Love146 Tackles the Challenges of Child Trafficking and Exploitation

When Rob Morris saw a 5‑year-old year girl in a red dress in a Southeast Asian brothel with other girls in red dresses, he knew he had to act. A number – 146 – was pinned to her shirt and, he said, he saw defiance in her eyes.

Morris, who co-founded Love146 in 2002 and serves as its president, described that encounter at a recent gathering at the Stony Creek Brewery, titled ​“Hope is Brewing.” He said he was brought along as an observer by a team investigating the brothel and saw the girls in the red dresses. They had no names, just numbers. ​“They were shut down with blank stares,” he said. Except for no. 146. 

Thus was born Love146.

“When you put a face to an issue, it becomes personal,” he said. He describes Love146 as ​“saving the world for children… stakes in the ground in instilling hope,” Morris said. 

Prior to the establishing of Love146, Morris worked with Mercy Ships International. Morris has lectured and taught in over 30 countries on issues of justice, compassion, and human rights.

Child trafficking and exploitation is often thought of as something that occurs in Southeast Asia and Philippines, where Love146 has an extensive presence. According to the International Labor Organization, 20.9 million people are enslaved today, including more than 5 million children, who are the focus of Love146. The crowd learned a lot about the issue.

However, the problem takes place much closer to home; Connecticut’s towns and cities are not immune, including Branford.

Statistics from the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, via its documentation of incoming ​“signals,” show just the proximity of the problem: There were 120 phone calls, three emails, and 10 online tip reports.

Their map shows the approximate location of the calls, often along the I‑95 and I‑91 corridors.

Survivor Care Program

Love146’s Survivor Care Program has provided direct services to 170 youth within every county in Connecticut. The organization provided ​“rapid responses” with 155 youth and some have gone on to receive long-term services.

Laurie Dunford, LSCW, program manager for survivor care, said in an interview that grants are enabling the organization to increase the number of social workers from two to 10 within the state. The expansion will enable Love146 to serve 50 to 60 youth with long-term services at any given time.

Dunford noted that the caseload is kept deliberately small to offer the best care.

The organization offers solutions to the problem of child trafficking and exploitation through survivor care and prevention education.

A network of social workers offers holistic care including biological, psychological, social, financial, and spiritual support. There’s also collaboration with existing local agencies to share information and ensure total care in the hope that survivors become self-sufficient, flourishing adults.

In terms of prevention, the organization facilitates skill building to decrease vulnerability. It’s designed for schools, and child welfare and juvenile justice agencies, and focuses on individual strengths, and personal and societal pressures that create or increase vulnerabilities. 

How Kids Get Caught Up

The obvious question is: How does a child or teenager get involved in sex trafficking and exploitation?

Dunford said the Internet plays a big part, but often the children have a history of trauma or abuse. ​“They’re vulnerable to someone giving them attention.” Dunford, who has 15 years experience dealing with sexual assault and domestic violence victims, said the modus operandi is similar.

She said they often require basic needs such as food, shelter, transportation, and even emotional support. These needs can be provided by a trafficker, making them vulnerable or more vulnerable, and then the trafficker is there to ​“save” them.

Dunford said the trafficker ​“could look like anybody.” Sadly, she noted, ​“trauma bonding” occurs. ​“They do bad things to the victims, then express caring and love.” 

She added that exploitation does happen in Branford, and in upscale, rural, and urban communities.

Morris said that Love146 in Connecticut receives referrals through the Department of Children and Families (DCF), parents, and law enforcement. He added an increasing number of boys also become victims, and that may be due, in part, to greater awareness.

Leon Smith, a lawyer for the Center for Children’s Advocacy, said in an interview the biggest hurdle is guilt. He said shame leads to guilt and it’s the hardest part of the experience to overcome to be able to move forward. ​“They will blame themselves when they’ve been exploited,” he said.

The privacy of the victims is closely guarded. Love 146 has chosen not to build a safe house; they want a victim in recovery to experience life on a daily basis. Several social workers attended the gathering, but they could not be photographed nor would they share any case histories.

BEFREE

The Connecticut Coalition Against Human Trafficking was created in November 2015 to combat human and child sex trafficking in Connecticut. It includes representatives from Homeland Security Investigations, the FBI, the US Department of Labor, Connecticut State Police, 14 local police departments as well as the Connecticut Department of Children and Families and the International Institute of Connecticut. People can report perceived child sex trafficking through a hotline, 888 – 373-7888 or victims can text BEFREE for immediate help.

Connecticut adopted a human trafficking law 10 years ago, but at a panel discussion in Hartford in April, it was reported that not a single person has been convicted on the state level and just 28 have been imprisoned on a federal level. However, according to Connecticut’s DCF, there have been 432 underage victims of human trafficking within that time.

The biggest obstacle to prosecution is the victims’ fear of retaliation from their abusers. As a result many will not cooperate let alone testify at trial.

Despite the grim nature of the subject at hand, the atmosphere was convivial. Morris’s presentation was punctuated with slides of joyful survivors. Stony Creek Brewery’s special brews flowed freely and attendees dined on barbecue and played games of Jumbling Towers, a challenging game of stacking blocks. It was a challenging game reflecting a challenging problem.

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