Free shipping on orders of $100 or more

Facebook Twitter Youtube Instagram Envelope

From the Father of a Survivor of Child Sex Trafficking to Parents Everywhere.

By Donald Simpson, Tiffany Simpson’s Father.

I didn’t think that I deserved a second chance at life after I was arrested 21 years ago and sentenced to life in prison. I didn’t think that anyone cared about me and certainly no one needed me. I have never been so wrong in my life. Ten years ago my daughter Tiffany was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking when she herself was innocent. 

When I was asked to write this blog, I didn’t even know what a blog was because that is how long I’ve been locked up! So, I’m sharing as best I can from jail here in Georgia, the state known as the ‘slavery state.’ The irony does not escape me that I’m writing to you all from in here about human trafficking, known often as ‘modern day slavery.’

I grew up getting in trouble and going in and out of juvenile jails and I did to others what a lot of people did to me. Then, I married Tiffany’s mom. I was often very unkind to her. Then, I was arrested and  it hit me that I would never be there for Tiffany.

I was locked up while Tiffany was out there alone at 6 years old with a mother who was drinking and not looking out for her. Then, Tiffany went to live with her grandmother and aunt, but by then she was a typical 13 year old girl. Only, she was an abandoned child, too. So, she went out looking for love and a 34 year old man swooped in to fill that void where I should have been. I feel that if I had been there for Tiffany, maybe she would not have gotten mixed up with drugs and been abused and sold in ways no father wants to imagine his daughter being sold. I was sitting in jail and Tiffany was out there fighting for her life and the police didn’t care what was happening to her. 

By the time the police paid attention to Tiffany, she had been threatened over and over. Her trafficker said he would burn down her grandmother’s home and kill her unborn son. I was shocked when the police arrested Tiffany and the court charged her with sex trafficking. Not once did they try to see what that man had done to my little girl.  She’s doing time for things done to her because they were more ready to push her into a box then to see what she was already trapped into doing. 

So, I’m asking for all of your help right now. You might think after all I’ve done and been accused of that I don’t deserve the right to be asking you to do anything.  I respect that and I know that things can happen in life that you never see coming.  So, if you have daughters or sons, I want you to see how bad things can get if you are not there for your children when they need you. Here is what you have to do as a father or mother so your child will stay safe.

  1. You need to be there and make time for your child so they know you are willing to talk to them about everything. Most times, these kids are not kidnapped by strangers. They are taken by people who say they care about them.
  2. Educate yourself on what human trafficking really is and not just what. You see on TV.  I did not know what trafficking was before I went to jail.  Then, I read this article in USA Today in 2012 about sex trafficking of American kids. I was shocked. Then, I realized it had happened to Tiffany just like the survivor in the article talked about. That is why I sent the article to Tiffany so she could see that she was a victim, not a criminal.
  3. Tell your kids the truth about human trafficking. Some of us dads think we’ll just have  their mothers talk to them because we feel uncomfortable or too busy to really talk to  our girls and boys about human trafficking.  Your child needs to hear it from you, too. Your little girl – or boy – needs to know they can ask you questions about sex, money, drugs, bullying, depression and more. I really don’t know how my life could have been if I had that and I know Tiffany would very likely not have been in jail if I’d been there for her.

I have this beautiful memory of Tiffany as a little girl. She’s with me fishing on the lake and it’s sunny outside. She was about 6 years old and looking up at me with so much trust.  I hold that memory in my heart because I won’t ever get to hold Tiffany again.I pray Tiffany will be free soon. I also pray for you all reading this that you’ll really listen to me and talk to your kids about trafficking and all the bad stuff that happens. 

My biggest dream is to see a photo of Tiffany with her almost 10 year old son swimming in the ocean and finally living her life the way she wanted it to be. Trafficking has stolen over 10 years of my little girl’s life. Don’t let it steal a moment of your child’s future.

Donald Simpson, Tiffany’s Father

Help Free Tiffany: Change.org/freetiffanysimpson

Learn more: www.freetiffany.org

Watch Tiffany’s story, Lack of Love:  www.tinyurl.com/lackoflove

Download our free guide on talking to kids about human trafficking here. 

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on google
Share on email

Join us now in giving directly to a survivor in crisis or need.We offer survivors in our care direct access to services everyday.

FUNDRAISE

Fecha Talaso

Fecha Talaso is the co-founder and director of partnerships at Karana Rising. Fecha  is a certified victim advocate using her eight  years of advocacy and direct service work to cultivate staff growth and development to advance the mission of Karana Rising and the individual goals of the survivors on our team.

Fecha works alongside the executive director to develop and advance policies and programs supporting survivor justice and and healing, including external earned media and owned media consumption. Fecha is responsible for creating and managing Karana Rising’s communications, website, virtual survivor mentoring and workshop portal and social media channels. She is responsible for the development and management of programmatic and development partnerships. 

Prior to joining Karana Rising, Fecha was the prevention education specialist at FAIR Girls, a nonprofit that serves young women survivors of human trafficking, and residential counselor for FAIR Girls’ Vida Home. 
 
Longing for a day when justice is perfect with a deeper international lens from which to view the health and humanitarian challenges facing people around the globe,wealth of experience and practical experience in development and a deep belief in the power of partnership and collaboration and transformation of vulnerable populations and communities at large has continually reenergized the urge to change the world in her own little ways. She dares to dream and passionately to fight criminal and social injustices, as well as retrogressive practices that marginalize vulnerable populations like women and children. She can be reached at fecha@karanarising.org

Andrea Powell

Andrea Powell is the co-founder and executive director at Karana Rising. Ms. Powell is Karana Rising’s chief liaison to the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force where she co-chairs the training and outreach committee.

 Prior to founding Karana Rising, Andrea was the founding executive director of FAIR Girls, a nonprofit that serves young women survivors of human trafficking. Ms. Powell is also the Director of Survivor and Youth Engagement at Unitas. In 2014, Andrea led the FAIR Girls’ team to create and open the only safe home for young survivors of human trafficking in the nation’s capital area. Andrea has led crisis response teams where she assisted law enforcement and other front-line responders in finding and recovering survivors of human trafficking who were later offered safety and supportive services. She received her Masters of European Union Law at the Center for European Integration Studies from the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Germany and Bachelor of Arts and Science in International Relations from Texas State University. Andrea’s writing has been published in the New York Times, CNN, PBS, Huffington Post, Marie Claire, MSNBC, NBC THINX, Thompson Reuters, FAIR Observer, and the Washington Post. She also sits a private consultant for Freedom Fwd and Project Explorer. She can be reached at andrea@karanarising.com