KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas City organizations are working together to provide a safe space for girls who have victims of sex trafficking.
The Justice and Dignity Center and ReHOPE invited I-Team reporter Sarah Plake to the ribbon cutting for its 90-day crisis house.
The house is at an undisclosed location to protect the survivors.
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It has room for 15 girls, ages 17 and under, who have been rescued from sex trafficking.
"We are here to house them until they find their next living point," Lex Green with the Justice and Dignity Center said. "It could be two weeks and they might find their parents again. Or, they might go to a long-term care living where they do have school skills and other life skills."
The guests do not have to stay and can leave if they want, but social worker JoAnn Stovall hopes they stay and learn there is another way.
"At the beginning, they have to have something to hold onto and something that's going to guide them to where they need to be," Stovall said. "And if they don't get that, then won't nothing happen."
The Dignity Center and ReHOPE received funding through the Children's Services Fund of Jackson County.
Both groups already work with survivors. They said there is a big gap in services for girls under 18.
"Some of them, you hear stories where they're in that life for so long and it's like all they know and they finally get saved," Green said. "So here is the first light of a beacon for hope and that's what we're providing them is hope for starting life over again."
Bishop Tony Caldwell, director of the Dignity Center, says he often gets calls from other agencies who have minors who need a bed right away.
He hopes to open the home's doors within a week. It will serve as an immediate shelter while they out next steps.
"We'll give them long-term treatment or reintegrate them into a home," Caldwell said at the ribbon cutting. "We'll work with the caseworkers. We only have a short window. Some come just overnight."
The Center and ReHOPE already operate two other crisis homes in the metro.
Caldwell says they always need donations: clothing for teen girls, toiletries, hygiene products and bedding.
Anyone who wants to donate can go to the center's website or can call the center and arrange a donation drop-off.
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