Innocence from the Innocent: The Heroin Epidemic Robbing Children of Their Childhoods
Barbara J. Condo | September 22 | 4:00 - 5:00 PM | Room 2591
The objective of this presentation is to relay the impact of the heroin epidemic on the children caught in the aftermath of addiction and how they are used as sexual currency traded for a fix. The presenter will share 40 years of experience in working in the turbulent, violent, shame-filled underworld of abused and trafficked children. Ten thousand children have passed through the doors of One Way Farm Children's Home. The presenter will share founding the facility with only $59, growing to have 32 employees, an annual budget of $1.6M and serve the most innocent casualties of severely dysfunctional families. While it's noble to research, analyze data, and theorize about this national crisis, at its core, it's a human issue. Statistics don't mean much to the child whose only experience with adults is perversion. The essence of what we do is stabilization then normalization. Living with these victims, comforting them and sharing the presenter’s deeply abusive childhood gives them hope of a life beyond the hand they have been dealt. The presenter’s evidence based research is born from real life, and has shaped the experience based methods of what works in a real life scenario to turn children's lives around. To date, 10,000 children have been rescued and sent on a course they would never have otherwise known.Presentation Objectives:
· To provide the results of the 2015 & 2016 Youth Experience Survey
· Contrast non-sex trafficking needs with victims of trafficking to help guide client needs
· To discuss how to expand prevention and interventions for trafficking victims within a homeless, youth serving program
· To build engagement strategies for existing clients to share their experiences and access services
To leverage community partners for needs such as legal, medical and housing.
Presentation Objectives:
· To learn what human trafficking looks like in rural communities