Rescued Children of Sex Trafficking a safe harbor community plan

Safe Harbor Protecting Children
of Sex Trafficking

Harbourage
Safe Harbor Campuses

Saving Children of Sex Trafficking
Childabuse.com & Ark of Hope

Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children proudly presents Harbourage, a safe harbor community designed around the needs of rescued child sex trafficking victims. Harbourage Child Trafficking Homes have been originally planned by Ark of Hope for Children, now joined by Childabuse.com to bring a safety net around rescued survivors of all ages. Ark of Hope researched extensively into the needs of trafficking victims and how to provide for these children who have faced the most extreme trauma in sexual abuse, the counseling, and human caring necessary so that their lives may be fulfilled with hope and opportunity of healthy children and adults.

Harbourage will meet personal and emotional needs of survivors

The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2011 states, "Governments should be judged not on their response to the most "deserving" of victims, but on their perseverance with the most challenging."

Care takers at Harbourage will act as independent guardians that will provide therapeutic daily support, listening ears, unconditional love, guidance and care. As quoted from governmental sources;

"A comprehensive response (for trafficking survivors) will include assessing and providing for any needs including physical and mental health care, food, shelter, clothing, safety planning, immigration assistance, criminal defense, repatriation, family reunification, job skills training, employment placement, victim advocacy, translation, and interpretation."

Ark of Hope for Children care takers will act as liaisons in all of these, and other areas, helping survivors understand and make informed decisions on the guidance and support they are being offered by the many service providers.

Harbourage is committed to stability
Long Term Care and Support

Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children is committed to help every resident of Harbourage trafficking homes build upon their past abuse and experiences to lead success filled lives filled with faith, hope and love.�We will provide designated areas for boys as well as girls. Not enough attention has yet been paid to male victims, yet the Penn State scandal of 2011-12 and others like it clearly show many males will need rescuing and safe harbor as well.

Even though rescued from their abusers the emotional trauma is often relived every day. A human trafficking victim is often controlled by the use of physical and mental torture and forced drug use. They can suffer from depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts, flashbacks, severe nightmares, STD's and much more. Through Harbourage, Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children will meet their basic and immediate supportive needs first.

The care for these trafficking victims through Harbourage will be a long term commitment offering permanence and stability. We will provide coaches and mentors patiently earning their trust, so that disclosure can begin.

"Disclosure was shown to be part of a process: it was rarely a single event. It was common for the young people to provide details intermittently, at points when they felt safe to disclose... Sometimes disclosure took several months, sometimes up to a year or more..."

The residents of the safe-houses will learn to operate as a family unit. They will be nurtured, mentored, counseled and educated by Ark of Hope caretakers that hold no age, race, sex, religious or social bias and places no limit on the duration of stay. Each resident will be treated on an individual rehabilitative basis and all are given an equal opportunity with goals to ultimately be reintroduced to a stable life.

Educational needs will be assessed, not based upon the assumed age of the individual, but based on their ability. Some may have been kept from school for short or very long periods of time. Harbourage will help them complete high school or acquire their GED as appropriate for that person. Beyond high school, Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children will assist any willing to advance to college, trade school or employment. All along the way we will teach appropriate independent living skills to enhance the survival skills they will have learned from their past difficult lifestyles.

Harbourage offers Rehabilitation through Nature

Nature and animals break physical boundaries with most children by connecting to them despite their backgrounds. No animal will ever look at someone in light of his or her past. Building with this environment in mind is conducive to providing therapy to children who truly need love that is in ignorance of their past.

Many of these children have fought to invest in others, only to be completely disregarded, receiving no love and respect in return. But this is not so with nature. A flower blooms when it is watered, this is consistent. An animal shows devotion when nurtured. Nature is that it gives back what is put into it. Our Harbourage design plan allow for rehabilitation through nature by providing animals to nurture and gardens to tend.

Harbourage; Habilitation by Design

World government's state that the biggest need for rescued trafficking victims is adequate safe shelter. There are far too few qualified, long term, trafficking focused care shelters for these girls and boys to go once rescued. For this reason Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children has developed our Harbourage model into a plan to build a safe harbor community for rescued children of child trafficking victims rescued within the United States; we are planning to develop additional properties within Mexico, and beyond.

