Doors to Freedom: A Safe Space for Survivors of Child Sex Trafficking

By Rebekah McCubbins

At Doors to Freedom, Sharon Rikard has created a safe space for survivors of sex trafficking to heal, grow, and transition into their new lives. “I believe providing safe places is essential to being able to provide other therapeutic services for this population,” Rikard explains. She founded Doors to Freedom in 2011 after learning about the widespread problem of child sex trafficking. “Several years ago, I was able to travel to Central America, South America, and even over to Nepal. Everywhere I went, I saw little girls who had been abused,” she remembers. “I didn’t realize it was trafficking, until I watched a documentary on trafficking and thought, ‘wow, that could have very well been a child who was being trafficked.’ Then in 2011, I heard a woman speak at a conference who had provided housing in India for children of prostituted women who did not want their children to be raised in a brothel. They took their kids out of the red-light district and provided their children a safe home. As she [shared] statistics of trafficking in the United States, I just knew I had to do something.”

Rikard quickly realized just how great the need was. “I started researching trafficking in the US and found that there were [about] 100 beds in the United States for survivors of sex trafficking. I was appalled by that,” she shares. “I just thought, ‘that’s their greatest need–a place to heal. So I will attempt to do that.’”

Since founding Doors to Freedom, Rikard has created a space for survivors that is more than just a bed. “We have a licensed LISW-CP (social worker) on staff, and she helps provide support in between therapy sessions for our kids. We also have a healthcare team that ensures all medical needs of our girls are met, from dental to eye, and general medical exams,” she says. “And then through the child advocacy centers, they are able to do the forensic interviews and forensic medical exams.”

Rikard says that one of the challenges they face at Doors to Freedom is the inaccuracy of the information about sex trafficking that circulates in the general public. “It’s been a little bit of an upward battle, due to the general public not realizing that trafficking is happening to our kids,” she explains. “Most people believe it’s young people or adults coming abroad into our country. That does happen, but the majority of trafficking is happening with domestic minors in our country.” Rikard says that in the United States, sex trafficking happens by “more psychological manipulation.” She shares that common risk factors for trafficking in the US include poverty, mental illness, being raised by a single mother who has to work outside the home, and past abuse. Ultimately, she wants people to understand that the girls she works with are victims of an adult exploiting them: “Of all the kids I’ve worked with, I’ve never talked to a kid who told me she dreamt of being prostituted one day.” 

When a child is placed with Doors to Freedom, they go through an initial interview, which Rikard says is “more her interviewing us.” She explains that, “our goal is to provide a place of healing for these kids. We have a home-like environment; it’s not institutional at all. And we want this child to be able to get to know us, to ask us questions. So we call them pre-placement interviews, because she’s actually interviewing us.” About 98% of the children they interview choose to join their program. From there, they create a safety plan tailored to the child’s needs. They spend the first few weeks assessing the child, identifying gaps in her education and skill sets so that they can fill those gaps. “It’s a beautiful thing to watch a kid discover that she’s not dumb, but able to learn and dream again for her future,” Rikard says.

Doors to Freedom is focused on long-term healing, and Rikard shares that a girl’s average stay in their program is anywhere from 9 months to just over a year. Each child’s needs are different, but she explains that, “when you have children who have been sexually abused–say starting at six or seven years old–that’s a lot of layers of abuse to process. You can’t put a time limit on that, because we all process trauma so differently.” Doors to Freedom also works with the families of the children in their care, setting up family therapy if needed, and providing education around trafficking so that the children are returning to homes where they will be supported.

As they work to continue helping survivors, Rikard says that there are always needs that the community can help meet. “Of course, financial support. With all the services that we provide, it is costly, but it’s absolutely worth it for these kids,” she shares. “A lot of community organizations will collect gift cards for us. Many children come to us with the

clothes on their back. Having gift cards empowers her to choose what kind of clothes she likes.” Doors to Freedom has an Amazon wishlist for more specific donations on their website. They also work with volunteers. Rikard says, “People always ask me how they can volunteer, and I always ask them: what are the gifts and talents that you have? Because there are so many ways that the community can get involved.” 

You can learn more about Doors to Freedom, donate, view their Amazon wishlist, or apply to volunteer at doorstofreedom.com.