that she was not equipped to handle a trafficked child when she became a foster parent. Karen says that anyone who is working with children, especially foster parents, needs to be educated on the signs of, response to trafficking.

Where can people learn more about supporting foster care? If you don’t want to be a full time foster family, you can offer respite care to existing families. If you have organizations within your community that collect items that these children might need, this helps foster families who often have to spend their own money for the children’s’ needs.

Shield North Carolina has a Service Groups and Faith Alliance—we’re hoping that a network like this can help provide support to foster families’ needs.

Traffickers, buyers, and victims often all have childhood trauma in their past. In preventing trafficking, it is essential to address this trauma. Wings of Shelteroffers training.

I want to tell you a little bit about Shield North Carolina. I started Shield North Carolina two years ago as a mom that was disgusted at the reality of people trafficking children for sex. We believe in a world where kids can live free of fear of exploitation. We are primarily focused on prevention efforts at the community level and are currently developing a prototype for responding to trafficking and supporting restoration at the municipal level for other grassroots movements to replicate. We’ve been a part of passing legislation at the municipal and state level and are currently working on federal legislation to create greater restitution for child pornography victims. Our approach is to be relentless, collaborative and bring together best practices from across the country. Please consider making a donation to Shield North Carolina so we can continue this important work. Go to www.shieldnc.orgto make a donation. We are careful stewards to make your dollars count in turning the tides in the anti-trafficking movement so that next generations can live in a world where kids fulfill their purposes and never have to worry about being sold. www.shieldnc.orgCan follow us on facebook. Can you become a monthly donor?

Nicole Bernard of Shield NC and Erin Wallin report on their progress in Washington DC as they meet with influencers to help develop legislation and executive orders to help fight human trafficking and facilitate better restitution for survivors (i.e. victims).

Guest Leanne McCallum of the Greater New Orleans Human Trafficking Task Force. Zydeco. Christmas Tree. Sugar Bowl. Gators.

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In the 15th episode, Lance and Nicole welcome guest John Paul Rice, film producer from A Child’s Voice. They discuss the opening of a fire station with a police car bay, NCMEC and an ice breaker quiz on film. Nicole reports on the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

The Red X Podcast is produced and co-hosted by Lance Olive, the mayor of Apex, NC. Nicole Bernard is the host and director of the anti-human trafficking organization, Shield North Carolina. Lance talks about attending the opening of Public Safety Station #5 where the police and fire department are jointly housed. The launch event involved a variety of activities for the children where they got to pretend to put out a fire.  Lance had to haul a 170-pound dummy to safety and it was no joke! Having police and fire departments jointly housed reminds the hosts of previous guest, Colleen Merced who is the director of a child advocacy center in which all the services are hubbed in one physical location to streamline victim care.

Nicole and Lance also worked with the police recently for “Apex Freedom Week”, for which Lance wrote a proclamation for a week of human trafficking awareness. The week kicked off with Lance reading the proclamation in front of the police department with the chief and other first responders. The week also included Nicole and Shield NC handing out cards with signs of trafficking and ways to respond at a town-wide event, a presentation on internet crimes against children by a local detective and DOJ rep, and panel discussion of the documentary, Resilience.The film has started a movement for people to better respond to adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) and the effects of childhood trauma.

NCMEC, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children is the main agency that works to find missing children. You might have seen flyers or social media photos with age progressed pictures of missing children. Likely those originated with NCMEC, which works with more than 270 corporate photo partners to disseminate information of a missing child to millions of people across the US. NCMEC reports that the most frequently reported cases involve runaway youth, abductions by a family member or lost, injured or otherwise missing children. Stranger abductions are the least likely cause of a child going missing. Since 2014, states have been required to report missing foster children to NCMEC, whereas previously this very vulnerable population with high rates of runaway youth were not mandated to be reported. In the first 48 hours of running away, 20% of youth will be trafficked. In 2017, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children responded to more than 10,000 potential cases of sex trafficking.

NCMEC also tracks online enticement of children, a form of child exploitation including sextortion. Sextortion involves a child being groomed on an online platform to send sexually explicit images, meet someone in person for sexual purposes, engage in sexual conversation or to sell or trade sexual images.  This could be accomplished by a variety of methods including a predator pretending to be younger, offering money for images, or luring a child by first discussing shared interest. So far, NCMEC has been able to identify more than 13,000 children from images.

Lance asks Nicole and guest, John Paul Rice some icebreaker questions about film.

