Human-Trafficking Shelter Finds New Home

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Central Ohioans may feel removed from human trafficking, but sex slavery is happening in Ohio every day.

FAST FACTS:

• Ohio ranks fifth in the nation for this underground crime, most notable due to the state’s highway system.
• Trafficking puts between 100,000 and 300,000 U.S. children at risk each year.
• Human trafficking is the world’s third largest illegal industry, bringing in about $36 billion annually.
• The illegal industry claims 12 million sex slaves worldwide.

But there is good news for victims of the crime: a house will soon be available to help women in Central Ohio get back on their feet.

A worn split rail fence borders a piece of property in Northwest Columbus, and it could bring peace to young women worn down from a difficult life.

“My goal right now is to have it open and have the girls by July 1, 2010,“ said Jeff Barrows, executive director of Gracehaven.

Until now, the home for teens exploited in the commercial sex trades had no home.

“They experience trauma. They experience pain. If they’re ready to come out, there’s a lot of help we can give these girls,“ Barrows said.

Within the last month, Gracehaven bought a 9.5-acre property, and the 4,000 square foot home that sits on it will become a group home for up to ten girls who were abused and used in the sex trade.

There are only three homes like Gracehaven in the country.

Barrows admitted that the house needs work, including dismantling a sauna and removing a former Jacuzzi room, but the transformation of the house will mirror the eventual transformation of the home’s residents.

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