On Thursday Governor Rick Scott signed legislation to protect victims of human trafficking. He signed four bills on the matter that will bring awareness of the growing crime. The legislature approved nearly $11 million for prevention and diversion services. $250,000 will go to a Bay Area sex trafficking prevention organization.
For Connie Rose, growing up was never easy.
“Little kids are born to want to have love, to want to have hugs right? They want to feel belonged.”
At just two years old, Connie says her father starting raping her. It was a horrible crime that lasted into her early teens. After that, her father sold her into prostitution.
“I figured in my brain, no sex with dad and sex with people I don’t know was much better. And so I just lived this life still in high school, still doing the best I could.”
Connie managed to escape the life of sex slave when she turned 19. Today, she works at Selah Freedom, a Bay Area organization that helps victims of sex trafficking.
“It just really helped for me to go out and share my story.”
At Selah Freedom victims receive counseling, life skills, meals and even a place to live. This year they have helped over three hundred girls. Soon, thanks to a new push backed by Governor Rick Scott, they will have the resources to help many more says Co-Founder of Selah Freedom Elizabeth Fisher.
“We were approved for a quarter of a million dollars in the state budget.”
The money will go towards building larger facilities for victims and even a public office where victims can come in and escape their abusers once and for all.
“The buildings that we are looking at already have security built in. So these girls can come in and lock the doors behind them.”
As a way for victims can start a better tomorrow.
“Whatever has happened to you in your lifetime doesn’t define who you are. The past is something that we inherited and the future is something that we can create,” said Rose.
The new bills require signs throughout the state with safe numbers for victims to call, stricter punishment for those who traffic sex slaves, and more identity protection for victims.