Which Is not recognized as a top 10 American Film Institute genre:

1. Fantasy
2. Sports
3. Romance
4. Gangster

In the 1941 Disney film, Dumbo, who is the voice of Dumbo?

1. a) no one
2. b) Gene Harlow
3. c) Noreen Gammill
4. d) no one knows because there were no credits

A gaffer is on a film set and they deal with electrical requirements. Why are they called a gaffer?

1. a) in the early days of film, light bulbs would “gaff”
2. b) old English theaters, crews would use long poles called “gaffs” to tend the lights
3. c) film crews used to trip on the wires that went to the lights and cause “gaffs” or bloopers
4. d) the first director to shoot with electrical lighting was called “gaffer” in high school

John Paul Rice’s background was in sports and theater. He grew up in Georgia and attended Georgia State. In his second year in school, one of the electives was the history of motion cinema. That instructor had an acting class and it got his creative juices flowing. There was a new film starring Denzel Washington coming to the area (Remember the Titans). John Paul auditioned and made the part of one the team players. He worked on the movie for 2 months working around Denzel Washington. It was 14 hours a day for two months and John Paul realized that he loved it. He then started doing commercials and other small acting roles in Atlanta but then moved to LA to pursue a career in film. He had the opportunity to learn under Joseph Drake, the producer of Hunger Games, Juno, and The Strangersto name a few.  After four years of mentorship under Drake, John Paul realized that his skill set was in producing rather than acting.

He then teamed up with Edgar Michael Bravo to make 6 films over last decade. While in LA, the two met a girl working out of a motel who would do any fantasy anyone would want as long as there was no sex, no nudity and no kissing. There was a tragic side to her to story that they wanted to capture in the film they made about her called One Hour Fantasy Girlthat became a massive hit online. John Paul wanted to do something that was different than the normal Hollywood film. His hope is that his films are a call to action for social justice issues.

As opposed to watching a documentary, a narrative through a genre such as a supernatural thriller as in A Child’s Voice, helps get to the emotional heart of an issue. You don’t have to know anything about the issue before sitting down to watch. You’re drawn in through the characters’ journey. You get emotionally involved. In A Child’s Voice, both a young boy and girl are marginalized and then they are brought together. The narrative evolves through a core message of love. The film makes for a richer story because it humanizes both the perpetrators and the victims and shows the complexity of people. The message of the movie is to say: what would you do? It’s a different type of disclosure and a unique angle that allows viewer to become emotionally involved.

Sometimes people are willing to “go there” in a different kind of genre and explore the emotion of an issue rather than respond to a presentation of facts. Art is a great way to get to the heart of social justice issues. When Edgar and John Paul started looking at human trafficking, they realized that lot of the evil’s root is child abuse. But in the face of unconscionable horror, they realized that people still desire to be loved and find that love in another human being. If we are ever to solve these problems, we need a rise in consciousness. John Paul says that we are incredible beings that have the power to overcome and that every bit of love given to a child is like a deposit of gold for every single child’s future. We have an obligation to alleviate suffering and cannot turn away from these horrors. It’s not a crime that can be arrested away. In order to break the cycle, we must be a steady, trustworthy and consistent adult for children. Science agrees. The best predictor of resilience from trauma is having one adult who is able to be that positive, consistent influence in a child’s life. The Red X’s previous guest, Allisonwas able to find restoration from her trafficking when one family started walking along her recovery with her.

John Paul’s friend was going to pursue another degree when she had the realization that if she was going to spend so much time being angry about child abuse then she might as well put that time into helping. She then became a social worker. On her first day as a social worker, she met a 2 year old little girl that had been in the house when there was a murder. She took her out for a day together and then later watched a movie during which the little girl fell asleep in her arms. That’s the missing piece. To have the feeling in your body that you are with someone who you can trust and to remember that peace. Abuse and trauma can be the root of victims as well as perpetrators and the root cause is what we have to eliminate. Protecting a child is something that can bring everyone together.

A Child’s Voice was probably the fastest they’ve ever made a film. It was all put together in about 2 months. It all began with a solid the script and the belief in it. You have this feeling and trajectory, you are aware of your intent of making a film and what you are trying to say. As a producer, its your personal belief in the film that you are putting out there. There are a lot of casting sessions and going through actors’ headshots and resumes. It’s a subjective process. It’s what do you feel when you are looking at them. All of John Paul’s films are low budget, under $200,000. It’s important to find people who are passionate about the message and then they put their art into it. The script is the foundation, everyone else brings something to it. This was the best produced film because everyone had a heart for this issue.

