Voyage of Discovery

Children of the Night (COTN ) is a private, non-profit, organization founded in 1979 by Dr Louis Lee. Her team is dedicated to assisting children between the ages of 11 and 17 years who are exploited through prostitution. Since 1979 they have rescued girls and boys from prostitution and the domination of vicious pimps, their success rate is impressive: according to their annual follow-up studies, about 80 percent of children they have worked with remain off the streets.

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Their commitment to rescuing these children from exploitation through prostitution is shared with a small but committed group of detectives, FBI agents, and prosecutors in Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Ana, Anaheim, and San Diego, California; Las Vegas and a number of other states all known areas on the prostitution circuit where children are exploited. Their numbers keep growing as more dedicated individuals become concerned about the welfare of these desperate children and refer them to the project.

I had the priviledge of meeting with the COTN staff team and a number of young people today in their residential home in Los Angeles a converted Post Office which as you enter has a homely and warm feel. I was very impressed with the way in which the staff team are dedicated to the work that they do and it reminded me so much of how the Barnardos SECOS staff team work, with hope, unconditional positive regard and respect often beyond the call of duty. From talking to the young people it was clear to me that this is why they have the success that they do and are so admired by other agencies, both the LAPD and FBI spoke very positively about COTN yesterday when I met with them. One young girl told me how the centre is her lifeline and has helped her with her future goals, it is these goals that have motivated her to free herself from her abusive lifestyle and to stay at COTN for a specific period in order to heal herself, obtain her qualifications and find herself a career in journalism. She is an assertive and confident young woman and is clear of her direction, a year ago this was not the case she spent her time coming in and out of COTN finding it very difficult to settle at first to a routine of structure, people saying positive things to her and giving her choices. All these things were not available to her whilst she was on the streets of Los Angeles with her 'pimp'. She had no choice in what she was expected to do, rather she was forced to obey her 'pimps' instruction under the belief that he loved her and to fail him would mean some form of punishment and humiliation. She is aware now of the process in which she was manipulated and through counselling, consistency and love she has regained her self respect and a determination to have a successful, meaningful life. COTN do not prevent young people from running back onto the streets or forces them to stay, they have an open door policy, that if a young person wants to leave they can freely do so. Veronica explained that this is one of the reasons for COTN's success, there is no force, only choices. So much of the young person's life has been previously controlled and it is important that a young person learns that s/he can regain their own control and make their own decisions. It takes many months to build trusting relationships with these young people and a lot of acting out occurs within this period before they finally trust enough to want to stay, accept support and begin their recovery. Once a young person decides to stay and set's their goals, COTN has a process where the young person's time is structured to meet their goals. The normalising of life begins with set wake up times, meals and laundry rotas, education, hobbies and free time. Veronica, the staff team and their many volunteers keep the young people busy, assisting them in fulfilling tasks that they may never have attempted before, praising their efforts and encouraging their talents and increasing self esteem.
A muriel hangs on the wall in the main hall in memory of those young people who have not made it having lost their lives to the dangerous world of drugs, prostitution and exploitation.
Some of the children abused through prostitution were first abused by a parent or early caregiver. Most have been tortured by their pimps, and many testify in lengthy court proceedings against the pimps who have forced them to work as prostitutes.