By Andrea Powell, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Karana Rising with Jessica Hampton and Tiffany Simpson, Child Sex Trafficking Survivors.
On Sunday, my seven year old daughter jumped up to hand me her plastic glitter magnet cup and shouted “Happy Mother’s Day! I made you the best ever present with my picture on it.” Her pink hand drawn card read, “to the best mommy who is the silliest fairy ever.” She had me dialed!
She and I are lucky. We are together. Many survivors who are part of my Karana Rising team are not with their mothers. Many survivor moms are not with their children.
This past weekend, a letter from an 18 year old survivor of sex trafficking arrived in my mailbox. Jessica, along with her 15 year old brother, are facing capital murder charges along with their trafficker. They have been in Bell County, Texas prisons for almost a year now. They aren’t able to hug their mom or make her a rainbow glitter card. On Mother’s Day, I woke up to call their mom, Amy, so she could feel some love from Jessica’s letter. Amy was stressed about how the prison was treating her children so at first she almost didn’t hear me. “Amy, slow down. Just let me share what Jessica wrote,” I said. She was finally quiet as I read Jessica’s words..
“I hope my mom does know how much I love and appreciate her. I know parents are supposed to take care of their kids but some parents give up. I really do not know why my mom didn’t give up on me.”
There were a recorded 424,000 children in foster care in 2019. I would like to know how many children are without their moms because their moms were arrested as a result of their trafficking and exploitation. This data does not exist. However, I do know that in 2019, 290 children were arrested for prostitution and at the start of 2020 there were 1,465 people serving life without parole sentences for crimes committed while they were still children. There are somewhere between 700 to 1200 children serving life without parole on top of that number. Most of these children, like Jessica, experienced a life of abuse and victimization before they were arrested.
Jessica’s letters to me are mostly about her mom. She asks me to tell her mom she loves her. This is easy because her mom and I talk often. She’s worried her children are facing the death penalty. She’s fighting for them. She’s talking to lawyers, filing complaints against the facility for
assaulting and abusing her children. She’s putting her life on the line to figure out how to literally keep them alive. I once sent her a gift card for herself to get some things she needed, instead she bought family fun games for her younger children. She never stops. That is why I spent some time yesterday with her on the phone reading her the loving notes from Jessica. She needed a mother’s love, too.
I tell Jessica in all our letters how much her mom lights up when I say her name. And, how much she understands her pain because mothers know when their child is hurting.
“Thank you for saying that my mom smiles when she talks about me. That warms my heart because I know there is a lot of pain under her smile. People say that hurt people, hurt people. I believe I can heal so that I can help others heal, too.”
For the last six weeks, our survivor team at Karana Rising and partners at Dressember have been pushing for the freedom of Jessica and Jordan and 27 year old Tiffany Simpson, who was incarcerated and sentenced to 30 years in prison at the age of 18. The last time she got to hug her son was when he was four months old.
“I struggle to know what it means to be a mom. My son was born when I was 17 and I had to leave him four months later. Am I a bad mother? Will he remember me? Does he even know I’m still alive?”
Tiffany’s mom is struggling and lost custody of Tiffany’s son. Now, he lives with her traffickers mother. When I first met her through her letters, Tiffany’s biggest fear was not being able to be there for her son. As a single mom myself, I know how hard it can be feeling like you are your child’s everything but you won’t ever be able to measure up to what they need. I have had times when I could not afford even bananas and formula for my baby and I had to humble myself to ask for help from family and loved ones. My daughter had no idea as she slept peacefully in her room how scared I was of making it for her.
“Today I want every woman to understand the importance of being a mother, rather you’ve been taken away for any reason or another or if you’ve made mistakes and look at yourself as a bad mother, even if you’ve lost a child to the system. Maybe even your mom was taken from you when you were a child. There is one truth, no one can take being a mother away from you.”
We put on brave faces because we have to, especially if we are single moms. I’m a single mom and I relate. I also know so many survivors who, because of their exploitation, had their children taken from them. For many survivors, losing their moms to abuse or even the system played a big role in their trafficking. It’s called a risk factor. It’s why Amy is never giving up on Jessica or Jordan. It’s why Tiffany keeps trying to reach her son. It’s why I know that showing love is so critical for survivors everywhere.
Supporting survivors means creating a community of nurturing and love. Tiffany once told me she had never known what love was until her son was born. Being a mom is humbling. It’s about finding a way to be the best you for your child. Survivor moms need community. Trying to heal from your past and having another one depending on you is deep and hard.
I see my work at Karana Rising as a form of mothering as a community. There is the nurturing in our weekly calls and crisis support. There is the tough love when we call each other forward to be responsible for our actions. There is the willingness to fight when we see injustice such as what Tiffany, Jessica, Jordan and even Amy are facing. And, just as we give, we also let in the love from our survivor community.
I have learned so much about being a mom from other survivors around me. I am honored to be there alongside them and that is why I’m asking everyone who reads this to join Karana Rising as we create a community of nurturing for every survivor.
Please watch our short film, Lack of Love, where Tiffany herself tells you how a lack of love in her life led to her trafficking and incarceration. Then, sign our petitions for Jessica, Jordan and Tiffany. Finally, please support survivors by giving what you can, writing letters and sharing our campaigns.
Jessica ended her letter to me on Mother’s Day with a dream, inspired by her mom.
“Healed people do heal people. My mom is healing me. It’s a butterfly effect. Someday, I’m going to fly, too.”
I believe she can. We just need to have to show enough courage and love to help set her free.