John Paul does not enjoy the technical side as much as he does the art. He’s in charge of everything from working with the colorist to the musician. Sound business does not make art. Sound art makes sound business. Investors are investing in your belief and your ability to get the job done. John Paul’s advice to anyone who would like to make film is that you might not become the subject matter expert, but explore as much as you can. Look at what actually makes you tick. How do you relate through your emotions? You won’t create something that will speak to everyone necessarily, but the goal is to create empathy which allows us to feel for someone else. Those truths that come out will heal a lot of other people.

The ultimate goal was to do a movie that would be a call to action. John Paul says to call your legislators but Instead of asking them to solve the problem, ask legislators how you can start working on this with them to end human trafficking. If you are going to fight evil, find other people who feel a certain urgency to save these kids. Support as many businesses as you can who are working to end trafficking. One example is AAHOA, the Asian American Hotels Owner Associations. One of their top 5 initiatives is to end human trafficking in their hotels. They get everyone from managers to janitorial staff trained to recognize and respond to trafficking.

If anyone wants to see the film, it’s on Amazon. If you have Amazon Prime, you can download it for free. It’s also accessible on vimeo and available to rent. Please share it with as many people as you can.

The Red X Podcast got started after Nicole and Lance worked on an anti-trafficking initiative in Apex. Lance offered Nicole a platform to communicate the issue to local warriors through a podcast and the Red X Podcast was born. A podcast is a great way to get the word out to listeners on the go. Lance leveraged his experience in radio, running live audio and doing editing on computers to put together the podcast company, Fresh Oil Audio. Lance is now opening up the opportunity to others who would like to start their own podcast. Maybe you like to preach or teach and want a way to record or maybe you have a passion or are a blogger and are looking for another avenue to communicate. Lance is offering his expertise to help you develop your own podcast. Recordings do not have to be done remotely. You can find out more or connect to Lance at www.Freshoilaudio.com on twitter @freshoilaudio.

On the fourteenth episode of the Red X Podcast, Nicole welcomes child trafficking survivor, Allison who shares her story of exploitation and restoration. In the news, an Ohio sting recovers 12 men including an elementary teacher.

Lance’s air conditioning broke and he explains how he fixed it. Nicole comments on her favorite place to work, a noisy coffee shop where she gets the most work done.

Ohio’s Task Force recently staged a 3 day undercover operationinto child exploitation and sex trafficking through the internet that resulted in the arrest of 12 men. Although the actual sting was over the course of 3 days, the involved agencies planned the operation over more than a month and a half. Law enforcement did not want to disclose their strategy, but did say the average age of children they thought buyers were purchasing were between 14 and 15 years and were both male and female.

The 12 men ran the ages of 21 to 50. Perhaps most disturbingly, one of the men was an elementary school Physical Education teacher. All suspects were accused of having sexually-explicit conversations with whom they believed to be children but were in reality undercover officers. Suspects met at a vacant home with the intent to engage in a sexual encounter with a child and were then arrested.Suspects face charges of importuning, unlawful sexual conduct with minors, possession of criminal tools and providing material that could be harmful to a minor.

Guest, Allison, participates in an icebreaker about cartoons. Which cartoon was about a milk shake, fries and a meatball? Bob’s Burgers, Fast Food Fury, or Aquateen Hunger Force? Allsion knows her cartoons. It’s Aquateen Huger Force! She also answered correctly that Timmy’s parents from Fairly Odd Parents were Cosmo and Wand and that Cartoon Invader Zim finds himself on earth to destroy it. She knew two of the Power Puff Girls, Blossom and Bubbles (last one is Buttercup) and that the villain from the show was Mojo Jojo.

Allison is a newlywed in TN. She loves her job working for an audio-visual company, going to church and enjoying family and friends. Her wedding was batman themed and included Gotham city and comic book pictures, corsages were made from batman slap bands. Comic book flowers mixed in with the real ones. Invitations had gold comic strips on the side. For Allison, life keeps getting better and better. She couldn’t have imagined that she could have the life she enjoys today.

            Allison was trafficked by her birth mother for drug money. Her stepfather couldn’t keep up with her mother’s habit so Allison was sold to help support her addiction. Men came and went throughout the week at all hours of the day. Her earliest memory of being sold for sex was when she was 5 years old and it lasted until she was 14 or 15. Allison’s mother passed away from drug overdose when Allison was 16.

