A nonprofit organization, Dragonfly Home in Oklahoma City plans to open a transition home for human trafficking victims later this year, with organizers hoping to serve those affected while also educating the public about sexual exploitation.
According to Executive Director Whitney Anderson, if Oklahomans were more aware of the crime of human trafficking, it couldn’t flourish like it is now.
The Dragonfly Home started as a crisis center in 2016, providing resources such as legal assistance and therapeutic services to victims of sex and labor trafficking.
The nonprofit now has a nine-bedroom house for women who have been victims of human trafficking and need shelter, making it the first and only transitional house in Oklahoma City to be authorized by the Oklahoma attorney general’s office.
The National Human Trafficking Hotline recorded 10,583 documented trafficking cases in 2020, a 37% rise in only five years.
Oklahoma legislators approved using $5.3 million from the state budget to establish a human trafficking response unit in May.
As stories of sex trafficking and forced labor spread across the country, the Dragonfly Transition Home opens. Anderson explained that, while the state certification process was tough, she assures that their services are effective and ethical by requiring trauma-informed training and safety policies.
In the Dragonfly Transition Home, service providers are giving the highest quality and best care for survivors of trauma.
The house has a playroom for women with children, multipurpose rooms for “time alone” or building life skills, and a spacious backyard.
“Creating a colorful environment, working in different cozy textures, and reflecting the warmth, actually goes a very long way in the healing process,” as Anderson notes.
Misconceptions About Human Trafficking Are Common
This organization has served 600 people and has received over 6,000 hotline calls since becoming state-certified.
The calls are mostly from referrals, and from front-line professionals, like law enforcement or teachers, because bystanders have a key role in identifying and reporting possible cases of human trafficking.
As Anderson points out, people are unaware that this could happen to them, but as they learn more about it and see what trafficking looks like, they’re suddenly the ones calling Dragonfly helpline because they’re recognizing that they’re seeing and witnessing it far more frequently than they ever thought.
Anderson and her co-founder, Melissa Eick, said they believe misinformation about human trafficking has resulted in many cases being undocumented.
According to Eick, the director of communications and development, a common misconception is that human trafficking exclusively includes organized crime or the relocation of victims.
But the truth is, it’s Oklahomans who are seeking out illicit sex and labor.
And the perpetrators of human trafficking are most often family members or close partners of the victim, not strangers!
People are shocked when they learn these facts. It doesn’t necessarily fit into people’s perceptions of what trafficking looks like.
Traffickers prey on the vulnerable populations in Oklahoma. The state’s rates of incarceration, homelessness and substance abuse all contribute to the prevalence of human trafficking.
As Eick stats, “But what we like to point out is, the reason that trafficking exists in Oklahoma is because there’s a demand here. There’s a demand for illicit sex, there’s a demand for cheaper, free labor. And so they’re treating human beings as their products. Traffickers are experts at just spotting those situations, and saying what they need to say to get a foothold in someone’s life to then exploit them.”
Conversations With Youths About Human Trafficking Are Very Important!
There is a huge need for youths to be informed about human trafficking, that’s why Anderson and Eick have a mission of educating young people about it.
They recommend parents, caregivers, friends, who know more about trafficking to have conversations about it, especially with children and youths.
While the conversations might be uncomfortable or seem inappropriate for some, they said it is important to warn young people about the dangers of human trafficking as minors are usually the targeted group for the offenders.
“I keep tying it back into the myths and misconceptions, but if we believe that traffickers are following us in Hobby Lobby, or in white strange kidnapper vans, and they’re gonna swoop you out of a parking lot off of I-40, you’re not going to be paying attention to the person that your daughter is talking with online,” Anderson said.
“It’s so much more nefarious than what we see in movies and how that’s depicted,” she said.
How To Help Victims Of Human Trafficking?
Victims of human trafficking can contact the Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888 to schedule an interview and see if transitional housing would benefit them.
Anderson and Eick are also seeking volunteers and donations that are listed on their website. For people who are looking for opportunities to serve, the organization requires help in a variety of ways.
“It’s not so far away from you. It actually is happening right here to people who are from Oklahoma, and they’re trafficked by people from Oklahoma,” Anderson said. “I would say that it’s not this concept that’s so far removed from us that could never affect us.”
