There are many steps to take before a survivor can walk through the door into a safe home of their own.
Here are some of the ways we empower survivors to take those steps:
-
We work with participants to develop individual safety plans to ensure they can access our resources without risk to them from their traffickers. This could mean helping a survivor obtain a new email address that their trafficker can’t access, or a new phone and new phone number. We might need to use a safe word when we communicate with them, in case their trafficker is monitoring their communications.
-
Once we establish safe contact, and they can proceed with our services, we assist them to obtain the documentation required to obtain housing, including re-applying for the birth certificates and social security cards that their traffickers may have taken from them.
-
When documentation is obtained, the search is on! In this crazy housing market, our staff supports each participant in their search for an affordable, clean, and well-maintained place, in a safe location. (Maybe near good schools if they have kids, and with good options for public transportation.)
Empowering people to meet their basic need for safe shelter makes it possible for them to take the next steps toward job readiness and employment, and ultimately self-sufficiency. It seems simple - but it takes a lot of courage, determination, and resilience to move forward, when every step away from a trafficker and toward that new home can be so challenging.