            Now Allison has been adopted and has younger siblings. Seeing interactions with her adoptive mom makes her pause and reflect on how her upbringing was so very different. It’s still every day a learning process of what’s normal and how things should have been.

            For a long time, Allison didn’t trust men but a male mentor at church taught her how to do media. Then he and his wife started taking care of her and eventually adopted her. Allison’s adoptive mother would tell her what was normal and what was not. For Allison, having sex with strangers was her chore. She never knew that having sex with a child was wrong. Rather, she perceived it as a way that she could help her mother and a way to get affection from her mom.

Allison wasn’t sure how her mom found men to sell her to. Her mother’s brother was a drug addict as well and eventually moved in with them. There was a point when he got involved in selling her as well or raping her himself. Once her uncle moved in, she was trafficked all the time. She had to be made available for whenever he wanted to have sex.

In many ways, her family was like many other families. Allison went to school and participated in family events like Thanksgiving or Christmas; they had a trampoline in the yard. Either no one noticed or no one cared enough to step in, she says.

Although there were a couple times when the state did get involved. When she came to school with a couple of bruises, her mom explained it away as her being a tom boy and rougher than the other girls. In middle school the state got involved again because she had lost so much weight and her mother explained as her being a picky eater with a fast metabolism. Her mom convinced the doctor to write a note to that effect.

In 9thgrade, Allison took a sex ed class that her mom couldn’t opt her out of. Afterward, one of her friends was bragging about something sexual that she had done with another boy. Allison disclosed how many men she had been with in an effort to look “cool”. Her friend told and adult and Allison was put into foster care. They took her straight from school

So many things that we learn as a kid that determines how we act as adults. Allison says that there’s so much that she’s having to unlearn as an adult because of her mother’s abuse. It makes it hard to forgive. As a child she still wanted her affection.

Her mother was never charged with anything. Allison was put into foster care before an investigation started and then her mother died shortly thereafter. There were years that Allsion  would deny her abuse happened if she was asked. She had been constantly warned by her mother that disclosing would mean that she would be taken away and Allison was terrified of leaving her family.  

Allison moved around a lot in foster care. She wasn’t allowed to live with a family member that she knew. Some of the foster families that she lived with were great. Others abused her.  On more than one occasion she ran away from the homes to go back to her mother.

The men who purchased sex from her did not fit the stereotype. She said it’s hardly ever the case that it’s a shady looking person. Growing up in a small town, she would sometimes run into some of the men who had raped her at the grocery store and acted like it was normal. Fortunately, when she entered foster care she was moved out of town.

Her uncle did spend some time in jail for 5 years for a molestation charge. Now he’s married and has 3 other kids. It’s hard for Allison to think of what could have happened to his own children. The legal system didn’t do justice in this case.

For a long time she wondered what it was about her that made her mom put her needs before hers or made a man think that she deserved this abuse. She knows there was a family history of abuse so she always concluded that her mom didn’t know it was wrong and that she hoped her own daughter would fare better than she had.

Pornography also influenced a lot of what her rapists wanted her to do. Allison firmly believes that pornography addiction had a lot to do with men wanting to purchase sex. She says that there’s no way they could have come up with some of the things they asked her to do on her own. She doesn’t know how many men raped her throughout the years but she knows 12-15 who were repeat customers.

Her restoration has been similar to grief. At first refused to believe that her childhood wasn’t normal. Then she had intense anger. She tried to cope with her abuse multiple unhealthy ways until she finally got into counseling. She saw a counselor every week for a year and a half before her counselor felt comfortable moving sessions to every other week. She still talks to her counselor on a pretty regular basis. Nightmares, flashbacks, eating disorders, self-harm were all part of the after-math of her trafficking. She has consistently been doing handbooks, leaning on a support system and being treated by a counselor. She constantly reads books to retrain her mind. Her husband is very open to listening to anything she has to say.

The first time she ever really spoke out was at a women’s conference for another nonprofit organization. That moment was really freeing. There were about 1000 women in attendance.

Allison encourages anyone who is being abused or trafficked to speak out. She knows that being removed from their home can be terrifying but she never realized that it would be safer. Even if means telling another friend who can tell an adult, speak out. We are living in different times than when Allison was first trafficked. The police are well informed on what trafficking is now and they are someone to go to. Trafficking wasn’t something that was ever mentioned when she was a child. Now there are organizations and Christine Caine, End it Movement campaign and more general awareness. It’s not as taboo. Allison hopes that her encouragement for others to speak out can save them at least a little bit of time from being trafficked.

