Sunshine's story
Sunshine* had been missing for several days before the police found her confined to a storage area at a man’s home, unable to leave. Upon intervention, the child told the police that she had been locked up, forced to alter her appearance, and had been exploited for profit. Her trafficking experience—traumatic in its own right—had also exacerbated previous mental health problems. Suffering physically and psychologically, Sunshine was admitted to the hospital.
Sunshine’s mother knew that the road to recovery would be a long one. Determined that Sunshine would be able to receive the care and support she needed, her mother called youthSpark, a member of the Dressember Network. She had found their information from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and knew that the services they offered would improve her child’s life—maybe even save it.
youthSpark is an independent non-profit organization based in Atlanta, Georgia that provides legal and social support and protection to young people who have suffered abuse, neglect, trauma, and exploitative situations. youthSpark (initially called the Juvenile Justice Fund) was founded in 2000 with the initiation of Georgia’s first coordinated statewide campaign to address the problem of child sex trafficking: A Future. Not a Past. This one-time campaign that focused on serving survivors of trafficking eventually grew into an organization with a four-tiered approach—research, prevention, intervention and education—and a multitude of services. Through it all, youthSpark’s vision has been a world “in which no child is a product that can be bought, sold, or abused.”
youthSpark’s unique blend of legal and social services aims to address the serious psychological and legal consequences of abuse and manipulation, particularly in regards to sexual exploitation. At their Youth Services Center, survivors can find support in individual and group therapy, educational services, and positive adult role models. youthSpark also partners with judges, child advocates, and diverse Atlanta-area service providers within the Fulton County Juvenile Court to ensure that youth survivors are protected from further victimization, including being punished for crimes they were forced to commit while being trafficked.
Sunshine is one such survivor. After youthSpark received her mother’s call, they reached out to a long-term facility that was designed to meet the needs of youth in similar situations. She met the admissions criteria and they were prepared to help her heal. Days before her placement, however, youthSpark was notified that she was being detained for offenses that may have involved her captor. Sunshine is still being held in the detention center where her mental health concerns cannot be treated. The legal team at youthSpark is currently working tirelessly to ensure Sunshine receives the support she needs and deserves. This is challenging work as the justice system often fails to see that a survivor’s “involvement in crime is usually a direct result of coercion.”
True justice, in these cases, would recognize that victims of exploitation are not directly responsible for the crime in the first place.
Nevertheless, too many trafficking survivors have been and continue to be unjustly criminalized. This criminalization takes many forms: the conviction of sex trafficking victims as prostitutes, the penalization of trafficked domestic workers for immigration law violation, and the arrest of individuals threatened with violence by organized criminal groups into producing and distributing drugs. Arrest and conviction records make it exponentially more difficult for survivors to rehabilitate their lives, restricting their access to housing, education, financial aid, child custody, employment or necessary government benefits.
Unsurprisingly, legal action against survivors for crimes they were forced to commit while being trafficked does nothing good for their mental health. Dressember partners with a number of organizations (like youthSpark!) that recognize that Sunshine and other survivors deserve justice both in the form of better legal protection and criminal record relief as well as supportive, rehabilitative psychological care. The consequences on mental health from being exploited and dehumanized for another’s gain are complex, warranting compassion and care—not a criminal conviction.
*Sunshine’s name has been changed, and a stock image was used in order to protect her privacy.
About the Author
Emmy Luker is a writer and MDiv candidate at Fuller Theological Seminary. She is passionate about speaking and writing about what is true, and doing it in a way people can and want to hear. Originally from Colorado, she is a big fan of alpine views and mountain hikes, but she is learning to love the wind and the lake as a recent transplant in Chicago.