Danielle’s mom took many precautions to protect her teenage daughter from predators and to keep her daughter away from people and situations that could endanger her safety and well-being. She even went as far as to move the family away from one town to another city. Yet despite her mom’s efforts, Danielle ended up being trafficked, even by her own boyfriend, whom Danielle met on Facebook.
Danielle shared with us during her interview how her boyfriend had groomed both her and her mom and after gaining their trust, victimized Danielle by becoming her trafficker. Danielle’s intense and harrowing story of being trafficked not just once, but three times, and how traffickers used the absence of her father to connect with her emotionally and then used drugs to control her, puts a face to this crime where statistics can overwhelm us and make us forget that each person who is victimized is a human being with hopes and dreams and needs love just like everyone else.
When Danielle went missing and was being sold for sex by her traffickers, her mom never gave up looking for and trying to get help for her daughter. After realizing that her daughter had been trafficked and the help she would need went beyond drug rehabilitation, Danielle ended up at Debbie Colton’s Oasis of Hope, where she has found faith and hope for her future. She is now in cosmetology school, pursuing the dreams she had as a young girl, dreams that were almost snuffed out by violence, slavery and drugs.
Danielle also shares the story of her journey and the transformation of her life with people in the hopes that they too will experience the healing and hope, regardless of what they have experienced in life, that she believes a relationship with God can bring. Danielle’s story is one of a mother’s unrelenting love, the difference one person like Debbie Colton can make who cares about those who have been preyed upon, and the remarkable courage of a survivor whose losses and trauma will not be the last chapter of her story, but the beginning of what will surely be a life that inspires others to have hope and to pursue their dreams as well.
It was truly a privilege to get to know Danielle – what an inspiring young woman!
