Florida woman shares her story of sex trafficking for Child Abuse Prevention Month
April is Child Abuse Awareness Month, and blue is the color recognized because bruises on a child’s body transitions from the color purple — to the healing color of blue.
It’s time for us to take a good, hard look at the atrocities inflicted on children throughout America by predators.
My story is from the heart, and while my past is dark, I’ve triumphed and flourished thanks to the rehabilitative help received by Selah Freedom, the Gulf Coast’s largest anti-sex trafficking organization.
As I experienced first-hand, early traumatic events can possibly lead to being groomed into the sex trafficking industry, of which Florida ranks third in the nation.
I’m one of the “lucky ones” who received intense intervention services that helped me regain my self-esteem, confidence, dignity and my sense of self. While my story starts in a good and loving home, after experiencing child abuse at the age of 12 from someone I thought I could trust — fear, shame, and self-blame stopped me from telling my parents.
They only knew my behavior had changed for the worse, but not why. Despite their efforts, my life spiraled out of control leading me to a life of drugs, homelessness by choice, and sex trafficking.
At 17 years old, I met a 27-year-old man who would become my first trafficker. He supplied me with drugs and capitalized on my vulnerabilities. I would go on to be exploited by multiple traffickers.
At 22, after a felony arrest charge in Jacksonville, I was sentenced to 30 days in a rehabilitation center. After trial and error of trying to meet my complex needs, I was given my own Survivor Mentor. She referred me to Selah Freedom, who had the reputation of creating miracles for young women rescued from sex trafficking.
This was the first spark of hope I had in a long time.
After 18 months in their residential program and trauma-related therapies, I reclaimed my life, and I realized the potential I had within me. Today, at 28 years of age, I have a life I never thought was possible: I am a daughter, a sister, a friend, and recently became the mother of a beautiful little girl.
I am grateful for Selah Freedom’s Residential Program, but what inspires me the most is the work Selah’s Prevention arm does to prevent experiences like mine from happening to other boys and girls.
The statistics regarding child abuse continue to stagger the mind. The National Children’s Alliance says, More than 600,000 children are abused in the U.S each year. A report from the The U.S. Dept of Education said 4.5 million children (one in 10 children) will be approached by a school employee for a sexual relationship from the time they’re in kindergarten to a senior in high school. This exhaustive review of research reads like a parent’s worst nightmare.
I am empowered to say today I serve as a Prevention Advocate with Selah Freedom to help spread awareness and empower the community with the tools to work together to fight child abuse and sex trafficking. I also act as Survivor Mentor to girls that are at risk or have experienced exploitation or abuse.
While April is National Child Abuse Awareness Month, we should be lobbying every month for our children’s human rights and safety. My belief is that child abuse is a significant traumatic event in a child’s life that shapes them to have low self worth, self-blame, lack of trust and zero confidence. These are major vulnerabilities to be aware of.
We cannot always be there to protect our children, so we have to teach them and empower them with the education needed to help them protect themselves. Please join me in this mission? Our children deserve nothing less.
Braddock is a survivor mentor and prevention advocate at Selah Freedom, a faith-based nonprofit anti-human trafficking organization, based in Florida and the Midwest.