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Questions from the mother of two incarcerated child victims of sex trafficking.

By Amy Pirkle Cage, mother of Jessica and Jordan Hampton and child rights advocate based in Killeen, Texas.

As a mother, I want to share with you what is really going on with my children who are survivors of sex trafficking now in jail for more than 14 months. There are so many questions in my mind. Tomorrow, August 27th, my teen daughter’s pre-trial begins.

Jessica and Jordan Hampton, my children, are teen siblings who are victims of sex trafficking, are facing capital murder charges in Killeen, Texas. After 14 months in jail, their pre-trials begin this Friday, August 27th. Jessica and Jordan are two of many survivors of human trafficking who experience arrest as a result of their own trafficking.

Amy with her daughter,Jessica Hampton.

First, I want to understand why the police are not prosecuting Jessica and Jordan’s trafficker. Why are they not looking into my children’s abuse and exploitation?

How can they certify my son, who was trafficked at 14 years old, as an adult? The detention facility writes him up for “infractions” like faking he wants to kill himself to get a warmer blanket known as the “suicide blanket”. Meanwhile, why is not more being done to investigate Jordan and other children’s abuse that includes choke holds, water torture, forced removal of clothing, sexual assault by guards and more? There is no excuse for adults hired to protect these children to abuse them. Yes, I know they act up. They are children, though. If the guards are not capable of working with them without assaulting them, they should not be working there. It’s that simple.

Why is my daughter in the same jail as her alleged trafficker? Why was she placed in a cell where there were multiple cases of COVID. She has documented medical issues that mean she could likely die from COVID.

 

Where is the outrage for my children? For children everywhere who are being sold, exploited and then treated as criminals?

As their mother, I’m asking questions. I’m demanding answers. I’m going to fight for my children and all children going through this. Here is how you can join me:

Sign this petition: www.change.org/freejessicaandjordan and then share in your networks. We need your support to ensure my children do not spend the rest of their lives in jail.

Amy Cage is a mother, advocate and blogger. Read “When Child Victims of Sex Trafficking Are Sent to Jail, It Takes a Community of Mothers to Bring Them Home.”

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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