No longer a victim: Dawn's Place provides a home for survivors of sex trafficking

Ann Marie Jones, residential coordinator at Dawn's Place, has a special connection with the women in the long-term residential program for survivors of sex trafficking. She understands their journey in a way that no professional training could ever provide.

Because she graduated from the program.

In 2011, Jones was freed from the bondage that had held her for 14 years. But just being free doesn't heal the damage done, and it was the Dawn's Place program that allowed Jones to rebuild his life.

But don't tell her you're sorry she went through those years of hell.

“Don’t be sorry,” she said. “I went through something like that to be who I am today.”

Who she is today is no longer a victim, but a healer and professional who developed a 12-step sexual exploitation recovery group.

“Ann Marie never really left here,” said Sister Meaghan Patterson, a sister of St. Joseph of Philadelphia and executive director of Dawn’s Place. “She graduated and five months later they offered her a job.”

“It’s not just a house.”

In 2007, Sister Teresita Hinnegan, a medical mission sister, and Mary DeFusco, a public defender, decided to expand the work of the Philadelphia Anti-Trafficking Coalition, formed three years earlier, because none of the more than 20 groups in the The coalition had a residential program for survivors.

Hinnegan and DeFusco were joined by Gray Sisters of the Sacred Heart Sr. Terry Shields, St. Joseph Sr. Kathleen Coll and public defender Marissa Bluestine, to found Dawn's Place, a nonprofit organization named in honor of 'a female prostitute murdered across the river in Camden. , New Jersey. When the Sisters of the Good Shepherd were unable to continue their ministry to survivors of sexual violence, they donated the house to Dawn's Place, which opened in 2009. DeFusco is president of the board of directors of the 'non-profit organisation.

As public defenders, DeFusco and Bluestine saw the system punish victims as women were arrested and jailed for prostitution time and time again — Jones was arrested 51 times, she said. Prison did not rescue women from the trap they found themselves in, and it certainly did not heal the damage done.

This makes the small, seemingly important moments of the Dawn's Place program. “When we come here, we say, ‘Welcome home,’” Jones said. “It's not just a house, it's not just a program. Something I always wanted my whole life was a house.”

Another possibility is when they receive the key to their room: having their own private space is something almost inconceivable after being exploited.

“I used to walk around on a piece of plywood” to get into the abandoned house she lived in, Jones said. So when we were given a key, “this feeling was indescribable.”

One client cried when she celebrated her birthday, saying no one had ever done that for her before.

Patterson said the program is tailored to each woman's needs.

“The details depend, but they all have complex trauma,” she said. “And it's not just that they've been exploited – they've often been victims of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, house fires, car accidents, mental health issues, of post-traumatic stress, anxiety, depression and sometimes physical problems, depending on what drugs they were taking and how long they were doing and how long they went without seeing a doctor.

Patterson said the life expectancy of a trafficked person is about seven years.

The women in the program have always received therapy, but the staff now includes a part-time therapist.

“Sexual trauma therapy is essential. If you don't work on it, you will still struggle with your job, housing and life in general,” Patterson said.

The past can haunt the survivors, just as their exploiters can haunt them: Dawn's Place is in an undisclosed location, the street address is a post office box, and the security system is always on. Patterson said sometimes a stranger comes to the door but leaves when told they are being recorded. The risk of being found and re-victimized is real.

The complex world of trafficking

Most people think of trafficking as children being snatched off the street and forced into slavery, Patterson said, and even if that happens, it's just one facet of a complex world.

“What we see is many women are being trafficked or exploited by someone they know,” she said. “Or it's someone who, through a process of love and affection, has taken them down a path they didn't see themselves taking. Whereas the perception is that women in prostitution choose that .”

Jones said traffickers would get women hooked on drugs and then withhold the drugs until they reached certain quotas.

And the only common denominator among victims is that they are, for one reason or another, vulnerable, which is something traffickers exploit.

“We've had people with college degrees working on their master's degrees,” Patterson said. “There is no single definition: it can be any race, any origin, any education level, any phase of life.”

The narrative of victims being kidnapped by strangers persists, Patterson said, because it's too difficult to face the reality that people are taken advantage of by trusted friends and relatives.

“We are all horrified when a child is taken off the street, but no one wants to talk about how a human being is bought and sold,” she said.

And even though sex trafficking is perceived to take place in red-light districts or high-crime areas, Patterson said smartphones and cash apps mean the person on the train next to you texting can get an assignment or send money for sex. transaction, making the crime almost invisible.

And recovery is a work that never ends, Jones said.

“I did this job for 14 years and I still do it,” she said. “We do introductions and I still cry when I tell my story. …I was in a relationship, but I didn't want to kiss him and he didn't understand that. Will I ever be able to kiss someone? I don't know not. “

Patterson said Dawn's Place is a year-long program, but it's just the very beginning of the survivors' journey.

“We're just touching the tip of the iceberg. It's a lifelong process,” she said. “Even though they were trafficked for a short time, it caused significant damage.”

For this reason, Patterson said, the organization makes sure to have survivors at all levels of decision-making.

“I do not know what [being trafficked] it’s like and I don’t pretend to know,” she said.

Since its opening, Dawn's Place has helped more than 250 women graduate.

“People have been buying and selling humans since the dawn of time,” Patterson said. “It’s about power and it’s about money.”