For almost a full year our architect defining the specific needs of child trafficking victims through design of a state of the art safe harbor facility. Each of our facilities will centered around a self sustaining, environmentally sound, energy efficient facility that will provide the therapeutic healing and safe harbor of children saved from sex trafficking.

Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope's Harbourage architectural design incorporates the following:

A system of housing units allowing up to six children of sex trafficking to live together with two house parents, per unit
Housing units provide for family structure, with privacy allowing for reflection and personal growth
Able to provide for care, habilitation, rehabilitation and education
Informal in design to encourage residents to feel at home, safe and comfortable
Additional general purpose facilities that can be used for study, training and recreation
Able to provide home style living for youth for as long as needed until ready for independence
Skills training to assist those of working age to reach their career goals
Download our Harbourage community plan here >>
Download our Harbourage safehouse plan here >>

Harbourage, not just a safe house; A Transition Towards Peace Filled Living

Our Goals

"Every second of every day is a warm embrace where peace, hope, and Christain Values is the heart of our individualized support for each child in our community. Every morning is a morning of fresh beginning, every afternoon one of harmonious productivity, and every evening one of slow bliss. Our Harbourage is an environment supportive of freshness, harmony, and bliss. Light must be smooth, darkness must be alive, the sun must be invigorating and the moon must be a reminder of a life that once was but no longer is."

Harbourage; Therapeutic Design

It is important for the entire property, but especially the interior spaces to provide for a supportive family life environment. From all of the systems involved to natural light, the interior space needed to be active, just as nature is active. The experience created within each housing unit had to be one of consistency; consistent temperature, consistent light and consistent life. By providing an atmosphere conducive to a rock solid home life, Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for children have joined forces to build a strong foundation for successful rehabilitation of sex trafficked children, and reintergrate these children back to their families, and the community.

Psychologically speaking, each space has been organized to fit into a daily routine that allows each resident the consistency of a daily schedule; each room with a specific purpose for a specific time and leaving little to no room for aimless activity. Design wise, every day needed to be able to be centered on specific goals, where the private space supplements the public space in successfully accomplishing these goals. This structure in time and design allows for teaching Harbourage residents the benefits of a purposeful life. By teaching these young people the value of leading a purposeful life, Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for children will help each child to successfully develop a healthy mind, soul, and build on their individual strengths.

At Harbourage, the housing units are designed to internalize thought and structure daily activities.�Daily programs include professional counseling, community based trade programs based on the interests, needs of our clients. Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children has structured the living quarters to house a strong support system within each resident's life. Each individual maintains his or her own space, but is surrounded by a strong and supportive family unit. Each house is structured for the children to live on each of two levels in separated but accountable groups of three. One cannot stand alone, two can work together but three provide intimacy and accountability for one another.

The individual cottages at Harbourage do not encourage sedative dwelling as most traditional homes do. Second level living quarters offer basic daily activities while the bottom level allows for more leisure activities to take place. The living units do not only encourage support, but they promote productive lifestyles. At Harbourage the family does not live in only the house, but they live on the entire property.

Work and learning spaces separate from the living units allow for this daily movement and productivity to take place. Psychologically, a sedative day to day schedule can encourage depression and even destructive feelings of entrapment. This would be absolutely detrimental to the therapy of child trafficking victims.

Separate work and learning spaces help complete an ecologically green design plan. Work spaces were designed that consist of several studios for various trade skills; from painting to mechanic work. Additionally, Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope plan is a fully functioning tractor trailer that will be used to transport goods from the safe houses to local markets and stores.

Harbourage; Ecologically Sound, Sustainable Living

In an effort to further define the emotional reasoning within each space, qualities were arrived upon from the balance one finds from being in a healthy emotional state. Building each structure to reflect this healthy emotional state is crucial so that survivors are never encouraged to emotionally regress.

One must understand that the basic drive most humans have for life, victims of trafficking do not necessarily have. Unstructured freedom of movement and choice while internally being confronted with their past can lead to unintended negative results. By using these therapeutic elements Harbourage will allow each user to grow into a constructive system of thought that calms, focuses, and pushes him or her to continue living.

