Educate Yourself

One of the goals of Gracehaven is to be involved in raising awareness of the issue of human trafficking here in the United States, specifically domestic sex trafficking of minors. Critical to the process of raising awareness is accurate data to support the facts of human trafficking. Unfortunately, adequate and accurate research within this field is lacking. In addition, human trafficking by definition is criminal behavior, and as such is hidden, making the accumulation of good data very difficult. In spite of this, we at Gracehaven will attempt to bring you the best and most accurate data on domestic sex trafficking that is available, citing our sources whenever possible.

The founder and Executive Director of Gracehaven, Dr Jeff Barrows, has worked in the past with the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons to evaluate and research the health consequences of human trafficking. He has also gathered data from victims of sex trafficking in Nicaragua, and realizes the tremendous dearth of good information about health and human trafficking.

In addition, Theresa Flores, who is on staff with Gracehaven, is a survivor of sex trafficking and also serves as a nationally recognized speaker and expert on the topic of sex trafficking. Together, they recognize the need for good reliable resources of information on human trafficking and have worked to create a catalogue of resources that are available to those interested in researching this topic further.