Restoration House Plans for the Future
Restoration House of Greater Kansas City is seeking to open “A Home for Minors” for sex trafficking victims under 18 years of age. It is estimated that each year 1,650 kids in the Greater Kansas City Metro Area are victims of sexual exploitation.
The Department of Justice commissioned a study to determine the risk of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST). The findings indicated that of ten key cities studied in the US, the Kansas City Metro area was number two in terms of risk for DMST. Sadly, most of these children are never properly identified or helped and they enter adult life as victims of sex trafficking, having suffered unimaginable violence and trauma.
Our mission is to help minors recover and live fully restored lives through our holistic healing programs. Most recently, 103 youth that were being groomed by sexual predators online have been identified and connected with appropriate law enforcement and/or counseling resources through the prevention programs of AwareKC, one of our partners in fighting DMST. Unfortunately, no residential facility dedicated to domestic minor sex trafficking victims exists in or near Kansas City.
Sadly, money for sex is a booming business in our community. The statistics are horrifying. A 2013 study from Arizona State University showed that 14.5 percent of males over age 18 in Kansas City were online searching for sex, which ranks second in the nation. A 2009 KCPD sting operation using decoy ads selling young girls for sex received 500 calls in the first 24 hours! Abundance of demand fuels dehumanization of girls (and boys too) trapped in the cycle of sex trafficking.
This is where “A Home for Minors” programs and services would begin. Through law-enforcement, school, or social service agency referrals, girls who have been sexually trafficked would have an opportunity to be healed and restored in “A Home for Minors”. Here, through comprehensive services and relational support, a trafficked youth victim can find refuge and a way forward for their lives.
With your help, we can make hope a reality for trafficked children.
Help us make the Home for DMST Victims Happen!
The Home for Minors was granted $100,000 from BR-KC Baptist Association Vision 2020 Grant Funds for renovations and equipment at our Annual Meeting. Significant additional funds are needed to hire staff, cover expenses, and provide recovery services.
Restoration House requests support in the form of volunteers to help renovate the property, and donations to hire staff and resource the program at the home for youth victims (ages 12-17) of domestic sex trafficking with a tentative open date in January of 2018.
The Home for Minors would house four to eight girls at a time in a 24/7 facility where they would be under the care of licensed professionals, operated in partnership with the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home. All victims who come to the minor home will be given medical care, mental health care, food, clothing, trauma therapy, and opportunity to have their lives transformed by Christ. In addition to the child’s mental, physical, and spiritual health, the program will focus on school attendance and educational achievement.