A sustainable environment must make considerations for sun, shading, wind and water for climate control. Designing so as to harvest the best of these helped create a sustainable eco-friendly, healthy living environment for the Harbourage community. By Harbourage employing sustainable practices and methods of sustainable living, a very organic system of therapy can take place. It was very important for us to employ simple, natural, and sustainable ideas that bring about pure living. By designing so the new constant that the youthful Harbourage survivors are exposed to is pure, childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children provides a therapeutic, healing and nurturing environment.

Other portions of the Harbourage energy efficient design plan include;

Passively cooled using thermodynamics to cool the interior space
Use of natural water sources (as available)
Rainwater retention
Composting toilet system
Heat stack
Fiber cement siding

Please help Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children reach these goals at Harbourage as we, "Break the chains of child trafficking to lead survivors into lives filled with faith, hope and love." press here to help us help the children of sex trafficking

Affects of Abuse is Longterm

Family Violence outcomes

In one long-term study, as many as 80 percent of young adults who had been abused met the diagnostic criteria for at least one psychiatric disorder at age 21. These young adults exhibited many problems, including depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and suicide attempts (Silverman, Reinherz, & Giaconia, 1996). Other psychological and emotional conditions associated with abuse and neglect include panic disorder, dissociative disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, depression, anger, posttraumatic stress disorder, and reactive attachment disorder (Teicher, 2000; De Bellis & Thomas, 2003; Springer, Sheridan, Kuo, & Carnes, 2007).

Cognitive difficulties.

NSCAW found that children placed in out-of-home care due to abuse or neglect tended to score lower than the general population on measures of cognitive capacity, language development, and academic achievement (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003). A 1999 LONGSCAN study also found a relationship between substantiated child maltreatment and poor academic performance and classroom functioning for school-age children (Zolotor, Kotch, Dufort, Winsor, & Catellier, 1999).

Social difficulties

Children who experience rejection or neglect are more likely to develop antisocial traits as they grow up. Parental neglect is also associated with borderline personality disorders and violent behavior (Schore, 2003).

Behavioral Consequences

Not all victims of child abuse and neglect will experience behavioral consequences. However, behavioral problems appear to be more likely among this group, even at a young age. An NSCAW survey of children ages 3 to 5 in foster care found these children displayed clinical or borderline levels of behavioral problems at a rate of more than twice that of the general population (ACF, 2004b). Later in life, child abuse and neglect appear to make the following more likely:

Difficulties during adolescence.

Studies have found abused and neglected children to be at least 25 percent more likely to experience problems such as delinquency, teen pregnancy, low academic achievement, drug use, and mental health problems (Kelley, Thornberry, & Smith, 1997). Other studies suggest that abused or neglected children are more likely to engage in sexual risk-taking as they reach adolescence, thereby increasing their chances of contracting a sexually transmitted disease (Johnson, Rew, & Sternglanz, 2006).

Juvenile delinquency and adult criminality.

According to a National Institute of Justice study, abused and neglected children were 11 times more likely to be arrested for criminal behavior as a juvenile, 2.7 times more likely to be arrested for violent and criminal behavior as an adult, and 3.1 times more likely to be arrested for one of many forms of violent crime (juvenile or adult) (English, Widom, & Brandford, 2004).

Alcohol and other drug abuse

Research consistently reflects an increased likelihood that abused and neglected children will smoke cigarettes, abuse alcohol, or take illicit drugs during their lifetime (Dube et al., 2001). According to a report from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, as many as two-thirds of people in drug treatment programs reported being abused as children (Swan).

Abusive behavior

Abusive parents often have experienced abuse during their own childhoods. It is estimated approximately one-third of abused and neglected children will eventually victimize their own children (Prevent Child Abuse New York).

Societal Consequences

While child abuse and neglect almost always occur within the family, the impact does not end there. Society as a whole pays a price for child abuse and neglect, in terms of both direct and indirect costs.

Direct costs.

Direct costs include those associated with maintaining a child welfare system to investigate and respond to allegations of child abuse and neglect, as well as expenditures by the judicial, law enforcement, health, and mental health systems. A 2001 report by Prevent Child Abuse America estimates these costs at $24 billion per year.

Indirect Costs

Indirect costs represent the long-term economic consequences of child abuse and neglect. These include costs associated with juvenile and adult criminal activity, mental illness, substance abuse, and domestic violence. They can also include loss of productivity due to unemployment and underemployment, the cost of special education services, and increased use of the health care system. Prevent Child Abuse America estimated these costs at more than $69 billion per year.

