When Sasha’s* mother started noticing a change in her daughter’s behavior, she didn’t know who to turn to. She felt helpless as she watched her daughter withdraw from her to spend more time online and engage in sexual relationships with men she didn’t know. After a simple Google search, she found one of the Dressember Network partners in her local area in Atlanta.

The Dressember Network partners with a Georgia-based Youth Services Center in order to protect girls like Sasha. We recognize there are risk factors involved that make some children more susceptible to trafficking than others, like poverty, race, sexual orientation, trauma, substance abuse, and more. Our goal is to prevent victimization from taking place and offer holistic support for at-risk youth.

After Sasha’s mother contacted the Youth Services Center in Atlanta, Sasha began attending regular programming. Soon Sasha felt safe enough to start sharing about the older men who approached her on social media. Sasha opened up about an abusive relationship and confessed she just wanted to feel loved by someone in her life. The team at youthSpark quickly put an individual action plan in place to help Sasha end the relationship with the support of her parents.

With personalized trauma-informed case management at the Youth Services Center, Sasha was equipped with many tools to help her protect herself and heal from previous trauma. Her self-confidence grew quickly and she marveled at her own ability to identify unhealthy relationships and abusive patterns. Now Sasha is a peer leader and offers support to new youth entering the program. Our Dressember Network partner helped her shift her focus to her education and she recently graduated from high school with multiple acceptance letters to enter college in the Fall.

The Dressember Network was able to intervene in Sasha’s life before her abusive relationship worsened and offered her new life skills, healing, and an opportunity to cultivate a new vision and purpose for her life. We partner with youthSpark’s Youth Services Center to provide trauma-informed case management, therapy, and court advocacy to youth in the Atlanta, Georgia area.

The population served through this program are 95% Black or multi-racial and 50% LGBTQ+ identifying. More than two-thirds of these clients live in zip codes in Southwest Atlanta, where the average poverty rate is 32%. This program addresses gaps in locating and serving youth vulnerable to trafficking by equipping them with the tools to empower themselves, cope with trauma, and enhance healthy relationships. Programs are also available specifically for girls and boys who are currently on probation, assisting them with requirements placed on them by the court.

Prevention work is vital to Dressember’s mission and work as we work preemptively to stop victimization and protect vulnerable people like Sasha from becoming trafficked and exploited. Please join us in advocating for the freedom, dignity, and holistic healing of the world’s most vulnerable. Together, we can ensure all have access to freedom and have the opportunity to live free, autonomous lives.

*Pseudonym used to protect survivor’s identity and safety

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Preventing Young Women Like Sasha From Being Trafficked