And there are signs to look out for. A first grader shouldn’t be missing multiple days of school and then coming in with bruises. Being withdrawn or seeking a lot of attention could also be an indicator that a child is being abused. Allison got in trouble a lot in school because she wanted attention. Instead of anyone considering a deeper reason to her behavior, she was passed along to the next person. If a child is falling asleep throughout the day, don’t ask what’s wrong with them. Dig a little deeper to find out why.

Now in middle school are required to take sex ed. Her mom would never sign off on allowing Allison to attend the classes when she was in school. She would stay in another classroom and do the homework that she couldn’t do at home because she was being trafficked that night.

Allison wishes she had told someone what was happening at home. As a little girl, her grandmother would pay Allison’s mom so that she would be allowed to take Allison with her on the weekends. Her grandmother would make sure she had clothes and something to eat. She tried several times to get custody of her. But her trafficking wasn’t something that they ever talked about and her grandmother never asked.

As a child, she didn’t see other kids coming to school complaining about their parents because they made them do chores and so she never complained about her mother trafficking her. She saw her trafficking as a family responsibility. Things that we are considering normal for one person might be completely different than their normal.

As an adult she is somewhat conflicted about having her own children. Doctors told it would be harder for her to conceive and carry to term because of the trauma and abuse that she has experienced. Already she has suffered several miscarriages. Both she and her husband want children but don’t know if they would do foster care or adopt.

The real hero in this story is Allison and her courage to speak out to help others. And her adoptive parents are also heroic in their commitment to walk with Allison to restoration.

Allison wants to teach the kids now that it’s ok to speak up. She now talks to schools about recognizing the signs of sex trafficked children.

Allison’s end goal is to not have her past affect her present. She is constantly growing and ultimately wants to be growing into her purpose rather than growing out of her past abuse. She wants buyers and pornography addicts to know the damage they are inflicting on children.

Nicole took away that for children who are being trafficked, they might not say something because they believe it’s a responsibility to their family. Lance says that Allison is a good example of someone who is learning that their trafficking wasn’t something that they caused. We could be a game changer for a victim by walking with them, being trustworthy, and helping them understand what is normal and what is not.

In the thirteenth episode of the Red X Podcast, Nicole interviews Colleen Merced from the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center in Syracuse, NY. In the news, are social media posts about child abductions for human trafficking true? Leah Hartman, a new advocate, co-hosts.

            Lance talks about his morning at the Apex Farmer’s Market and breakfast from the Wandering Moose, a moose brisket biscuit. Nicole reports on her recent visit to DC with Episode 009’s guest, Erin Wallinto present legislation to create better restitution for child pornography victims. Nicole and Erin met with staffers and got encouraging feedback from Senator Bob Corker’s representatives.   

For many people, social media is the first place they get their news. Unfortunately, Facebook posts aren’t the most reliable sources about nearly escaped human trafficking abductions. Posts from alleged parents, grandparents or witnesses about how they and their children were followed by child traffickers often go viral. And even though they may get shared thousands of times, that doesn’t make them true.

You might have seen the story from a southern Californian mother who recounts her terrifying trip at Ikeain which she and her children were stalked by people trying to kidnap her children to traffic. Or maybe you saw the viral video of a man who claims his wife and children were pursued by traffickersin Canton, OH. He got more than a half million views. A mother visiting Boca Raton Parksays her daughter was being lured away from her by another child and that authorities told her it was a part of a trafficking ring.  In upstate New York, three separate stories circulated regarding a group of traffickers posing as a part of Bible study group.

Although all these scenarios are shared thousands of times and encourage hypervigilance when with children in public, none of these stories turned out to be true. Lara Powers, a human trafficking victim advocate says that the problem with a false narrative about how children are trafficked can be harmful because these fictitious stories can overshadow the truth of how kids become ensnared. Regarding the ikea story she says,“I find that it so misrepresents the dangers, warning signs and risks associated with sex trafficking that its readers and likers may now try to protect kids by watching for the wrong things in the wrong places. They may miss real sex trafficking as it happens; they may miss the opportunity to extend a lifeline to a child who needs their help. What people don't understand about sex trafficking can prove lethal to kids.”

