Frontline Response gives human trafficking survivors a way out and a new start

ATLANTA (WUPA) – A Metro Atlanta woman, whose identity is being withheld for her protection, shared how she made a daring escape after two years of being trafficked against her will.

“Me and another friend of mine, we actually climbed through a window,” she said, describing what led to the unthinkable circumstances that warranted an escape.

She said, that after losing her job and becoming homeless, a criminal charge kept her from being able to find work, so she thought becoming a dancer at a club was the only alternative. While working at that club, she became friends with a co-worker.

“I moved in with her and her boyfriend, and unbeknownst to me, her boyfriend was a pimp. He took me to get my nails done, get my hair done, bought me things, didn't expect anything from me, and then, at a certain point, came to me and said that I now owed him,” she said. “Any time that I would try to say ‘no,' it was met with violence, and just the demand that I owed him.”

Trapped in the world of human trafficking, she was desperate to find a way out.

“I finally ran away when he wasn't around, and I called some old friends of mine, and I just told them that I was kidnapped off the streets,” she said, afraid that no one would believe the truth.

She contacted the FBI. Later, she heard about the national non-profit, Frontline Response and its ‘Out of Darkness' program.

“That's really where my whole life changed. They came to my home and picked me up within an hour,” she said.

Rescues happen overnight, but healing takes time.

“There is a life outside of any misery you might be in now,” she said. “Sometimes, taking that next scary step is the next right step.”

Frontline Response's Chief Program Officer Jeff Shaw says the organization was launched in 2003, with a mission of being on the front lines daily to rescue people from homelessness and sex trafficking.

“Every Friday night, we have volunteers from the community come out. We do a quick orientation, and then we take them out to areas of Metro Atlanta where human trafficking and sexual exploitation and human trafficking are happening,” said Shaw.

Shaw said traffickers are shifting their activity online, luring the most vulnerable people with false promises of jobs and relationships while also bringing in children and elderly people.

Frontline has served over 1,500 women who have come out of sex trafficking. Their data shows an estimated 7,800 men are exploiting underaged girls in Georgia each month. Over 34,000 victims were exploited online in Metro Atlanta in 2022. The organization also serves men who are survivors.

Organizers say it takes about $3 million to fund the operation each year, and they're looking for donations and more volunteers. To learn more, visit https://www.frontlineresponse.org/.