What We Do
Prevent: To keep from happening... to keep someone from doing something.
Shared Hope International's prevention programs examine the conditions that allow women and children to be bought and sold and document the marketplaces of victimization around the world. We work to enhance awareness of modern-day sexual slavery and we build international alliances to combat sex trafficking.
Rescue: Free from confinement, danger or evil. To deliver and rescue.
Restore: Return to its original and functional condition. To bring back into existence.
At Shared Hope, experience has shown us that there is no rescue without restoration. If a girl is rescued out of a brothel or is able to flee from her pimp, and there is no place for her to be restored, she will most certainly end up in a worse condition than before her rescue.
Our rescue programs are integrated into the outreach efforts of local restoration centers or survivor-led shelters with whom we partner. Through these partnerships we are able to successfully remove women and children from sexual exploitation and begin the healing process. Restoration is a complex process which starts with helping the victim feel safe and offering the opportunity to rebuild trust. Programs address immediate and long-term needs including safe shelter, medical and mental health care, spiritual renewal, education, life skills, job training and vocational programs.
Justice: The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law.
Is it just for a woman or child to be treated as a criminal for the crime committed against her? Is it fair treatment for her to be jailed while her tormenters are allowed to pursue the next victim? Is it just to categorize the rape of a child as a misdemeanor? Should a buyer be able to simply plead that he didn’t know how young she was?
The answers to these questions seem obvious, yet the injustices they represent are found across the nation. Shared Hope is working in a number of states to support the development of a legislative framework that we call the Protected Innocence framework of laws. These laws assure that the right person is identified as the criminal and penalized in a meaningful way upon conviction... such as forfeiting assets to help fund the restoration of his victims. They also direct that services and safe shelter be provided for the victim.
In addition to state law advocacy, Shared Hope has offered testimony in behalf of federal legislation that, if passed, will finally allocate resources to victims of sex trafficking.