The Red X welcomes Colleen Merced, the Executive Director of the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center from Syracuse, NY. Colleen helps Nicole and Leah with some trivia questions Lance prepared. The city was originally named after “Siracusa” the Italian city off the east of Sicily. Syracuse is the home of the Orange, the mascot of Syracuse University. Before that, the school claimed the Saltine Warriors as their mascot. Syracuse is also home to the Carrier Dome, originally named for the air conditioning company, although ironically the dome is not air-conditioned and Colleen says that it gets really hot there in the summer. 

Colleen originally started advocating for youth when she began working with gangs and runaway youth in New York City. She then began working with women, children and sometimes men who were victims of domestic violence. From there she helped lead a task force that was trying to get the first child advocacy center up and running. The McMahon/Ryan Child AdvocacyCenter is unique in that its services are all co-located so that the variety of providers working with a child and family are physically located in the same building. Law enforcement, prosecutors, social workers, mental health professionals, child protective services, and medical professionals in their care clinic (medical clinic) for child abuse referrals are all in the McMahon/Child Advocacy Center. Advocates at the center work directly with the youth and their family. When a child enters the center, they are met with an advocate who will follow them throughout the entirety of their court case. The team of professionals meets every month to review cases. Having everyone co-located facilitates services so that they are collaborative in response. Many child advocacy centers are not co-located, which makes coordinating between providers more difficult and can mean that a child might have to report their story of abuse to multiple people; co-location minimizes the number of times the child must repeat the story.

The Center also has representatives that go into local classrooms to teach children about personal safety beginning in kindergarten. By sixth grade, the students continue the conversation about keeping themselves safe and are introduced to information about human trafficking and CSEC (the commercial sexual exploitation of children). In high school, students use the Love 146 curriculum. So far, the Center has done outreach for 18,000 youth. Helping parents understand how to talk about healthy sexuality with their children and to teach their children the anatomically correct names for body parts is one important way parents can equip their children to be able to report sexual abuse if they ever are touched inappropriately.

The McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center primarily sees abuse cases. However, sexual abuse can create a vulnerability that can lead to trafficking. Often children who are trafficked are on their own until they meet a trafficker and may see him or her as a stable support. It can be very difficult to help children self-identify as victims. Sexual and physical abuse can manipulate a child’s understanding of trust which can put them at risk of exploitation, but it can also interfere with their willingness to receive help.

The McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center received a grant that focused specifically on LGBTQ youth who are a high-risk population. Their vulnerability has nothing to do with their sexual preferences, but rather the increased risk that they will have conflict within their home because of their sexuality that can result in lack of support or homelessness. For them, trafficking may be about survival: trading sex for food or shelter.

Last year the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center saw 1,036 victims. Of those, only 60% were at poverty level. Sexual abuse knows no race or sociodemographic boundaries. Fortunately, the culture is changing so that youth are more willing to speak about their abuse. Traffickers and abusers want children to stay in fear and to believe that they had some role in causing their abuse. Sexual abuse can have a rippling effect for everyone involved and can be very divisive for a family, especially when the child is abused by a family member. In 90% of the cases of sexual abuse, the child knows his or her abuser.

The Advocacy Center has a little more than 100 youth who have been trafficked locally. A large percentage of them are involved in gangs. For the child, the gang may be their “family”. Relationship with an abuser can complicate the healing process.  

Colleen wants more awareness of what trafficking is and how it can be prevented. Often the signs can be counterintuitive—a child might be coming to school with their hair and nails done or new jewelry. Or they may have new possessions suddenly appear such as a new phone. These can be signs that a child is being groomed for trafficking.  It’s important to understand that recruitment tactics involve the dynamics of power and control so that parents can help identify signs with their own children. You can learn more at www.mcmahonryan.org.

The advocacy center measures success as children learning to trust them and reaching out so they can take steps to recover from trauma and abuse. The psychological damage from years of abuse at the hands of a parent can be profound and may be a lifetime of recovery. One of the girls who the Child Advocacy Center served was identified from pictures obtained by Homeland Security.  This young girl was trafficked from the age of 2 to 12 by a family member and her mother was also found in the picture. During the course of her victimization she tried to tell people but no one responded. The Child Advocacy Center was able to help her reclaim her life and overcome her anxiety and depression. Her traffickers were put in prison for life. She is now getting a college degree and wants to work in programming.

