“My goal is for these women to get their lives back and rejoin the human race.” — Edee Franklin of Sanctum House continued from page 10 How To Spot A Victim L aw enforcement officials offered both straightforward tips and heartfelt advice at the NCJW symposium on human trafficking on how to both prevent and identify this crime. According to Special Agent Rodney Riggs of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, these warning signs can help identify individuals who may be victims of human trafficking: • A person appears disconnected from family, friends, commu- nity organizations or houses of worship • A child stops attending school • A dramatic change occurs in behavior • A juvenile suddenly becomes engaged in commercial sex acts • A person appears disoriented, confused or shows signs of mental or physical abuse • The person appears to be coached on what to say • The person lives in unsuitable condi- tions As far as keeping children and minors safe, Det. Sgt. Edward Price with the Michigan State Police and a commis- sioner on the state’s Human Trafficking Commission, spoke bluntly of how easy it is to lure minors into the hands of preda- tors and sex traffickers over social media platforms. He gave a stern caution to the audience of 200, composed partly of mothers and teen daughters, about knowing who con- tacts their children on their cell phones and not allowing children to have cell phones in their bedrooms at night. “Same as I tell my daughters, I am telling the teens in this room,” Price said. “That cell phone is [the parents’] cell phone, and they just happen to let you use it during the day. “At times, a predator may find a photo of a child on Instagram, and within a few clicks, they can figure out where the child lives and send them gifts, like a brand-new phone. Then, they will use that phone to send the victim messages and ask them to photograph themselves.” If you suspect a person may be a vic- tim of human trafficking, call the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations tip line at 1-888-347-2423. 12 November 10 • 2016 includes members of Jewish Family Service, JVS and the National Council for Jewish Women, Greater Detroit Section. She is espe- cially thankful for the training and education she received from the State of Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force, which is part of MSU’s School of Criminal Justice. Sanctum House has secured the money and the partnerships. Now, it needs to find physical homes in Oakland and Wayne County to put its two-year rehabilitation program into play. “For those afraid of having such a house like this in their neighbor- hood, they may be surprised to know there most likely already is something like [human trafficking] happening in their neighborhood,” Franklin said. “We need housing to get these victims, mostly young teens and women, away from their abusers, off the streets and on a path to repurpose their lives.” RAISING AWARENESS On Oct. 30, more than 250 people, including many teenage girls, attended a symposium on human trafficking at West Bloomfield High School to listen to stories told by Franklin, law enforcement officers and social workers with expertise on the issue. The event was hosted by NCJW in partner- ship with the Bloomfield Hills and West Bloomfield school districts. Several of the panelists also shared their insights and stories for the 2016 feature- length documentary Break the Chain. Also sponsored in part by NCJW and Sanctum House, the film will be screened Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Birmingham Library. Break the Chain addresses the often “hidden-in-plain-sight” issue of human trafficking in Michigan. The film chronicles survivors of human trafficking, including Deborah Monroe, taking viewers through her experience of being sold for sex around Metro Detroit when she was 13-18 years old. Now, Monroe serves as a peer support spe- cialist for Sanctum House. Marlene Karp, a retired clinical consultant A GROWING CONCERN Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery in which traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to control victims for the pur- pose of engaging in commercial sex acts or labor services against his/her will, accord- ing to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC), based in Washington, D.C., and operated by Polaris, a non-governmental organization. details The documentary Break the Chain will be shown at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 13, at the Birmingham Library, 300 W. Merrill St. A $10 donation is suggested. For details, go to www.breakthechainfilm.com. and NCJW member who sits on the Sanctum House advisory board, said the NCJW sym- posium was meaningful and informative because it directly addressed and brought a new awareness to the criminal activity “right in our backyard.” After working and planning with Sanctum House over the last several years, Karp said the organization has all the pieces in place. It has cultivated partnerships with social work and healthcare professionals as well as nonprofit organizations, such as Michigan Human Trafficking Task Force, to provide trafficking survivors with life and vocational skills that will lead to self-sufficiency. “NCJW has always been on the cutting edge in meeting the needs of the commu- nity,” Karp said. “The symposium helped get the word out on how to recognize the signs that someone is being manipulated [into trafficking], whether you are a parent, educa- tor or healthcare provider. The speakers also demonstrated how, because of our work, the court and criminal justice systems are chang- ing their views on prostitution as not a will- ing act but as the prostitutes are the victims themselves. “As this perception changes, the commu- nity needs to support a stable environment where those rescued from human trafficking can live while they do the healing work they so desperately need.” THE SANCTUM HOUSE VISION As an organization, Sanctum House does not provide counseling to survivors but rather creates a transition from their prior lives and provides access to resources they need to recover. According to Franklin, survivors need a safe home to live in while they obtain medical care, psychological care, education (GED or college-level skills classes), life skills NHTRC statistics show that so far in 2016, there have been 20,424 calls nation- wide, with 5,748 cases reported. California leads the nation, with Michigan at No. 7. The majority of cases are related to sex trafficking. Globally, the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) esti- mates there 20.9 million victims of human trafficking globally. The ILO puts the total training and real-life experiences to help them prepare to be on their own. With money from the grant and other private funders, Sanctum House now seeks two homes in Wayne and Oakland County to house six women each. Ten will be vic- tims who, for months or years, have been removed from society and lack any conven- tional support system of friends or family. They often have little or no education or any legal identification or vocational skills. The other residents of the homes will be full-time resident managers, perhaps professionals with backgrounds in social work. Initially starting with women victims of human trafficking, Sanctum House hopes to grow and be able to provide resources and support to male victims of labor trafficking. Sanctum House’s two-year program is modeled after a facility that has success- fully operated in Nashville since 1997. It will serve women ages 18 and older who have been rescued from the sex slave trade and have demonstrated they are ready to reclaim their lives. To qualify, women must be over age 18, have no children or any other family resource and be free of substance abuse. The Nashville program in 2014 demon- strated a graduation rate of 84 percent and helps 30 residents at a time. A two-year follow-up after graduation shows that 62 percent remained clean, sober and have an independent lifestyle. According to Franklin, only about 30 short-term beds in Oakland and Wayne counties are designated for human traffick- ing survivors. There are no long-term recov- ery programs in Michigan. “My goal is for these women to get their lives back and rejoin the human race,” Franklin said. “It’s in my DNA. As Jews, do we still not carry the scars of slavery from all those generations ago? I’ve learned through my Jewish heritage and my own slavery to drug addiction that no one should be a slave to anything or anyone.” * For more information on Sanctum House, email info@ sanctumhouse.org, call (248) 574-9373 or visit www. sanctumhouse.org. market value of illicit human trafficking at $32 billion. The U.N. also estimates that 20 percent of all trafficking victims are children. To report suspected human trafficking or if you are a victim/survivor seeking help, call the hotline at 1-888-373-7888 from anywhere in the U.S. and U.S. territories 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.