Summary

Much research has been done about the possible consequences of child abuse and neglect. The effects vary depending on the circumstances of the abuse or neglect, personal characteristics of the child, and the child's environment. Consequences may be mild or severe; disappear after a short period or last a lifetime; and affect the child physically, psychologically, behaviorally, or in some combination of all three ways. Ultimately, due to related costs to public entities such as the health care, human services, and educational systems, abuse and neglect impact not just the child and family, but society as a whole.

Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children's designed Harbourage community has been rendered artistically. We are looking to partner with you to help us take the next steps to make Harbourage child trafficking community a reality.

Harbourage residents and child trafficking survivors in general, are some of the most deserving young people any of us can imagine. Their struggles have taught them survival skills that can be shaped and honed to bring about highly successful adulthoods that build upon their past rather than falling victim to it. For that to happen, an impassioned society must step in with intentional intervention. Childabuse.com and Ark of Hope for Children need your help to save the children of sex trafficking.

Resources

Child Abuse and Neglect

https://www.childwelfare.gov/can/

Defining Child Abuse and Neglect

https://www.childwelfare.gov/can/defining/

Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect

https://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/

Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect

https://www.childwelfare.gov/responding/reporting.cfm

References

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. (2004a). Who are the children in foster care? NSCAW Research Brief No. 1. Retrieved August 9, 2007, from the National Data Archive on Child Abuse and Neglect website:
https://www.childwelfare.gov/survey/disclaimerAskme.cfm?target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ndacan.cornell.edu%2FNDACAN%2FDatasets%2FRelated_Docs%2FNSCAW_Research_Brief_1.pdf&referrer='https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/long_term_consequences.cfm'

Chalk, R., Gibbons, A., & Scarupa, H. J. (2002). The multiple dimensions of child abuse and neglect: New insights into an old problem. Washington, DC: Child Trends. Retrieved April 27, 2006, from:
https://www.childwelfare.gov/survey/disclaimerAskme.cfm?target=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.childtrends.org%2FFiles%2FChildAbuseRB.pdf&referrer='https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/long_term_consequences.cfm'

Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation. (2004b). Children ages 3 to 5 in the child welfare system. NSCAW Research Brief No. 5. Washington, DC: Author.

De Bellis, M., & Thomas, L. (2003). Biologic findings of post-traumatic stress disorder and child maltreatment. Current Psychiatry Repots, 5, 108-117.

Dube, S. R., Anda, R. F., Felitti, V. J., Chapman, D., Williamson, D. F., & Giles, W. H. (2001). Childhood abuse, household dysfunction and the risk of attempted suicide throughout the life span: Findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study. Journal of the American Medical Association, 286, 3089-3096

Dubowitz, H., Papas, M. A., Black, M. M., & Starr, R. H., Jr. (2002). Child neglect: Outcomes in high-risk urban preschoolers. Pediatrics, 109, 1100-1107

English, D. J., Upadhyaya, M. P., Litrownik, A. J., Marshall, J. M., Runyan, D. K., Graham, J. C., & Dubowitz, H. (2005). Maltreatment's wake: The relationship of maltreatment dimensions to child outcomes. Child Abuse and Neglect, 29, 597-619.

See full citations, credits at: Long Term Consequences Child Abuse

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2012). Child abuse and neglect fatalities 2010: Statistics and interventions. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children's Bureau. Child Welfare Information Gateway

Child fatalities by types of abuse

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Child Abuse Maltreatment (PDF - 3.97 MB) Year Published: 2010 - 227 pages

CITATION

Wang, C.T. and Daro, D. (1998). Current Trends in Child Abuse Reporting and Fatalities: The Results of the 1997 Annual Fifty State Survey. Chicago, IL: Prevent Child Abuse America.

SOURCES

American Association for Protecting Children (AAPC). (1988) Highlights of Official Child Neglect and Abuse Reporting, 1986. Denver, CO.: American Humane Association.

Finkelhor, D. and Williams, L. (1988) Nursery Crimes: Sexual Abuse in Day Care. California: Sage Publications.

Sedlak, A. (1996). Early Findings from the Third National Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect: 1988. Rockville, MD: Westat, Inc. (301) 251-4211.

Where to get Help

Harbourage
Safe Harbor Campuses