The Center also served a young girl who was relocated from the city. She had been trafficked for several years and was witness to a horrible crime. Advocates worked to develop a connection with her, get her job training, housing and a GED.  The McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center offers support without judgement and may be the first time a child has had someone reliable to advocate for them.

            Physical rescue may come first, but treating the trauma of abuse may take years. Part of that treatment is helping a person understand that abuse is not the victim’s fault. Success can begin before a child has even left a trafficking situation. Success can begin with a child being a part of a trusting, stable relationship so that they can be ready to take the first steps to recovery.

            On episode 11 of the Red X Podcast, Lance and Nicole speak with Tracy Hughes from Tamar’s Tapestry on the Texas-Mexico border. Nicole reports from one Texas news source that cites fear of trafficking as one factor in separating children at the border.

Lance talks about his cats (Moe and Kiki) and how cats go through the door quickly if you open the door. Nicole says she’s experienced this phenomenon with dogs when she went to Molly Stillman’shouse and accidentally let her dogs out. Nicole ran down the road yelling “Tater Tot!” (not the name of the dog, oops). Lance suggests this could be the start of a food truck venture.

In the news, Nicole reports from My Statesman, about fears of human trafficking being a factor in separating children from their parents at the border of Texas and Mexico. The article states that Texas’s Rio Grande Valley is where most families have been crossing the border in recent years. In fact, the Border patrol has reported more than 450 cases of fraud among children and family migrants and prosecuted 60 cases in the last year. A spokesman for a Homeland Security Department said they are “looking at all options in conjunction with the attorney general’s zero tolerance policy for those illegally crossing the border.” She goes on to say that they have “a legal obligation to protect the best interests of the child whether that be from human smugglings, drug traffickers or nefarious actors who knowingly break our immigration laws.”

            Nicole welcomes Tracy Hughes from Tamar’s Tapestry, an anti-trafficking organization on the Mexico/Texas border.Lance includes Tracy in the icebreaker quiz as an expert on Texas. What do the following mean in English?:

1. Rio Grande
2. El Paso
3. Brazos River
4. Alamo
5. Armadillo

How did you do?

1. The Big River
2. The Pass; incorporated in 1873 (the same year as Apex). It was named as a military post
3. The Arms; Originally called the “Rio de los Brazos de Dios”, which means the “arms of God
4. The poplar tree
5. The little armored one

Nicole asks Tracy how she founded Tamar’s Tapestry.  The organization has been in existence since Dec 2016. Tracy was asked to teach a class on global women’s issues. In the class, she watched a video from a woman who had opened a home in Cambodia for trafficking victims. The young girls were singing about their trauma, and the victims couldn’t even finish it the words so their friends sang for them. It was at that moment that Tracy knew she had to do something. She even took a trip to India to see how they are combatting it.

Tamar’s Tapestry is a faith-based organization and it gets its name from Tamar, who in the Bible poses as a prostitute. Another Tamar in the Bible is David’s daughter who was raped. Both Tamars experienced inexplicable trauma. “Tapestry” is significant in that all the loose threads can be woven together into something beautiful much like victims’ lives.

Tamar’s Tapestry offers shelter for women who have just been rescued from a human trafficking situation. But the organization also works on education and prevention as well as helps advise policy for local and state legislators. They are the first crisis shelter in the Rio Grande Valley, they only provide service for adult females. Tracy says that every aspect of the home is meant to offer comfort and respite for the survivors who stay with them. Some of the women are so exhausted by the time that they arrive at the shelter that they fall asleep on their covers before they can get in the bed. The average age of the women they serve is 18-35 so they decorate with that in mind and have fun, funky and lively décor to make them feel at home.

As a crisis shelter, they can provide services for up to two weeks. Tamar’s Tapestry sees three different demographics of survivors: immigrants, imported victims from another area in the US and local women. Sometimes the young women will come back to stay at the shelter if they are coming back to interview for a case but otherwise they are only in the care of Tamar’s Tapestry for 2 weeks until they can be sent to a more long-term restoration service.

            Tracy says that she often sees people get “smuggling” confused with “trafficking”. Smuggling is a crime against a nation and involves moving a person from one border to another. It is always voluntary. Often, people have paid a “coyote” to smuggle them across the border. Although these coyotes are often controlled by the cartel, generally they are gang members. The people being smuggled are not always from Central America, they are also from the Ukraine, Russia, Philippines, Afghanistan or another country. They may fly to central America and hire a central American coyote to smuggle them in.

            In contrast, trafficking is always involuntary. Movement is not a necessary component of trafficking. Although smuggling and trafficking are often inaccurately used interchangeably, it is possible that a smuggling scenario can become trafficking. Sometimes immigrants are sold before they even get over to the US. So what began as smuggling then becomes trafficking. Once immigrants are brought over by a coyote they are kept in a stash house in horrendous conditions. They are temporarily held in these stash houses until they can be moved farther north. The victims do not realize they have been pre-sold. Victims may be told that if they do not do what the coyote says then their family could be killed. Some of them are put to work in the Rio Grande Valley area but others can be sent to other states.

            In the groups, coyotes will often separate out the women from the group. They are then gang raped and their undergarments are hung on a tree as a status symbol. These displays are called “rape trees” and they are meant to instill fear in the women who might be coming along that path after the women who have been raped. Many of the women expect to be raped some time along the way and Tracy says they have heard reports that the women are beginning birth control pills before they make the journey.

            Tracy explains that many people can’t understand why a parent would put their child through such a dangerous journey because we American often lack a basic understanding of what is going on in immigrants’ home countries. These parents are often desperate for their children to have a better life and they see the risk of trauma they might experience on the journey to the US a risk worth taking for them to escape their current situation.

            Tamar’s tapestry also sees children being lured online. Tracy says that generally, most of the recruited are female (85%) while only about 15% are male. The Rio Grande Valley had the first case in which a 17 year old minor girl sold a 15 year old minor girl.  And they also recently had a case in which a pair imported girls from Louisiana.

Tracy says human trafficking happens everywhere in places you wouldn’t expect it. She knows of one reporter who didn’t believe that domestic human trafficking was happening in areas outside of large cities. This reporter set up a false person (minor 14 year old girl) on social media—a young girl and within an hour and a half she had received 223 hits.

Tracy says the problem is the demand and the money. As a faith based organization, Tamar’s Tapestry is encouraging churches to address pornography. They believe that the demand for human trafficking will not be able to be fully regulated by the government and that it is a human problem that will require humans making a change. She says churches need to make it a safe place for groups to work through pornography addiction with men available to mentor them. Although pornography consumption is normalized outside of the church it is still not talked about within the church and that needs to change if we are going to make an impact in reducing the demand for purchasing sex.

            Nicole asks who is making the actual purchases for pre-sold people when they cross the border. Tracy says that they are often pre-sold to people through the cartel and that often they have victims come through with a family unit. Most people don’t have papers and their trafficker might be posing as part of that family. Sometimes there are easy common sense methods for determining if there is a trafficker in that group and other times that identification is much more difficult. Sometimes a parent might be paying another person to send over their child, or another person offers to pay the parent to use their child to accompany them to go across the border. So if a child is traveling with another adult, it is not necessarily that child’s parent. In fact, they might have been coached to call that adult a parent.

            No matter how you slice it, children are the victims in this. They experience trauma in their home country, on route and whether they are separated or not, they will experience trauma. If a parent is charged with smuggling, he or she might be put in shackles and that is also difficult for children to see. Tracy says these are not easy issues with simple solutions.

            How can the listener get involved? Educate yourself on the realities of pornography and don’t consume. Also, if you see something, say something. Call the Human Trafficking Hotline through Polaris to report a potential human trafficking scenario: 1-888-373-7888. It can be made anonymously and will go directly through to someone who can take your report. Tracy says that anti-trafficking organizations need your time and talent. You might have a skill that can be used in their operations so invest yourself. Also pray for the victims as well as the traffickers. Be an advocate and use your voice to tell others about the reality of human trafficking.   

            Follow Tamar’s Tapestry on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tamarstapestry/

or visit their website: http://www.tamarstapestry.info/

            Tracy reminds us of Matthew 25:40 “Whatever you did for the least of these, you did for me”. We have been called to serve God by serving others.

Lance took away that they would crowd the women into houses (stash houses). Nicole was most struck by the rape trees that are meant to induce fear into potential victims. And Lance says that even if you can’t see the demand, it is there and that the reporter’s “sting” operation using a false account indicates that even in small towns where you don’t expect it, human trafficking can be occurring. Finally, issues surrounding the border are more complicated than is sometimes portrayed. People can be incredibly polarizing on the issue because sadly they are politically polarizing. It is complicated without an easy solution. We want families together, but we want them together safely.